Meinen Conjugation in German

meinen means “to mean” in English, and it is one of the first verbs German learners meet — it sits at number 435 in VerbFlow’s frequency list for German verbs. You use it whenever you talk about meaning it seriously, and because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. This page gives you the complete conjugation of meinen — every tense, every person, both participles and the infinitive — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Ich meine es ernst jeden Tag.” — “I mean it seriously every day.”

Quick facts

  • Infinitive: meinen
  • English: to mean
  • Verb type: Regular
  • Irregular in: none — regular in every tense
  • Pattern: weak
  • Separable: no
  • Participle I: meinend
  • Past participle (Partizip II): gemeint
  • Auxiliary: haben (all perfect tenses are formed with haben + the past participle)

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for meinen, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one. Learn the spelling of the forms first, and listen to a native speaker for the sounds rather than trusting an invented transcription. The forms below are the ones that matter: once you can read meinen in every tense, you can recognise it in speech even before you can pronounce every form perfectly.

Three things to remember about meinen

  1. It is regular: every form follows the ordinary weak pattern, so once you know the stem you can build the whole table. The only work is learning the endings, not memorising exceptions.
  2. The perfect tenses use haben: the perfect is formed with haben in the present plus the past participle gemeint. The tables on this page give the participle in the uninflected form, exactly as it appears in the verified dump; agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence, not on the verb table.
  3. Partizip I is meinend and Partizip II is gemeint: keep both in mind as you read the tables, because Partizip I appears in adjectival uses and Partizip II appears in every perfect tense. If you know those two forms and the present tense, you already know the skeleton of the whole conjugation.

Full conjugation tables

Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for meinen. Learn the present tense first, then the Perfekt and the preterite, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.

Present (Präsens)

Person Form
ich meine
du meinst
er/sie/es meint
wir meinen
ihr meint
sie/Sie meinen

The present (Präsens) is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Ich meine die Frage ernst jeden Tag.” — “I mean the question seriously every day.”

Preterite (Präteritum)

Person Form
ich meinte
du meintest
er/sie/es meinte
wir meinten
ihr meintet
sie/Sie meinten

The preterite (Präteritum) is used for completed actions in the past, mostly in written German and in stories. For example: “Du meintest die Frage ernst gestern.” — “You meant the question seriously yesterday.”

Perfect (Perfekt)

Person Form
ich habe gemeint
du hast gemeint
er/sie/es hat gemeint
wir haben gemeint
ihr habt gemeint
sie/Sie haben gemeint

The perfect (Perfekt) is used for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German. For example: “Er hat die Frage ernst gemeint gestern.” — “He has meant the question seriously yesterday.”

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt)

Person Form
ich hatte gemeint
du hattest gemeint
er/sie/es hatte gemeint
wir hatten gemeint
ihr hattet gemeint
sie/Sie hatten gemeint

The pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Wir hatten die Frage ernst gemeint vor der Party.” — “We had meant the question seriously before the party.”

Future (Futur I)

Person Form
ich werde meinen
du wirst meinen
er/sie/es wird meinen
wir werden meinen
ihr werdet meinen
sie/Sie werden meinen

The future (Futur I) is used for what will happen, for predictions and for probability. For example: “Ich werde die Frage ernst meinen morgen.” — “I will mean the question seriously tomorrow.”

Future perfect (Futur II)

Person Form
ich werde gemeint haben
du wirst gemeint haben
er/sie/es wird gemeint haben
wir werden gemeint haben
ihr werdet gemeint haben
sie/Sie werden gemeint haben

The future perfect (Futur II) is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Du wirst die Frage ernst gemeint haben bis morgen.” — “You will have meant the question seriously by tomorrow.”

Konjunktiv I

Person Form
ich meine
du meinest
er/sie/es meine
wir meinen
ihr meinet
sie/Sie meinen

Konjunktiv I is used for reported speech and indirect quotation. For example: “Es ist wichtig, dass er meine die Frage ernst.” — “It is important that he mean the question seriously.”

