Wiktionary

allein

German edit

Alternative forms edit

  • alleine (chiefly colloquial, only occasionally in formal writing)

Etymology edit

From Middle High German al-ein. Cognate with Middle English al-one, English alone, Dutch alleen, Low German alleene (Münsterländisch), alläine (Sauerländisch).[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • (Standard German)
  • (Swabian)
  • audio (Austria)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

Adjective edit

allein (indeclinable, predicative only)

  1. (only predicative) alone
    Er ist ganz allein.
    He is all alone.

Adverb edit

allein

  1. alone
    Er schrieb das Buch allein.
    He wrote the book alone.
    Allein im Jahr 2012 starben 500 Menschen an der Krankheit.
    In 2012 alone, 500 people died from the illness.
  2. (formal, literary) only
    Allein ein Wunder kann uns noch helfen.
    Only a miracle can help us now.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “allein”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading edit

  • “allein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
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