What does "meint" mean here

Question

It looks like in the sentence:

"Meine Schwester meint, diese Show wird sich nicht lange halten".

The right English translation for meint is "say":

a) Is that correct?

b) If so would you provide another example where "meinen" means "say" and not "mean"?

This example just shook my belief that "meinen" might not be the exact translation of mean in English and might actually cover a broader range of meanings.

Per the Wiktionary entry, meinen may be a cognate to "mean" but they are not the same. The main takeaway here is don't trust cognates and always check a dictionary when in doubt. — RDBury, Oct 19 '20 at 06:28
There is perfect 1:1 translation in this context: "to opine" (not "say"!). — radioflash, Oct 19 '20 at 15:12

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 18 '20 at 16:53

say is only one possible translation of meinen.

In this case, a better translation is to be of the opinion / or to guess.

Meinen can be used in the sense of I have no idea what you're talking about (Ich weiß nicht, was du meinst). The correct translation would then be I don't know what you mean / I don't know what you're saying

It can also be used to ask for an opinion or to express an opinion, then the translation would be, to think, to guess, ... (Meiner Meinung nach ist Star Wars langweilig, was meinst du?)

What does "meint" mean here

1 Answers1