Haien

Haien is the dative plural form of the German noun Hai, which means shark. In standard German, the singular is Hai and the nominative/accusative plural is Haie. The form Haien appears when the noun is used in the dative case without an accompanying definite article or in contexts governed by prepositions that require the dative, such as vor Haien (before sharks) or mit Haien (with sharks). For example, Ich habe Angst vor Haien expresses fear of sharks, with Haien in the dative plural after the preposition vor.

Beyond German grammar, Haien is not recognized as a standalone noun representing a widely used concept, place, or organization in major reference works. It may appear as part of personal names or local place names in some contexts, but such uses are rare and not centrally documented in encyclopedic sources.

In linguistic terms, Haien illustrates how inflected forms reflect case in German, and how the same lexical item can surface in different forms depending on grammatical role. The related forms Haie (nominative/accusative plural) and die Haie (with definite article, plural) are frequently encountered in everyday German.

See also Hai, Haie, Die Haie.