Konjunktiv II

Person Form
ich meinte
du meintest
er/sie/es meinte
wir meinten
ihr meintet
sie/Sie meinten

Konjunktiv II is used for wishes, hypothetical situations and polite requests. It doubles as the conditional: there is no separate würde tense in the tables, and the periphrastic alternative with würde plus the infinitive is a way of expressing the same meaning, not a tense of its own. For example: “Ich meinte die Frage ernst eines Tages.” — “I would mean the question seriously one day.”

Conditional perfect

Person Form
ich hätte gemeint
du hättest gemeint
er/sie/es hätte gemeint
wir hätten gemeint
ihr hättet gemeint
sie/Sie hätten gemeint

The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Er hätte die Frage ernst gemeint gestern.” — “He would have meant the question seriously yesterday.”

Imperative

Person Form
du mein
wir meinen
ihr meint
sie meinen

The imperative is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Mein die Frage ernst!” — “Mean the question seriously!”

Present participle (Partizip I)

Form German
Present participle meinend

The present participle (Partizip I) is used as an adjective and for describing an action in progress. For example, the participle meinend describes something that is meaning. The present-tense sentence “Ich meine es ernst jeden Tag.” — “I mean it seriously every day.” shows the same verb in action.

Past participle (Partizip II)

Form German
Past participle gemeint

The past participle (Partizip II) is used with an auxiliary to form the perfect tenses, and as an adjective. For example: “Ich habe es ernst gemeint gestern.” — “I have meant it seriously yesterday.”

Infinitive

Form German
Infinitive meinen

The infinitive is the dictionary form of the verb, used after modal verbs and in infinitive constructions. The infinitive meinen is the form you look up in a dictionary. In a sentence it appears after a modal verb or with zu, and in the future it follows werden, as in “Ich werde es ernst meinen morgen.” — “I will mean it seriously tomorrow.”

Example sentences

Ten natural sentences with meinen, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the German and try to produce it from the English.

  1. “Ich meine es ernst jeden Tag.” — “I mean it seriously every day.”
  2. “Du meintest die Frage ernst gestern.” — “You meant the question seriously yesterday.”
  3. “Er hat den Vorschlag ernst gemeint gestern.” — “He has meant the suggestion seriously yesterday.”
  4. “Wir hatten es ernst gemeint vor der Party.” — “We had meant it seriously before the party.”
  5. “Ich werde die Frage ernst meinen morgen.” — “I will mean the question seriously tomorrow.”
  6. “Du wirst den Vorschlag ernst gemeint haben bis morgen.” — “You will have meant the suggestion seriously by tomorrow.”
  7. “Es ist wichtig, dass er meine es ernst.” — “It is important that he mean it seriously.”
  8. “Ich meinte die Frage ernst eines Tages.” — “I would mean the question seriously one day.”
  9. “Er hätte den Vorschlag ernst gemeint gestern.” — “He would have meant the suggestion seriously yesterday.”
  10. “Mein es ernst!” — “Mean it seriously!”

Common mistakes

1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

✗ Wrong: “Ich meinen es ernst.”

✓ Right: “Ich meine es ernst.”

The infinitive meinen never takes a subject. After ich you need the conjugated present form meine.

2. Using the wrong person’s form

✗ Wrong: “Ich meinen es ernst.”

✓ Right: “Ich meine es ernst.”

meinen is the sie form, not the ich form. Match the verb to the subject every time: ich goes with meine.

3. Using the present for a finished past action

✗ Wrong: “Ich meine es ernst gestern.”

✓ Right: “Ich habe es ernst gemeint gestern.”

The time word gestern points to the past, so a finished action needs the Perfekt habe gemeint, not the present.

4. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger

✗ Wrong: “Es ist wichtig, dass ich meine es ernst.”

✓ Right: “Es ist wichtig, dass ich meine es ernst.”

