allein

German

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Standard German)
  • IPA^(key): /(ʔ)aˈlaɪn/
• (Swabian)
  • IPA^(key): /(ʔ)əˈlɔɪ̯/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

Adjective

allein (indeclinable, predicative only)

1. (only predicative) alone

   Er ist ganz allein.

   He is all alone.

Adverb

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

• nur, bloß
• ausschließlich

Derived terms

• alleinig

Related terms

• alleinerziehend, Alleingang, alleinherrschend, Alleinherrscher, alleinreisend, alleinstehend, Alleinstellung

See also

• einsam

References

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

Further reading

• “allein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache