meine Frau
The English phrase "my wife" is translated into German as meine Frau.
In German, meine Frau is the standard way to refer to one's wife, though it can also be interpreted literally as "my woman" or "my lady".
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the possessive pronoun meine (my) and the noun Frau (woman/wife).
Which one should you use?
While meine Frau is common in everyday speech, meine Ehefrau is used when a more formal or legalistic tone is required.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form of the possessive pronoun changes depending on the grammatical case. When the phrase is the direct object (accusative case), use meine Frau. When the phrase is the indirect object (dative case), meine changes to meiner Frau.
Did you know?
- The word Frau is a cognate of the Old Norse freyja, the name of the goddess of love and beauty.
Examples in context
- Wo ist meine Frau?Where's my wife?This sentence is useful for asking about the location of meine Frau.Tatoeba #5781335 by dasbeispielholz, translation #2254657 by CK
- Sie ist meine Frau.She's my wife.This sentence is useful for identifying someone as meine Frau.Tatoeba #1325181 by Vortarulo, translation #1325177 by Scott
- Er kennt meine Frau.He knows my wife.This sentence is useful for stating that someone knows meine Frau.Tatoeba #3033988 by pne, translation #3033980 by pne
- 265 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Felix and Julia are talking at a party.
- FelixDas ist meine Frau, Julia.This is my wife, Julia.
- JuliaHallo! Schön, Sie kennenzulernen.Hello! Nice to meet you.
- FelixMeine Frau arbeitet als Ärztin.My wife works as a doctor.
- JuliaDas klingt sehr interessant.That sounds very interesting.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries Frau, frau, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
