Breakdown of Der Schauspieler, den du meinst, ist schrecklich.
sein
to be
du
you (informal singular)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Schauspieler
the actor
Questions & Answers about Der Schauspieler, den du meinst, ist schrecklich.
Why is the relative pronoun den instead of der?
den is in the accusative case. Even though Der Schauspieler is the subject of the main sentence, inside the relative clause (den du meinst), it acts as the direct object. You (du) are doing the action, and the actor is the one being meant. Since Schauspieler is a masculine noun, its accusative relative pronoun is den.
Why is the verb meinst at the end of the middle part?
A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause. In German subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb always gets pushed to the very end of that specific clause. Here, the clause is just den du meinst, so the verb meinst goes at the end of it, right before the comma.
Do I really need commas around den du meinst?
Yes! Unlike in English, German requires you to always use commas to separate a relative clause from the rest of the sentence. Because this relative clause is inserted right in the middle of the main sentence (Der Schauspieler ... ist schrecklich), it needs a comma at the beginning and a comma at the end to fence it off.
Can meinst be translated as 'think' here?
The verb meinen often translates to 'to think' or 'to have an opinion' (like in Was meinst du? for 'What do you think?'). However, in this context, it translates to 'to mean' or 'to refer to'. The speaker is identifying the specific actor the other person is talking about.