meins

Meins is a German pronoun used to indicate possession, roughly equivalent to the English “mine.” It functions as a stand-alone pronoun when the noun is understood or has been previously mentioned. In everyday speech, it is often used to answer questions about ownership or to stress possession.

Common usage examples include answering questions like “Wer hat das?” with “Meins,” or stating “Das ist meins.” The form is informal; more formal alternatives would be phrases like “das gehört mir” or, when referring to a specific noun, using the possessive determiner “mein” with the noun (for example, “mein Auto”). Meins can appear in phrases that emphasize ownership, such as “Das ist meins.”

Etymology and grammar: Meins is formed from the possessive determiner mein with a suffix -s, turning it into a standalone pronoun. It belongs to a family of similar pronouns used to express possession, such as deins or seins, in colloquial speech. In standard German orthography, meins is typically written lowercase in regular prose, and capitalization is uncommon except at the beginning of sentences.

See also: German grammar, possessive pronouns, pronouns in German, possessive determiners.