meinen simple past (Präteritum) conjugation
Meinen (to think, mean) in the simple past (Präteritum): meinte, meintest, meinte, meinten, meintet, meinten.
Präteritum Simple past
| ich | |
|---|---|
| du | |
| er/sie/es | |
| wir | |
| ihr | |
| sie/Sie |
ending regular · irr breaks the pattern · tap a form to hear it
When to use the simple past (Präteritum)
The Präteritum is the past tense of written narrative. In speech it is used mainly for sein, haben, werden and the modal verbs; other verbs usually take the Perfekt.
How it is formed
Weak verbs add te, test, te, ten, tet, ten to the stem (machte). Strong verbs change the stem vowel and take no ending in ich and er/sie/es (ging, sah, kam).
Meinen is regular here, so it is a good model for other verbs of the same class.
Read more: German past tense: Perfekt vs Präteritum
Meinen in a sentence
- Was meinst du dazu?What do you think about that?
- Er hat das nicht böse gemeint.He didn't mean it badly.
Regular verb; expresses opinion or intended meaning.
FAQ
What is the simple past (Präteritum) of meinen?
Meinen in the German simple past (Präteritum): ich meinte, du meintest, er/sie/es meinte, wir meinten, ihr meintet, sie/Sie meinten.
Is meinen irregular in the simple past (Präteritum)?
No. In the simple past (Präteritum) meinen takes the regular endings for its verb class, so meinte follows the same pattern as any regular verb.
When do you use the German simple past (Präteritum)?
The Präteritum is the past tense of written narrative. In speech it is used mainly for sein, haben, werden and the modal verbs; other verbs usually take the Perfekt.
How is the simple past (Präteritum) formed?
Weak verbs add te, test, te, ten, tet, ten to the stem (machte). Strong verbs change the stem vowel and take no ending in ich and er/sie/es (ging, sah, kam).
Full meinen conjugation, all tenses →
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