After es ist wichtig, dass German needs Konjunktiv I, so use meine here, not the indicative meine.

5. Using the wrong auxiliary in the Perfekt

✗ Wrong: “Ich bin gemeint es ernst.”

✓ Right: “habe gemeint es ernst.”

The Perfekt of meinen is formed with haben plus the past participle gemeint: the ich form is habe gemeint. Check the auxiliary in the table above before you build a perfect tense.

6. Using the preterite for a daily habit

✗ Wrong: “Ich meinte es ernst jeden Tag.”

✓ Right: “Ich meine es ernst jeden Tag.”

The preterite meinte describes a past action. For something you do every day, use the present meine.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on meinen. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. What is the ich form of meinen in the Present (Präsens)?

    • A) meint
    • B) meinen
    • C) meine
    • D) meinst

  2. What is the du form of meinen in the Preterite (Präteritum)?

    • A) meinte
    • B) meinten
    • C) meintet
    • D) meintest

  3. What is the er/sie/es form of meinen in the Perfect (Perfekt)?

    • A) hast gemeint
    • B) haben gemeint
    • C) hat gemeint
    • D) habe gemeint

  4. What is the wir form of meinen in the Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt)?

    • A) hatte gemeint
    • B) hattest gemeint
    • C) hattet gemeint
    • D) hatten gemeint

  5. What is the du form of meinen in the Future (Futur I)?

    • A) werde meinen
    • B) wird meinen
    • C) werden meinen
    • D) wirst meinen

  6. What is the ich form of meinen in the Future perfect (Futur II)?

    • A) wird gemeint haben
    • B) werden gemeint haben
    • C) werde gemeint haben
    • D) wirst gemeint haben

  7. What is the er/sie/es form of meinen in the Konjunktiv I?

    • A) meinen
    • B) meinet
    • C) meine
    • D) meinest

  8. What is the ich form of meinen in the Konjunktiv II?

    • A) meinten
    • B) meintet
    • C) meinte
    • D) meintest

  9. What is the present participle (Partizip I) of meinen?

    • A) meinend
    • B) vergessend
    • C) erinnernd
    • D) hoffend

  10. What does meinen mean in English?

  • A) to mean
  • B) to forget
  • C) to remember
  • D) to hope

Answer key

  1. C) meine — the ich form of meinen in the Present (Präsens) is meine. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  2. D) meintest — the du form of meinen in the Preterite (Präteritum) is meintest. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  3. C) hat gemeint — the er/sie/es form of meinen in the Perfect (Perfekt) is hat gemeint. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  4. D) hatten gemeint — the wir form of meinen in the Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) is hatten gemeint. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  5. D) wirst meinen — the du form of meinen in the Future (Futur I) is wirst meinen. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  6. C) werde gemeint haben — the ich form of meinen in the Future perfect (Futur II) is werde gemeint haben. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  7. C) meine — the er/sie/es form of meinen in the Konjunktiv I is meine. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  8. C) meinte — the ich form of meinen in the Konjunktiv II is meinte. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  9. A) meinend — the present participle (Partizip I) of meinen is meinend. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
  10. A) to mean — meinen means “to mean” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.

Frequently asked questions

What does meinen mean in English?

meinen means “to mean”. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.

Is meinen regular or irregular?

meinen is regular: it follows the ordinary weak pattern in every tense. Partizip I is meinend and Partizip II is gemeint.

What are the participles of meinen?

Partizip I is meinend — use it as an adjective. Partizip II is gemeint — use it with haben for the perfect tenses, as in habe gemeint.

Which auxiliary does meinen take in the Perfekt?

meinen takes haben in the Perfekt: the ich form is habe gemeint. All four perfect tenses on this page are built with haben plus the past participle gemeint.

How do I say “I mean” in German?

Say “Ich meine es ernst jeden Tag.” — “I mean it seriously every day.” The ich form of the present is meine, and it is the form you will use most often.

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