Mene is the verb you use to state an opinion or an intention. It answers two everyday questions: What do you mean? (Hvad mener du?) and What do you think? (also Hvad mener du?). The key thing for English speakers is that mene is about what a person intends or believes — it is never used for what a word or a thing signifies. That job belongs to betyde.
Principal parts
Mene is a regular weak verb of the -te class. All its tenses follow from these five forms.
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) mene | to mean / to think (be of the opinion) |
| Present | mener | mean(s) / think(s) |
| Past (datid) | mente | meant / thought |
| Past participle | ment | meant |
| Imperative | men! | mean! |
The imperative men! is grammatically possible but rare in real life — you seldom command someone to have an opinion. You will meet the other four forms constantly, though.
Two meanings, one verb
English keeps mean (intend, signify) and think/believe (have an opinion) as separate verbs. Danish folds the person-centred parts of both into mene.
1. Mene = intend, what you mean by your words
Hvad mener du med det?
What do you mean by that?
Jeg mente det ikke sådan — undskyld, hvis det lød hårdt.
I didn't mean it that way — sorry if it sounded harsh.
Hun sagde ja, men hun mente nej.
She said yes, but she meant no.
2. Mene = be of the opinion, believe
Here mene introduces a considered viewpoint, very often with a following clause: Jeg mener, at... (I think/believe that...). Note the comma before at — Danish punctuates subordinate clauses this way.
Jeg mener, at vi bør vente til i morgen.
I think we should wait until tomorrow.
Hvad mener du om den nye chef?
What do you think of the new boss?
Mange mener, at huslejen er alt for høj.
Many people think the rent is far too high.
The past: mente
The simple past is mente (the -te ending), used for an opinion held or a thing meant at a definite past time. See the weak -te past class for the broader pattern.
Dengang mente jeg, at det var en god idé. Nu er jeg ikke så sikker.
Back then I thought it was a good idea. Now I'm not so sure.
The present perfect: har ment
Mene takes har in the perfect; the participle is ment. It expresses an intention or opinion connected to the present.
Det har jeg aldrig ment — du må have misforstået mig.
I've never meant that — you must have misunderstood me.
Mene vs. synes vs. tro
These three overlap with English think, but Danish distributes them carefully:
- mene — a reasoned opinion or judgement (often about facts, policies, what is right). Jeg mener, at...
- synes — a subjective impression, how something strikes you, matters of taste. Jeg synes, filmen var kedelig (I think/feel the film was boring).
- tro — to believe something is true without being certain, a guess. Jeg tror, det regner i morgen (I think it'll rain tomorrow).
Jeg synes, suppen er for salt, men min mand mener, den er perfekt.
I think the soup is too salty, but my husband thinks it's perfect.
Jeg tror, han kommer for sent, men jeg mener nu, vi skal vente på ham.
I think (guess) he'll be late, but I do think (hold) we should wait for him.
A useful rule of thumb: if you could replace think with I'm of the opinion, use mene; with in my taste/impression, use synes; with I guess/I believe, use tro.
Common collocations
- hvad mener du? — what do you mean? / what do you think?
- mene, at
- clause — to be of the opinion that
- mene det alvorligt — to mean it seriously
- mene noget med — to mean something by
- være af den mening, at... — to hold the opinion that (the noun mening comes from this verb)
Mener du det alvorligt, eller laver du sjov?
Do you mean that seriously, or are you joking?
In conversation
— Jeg synes, vi skal tage toget. — Hvorfor det? — Jeg mener, at bilen er for dyr i parkering inde i byen.
— I think we should take the train. — Why's that? — I think the car is too expensive to park in the city.
Common mistakes
❌ Hvad betyder du?
Incorrect — betyde is for words/things, not for what a person means.
✅ Hvad mener du?
What do you mean?
This is the classic error. To ask what a person means, use mene. Betyde asks what a word or thing signifies — Hvad betyder det ord? (What does that word mean?).
❌ Jeg synes, at jorden er rund.
Wrong nuance — this is a fact, not a taste impression.
✅ Jeg mener, at jorden er rund.
I think / hold that the earth is round.
For a reasoned claim about how things are, use mene, not synes. Synes is for subjective impressions and taste.
❌ Jeg mener regn i morgen.
Incorrect — a guess about the future needs 'tro', and a clause needs 'at'.
✅ Jeg tror, det bliver regn i morgen.
I think (guess) it'll rain tomorrow.
For an uncertain prediction, Danish uses tro (believe), not mene.
❌ Jeg mener at vi skal gå nu.
Punctuation error — Danish puts a comma before the 'at' clause.
✅ Jeg mener, at vi skal gå nu.
I think we should go now.
When mene introduces a that-clause, Danish writing places a comma before at.
Key takeaways
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- BetydeA2 — How to use betyde (to mean, to signify) — its irregular past betød, and how it differs from mene.
- SynesB2 — Full reference for the deponent -s verb synes ('to think / find / seem'), the synes/syntes spelling trap, and how it differs from tro, mene and tænke.
- TroA2 — Full reference for tro — to believe, to think, to suppose — and how it fits into the Danish three-way think split with synes and tænke.
- SigeA1 — Full reference for sige ('to say') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, its job as a reporting verb (han siger, at...), the idiom det vil sige, and how it differs from fortælle, tale and snakke.
- Weak Past: The -te ClassA2 — The second weak class of Danish verbs — past in -te, participle in -t — and how to tell it apart from the larger -ede class.