allein
GermanEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- alleine (chiefly colloquial, only occasionally in formal writing)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German al-ein. Cognate with Middle English al-one, English alone, Dutch alleen, Low German alleene (Münsterländisch), alläine (Sauerländisch).[1]
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
allein (indeclinable, predicative only)
- (only predicative) alone
- Er ist ganz allein.
- He is all alone.
AdverbEdit
allein
- 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.
- (formal, literary) only
- Allein ein Wunder kann uns noch helfen.
- Only a miracle can help us now.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
- alleinerziehend, Alleingang, alleinherrschend, Alleinherrscher, alleinreisend, alleinstehend, Alleinstellung
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Friedrich Kluge (1883), “allein”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
Further readingEdit
- “allein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache