Definition
An idea or thought that suddenly occurs to a person.
Translations
- English
- sudden idea
- Français
- idée soudaine
- Türkçe
- ani fikir
- Polski
- nagły pomysł
- Русский
- внезапная идея
- Українська
- раптова ідея
GERMAN DICTIONARY
der Einfall
- B1
- Noun
- Emotions & Personality
- Communication
sudden idea
/deːɐ̯ ˈaɪ̯nfal/
Meaning and translations
Meaning, definition and translations of this sense.
Grammar & classification
Main grammatical and classification properties of the word.
- Article
- der
- Gender
- Masculine
- Plural
- Einfälle
- Part of speech
- Noun
- CEFR level
- B1
- Morphology
- Conversion
- Topics
- Emotions & PersonalityPrimaryCommunication
Usage examples
Examples showing real usage and grammatical forms.
- Sein Einfall kam ihm mitten in der Nacht.NominativSing.His idea came to him in the middle of the night.
- Sie hatte einen überraschenden Einfall.AkkusativSing.She had a surprising idea.
- Mit diesem Einfall half er seinem Team.DativSing.With this idea, he helped his team.
- Die Wirkung des Einfalls war sofort erkennbar.GenitivSing.The effect of the idea was immediately apparent.
- Gute Einfälle entstehen oft beim gemeinsamen Denken.NominativPlur.Good ideas often emerge when people think together.
- Die Schülerinnen sammelten ihre besten Einfälle.AkkusativPlur.The students collected their best ideas.
- Die Lehrerin gab den Einfällen der Kinder Raum.DativPlur.The teacher gave the children's ideas room to develop.
- Die Qualität der Einfälle überzeugte die Jury.GenitivPlur.The quality of the ideas impressed the jury.
Pronunciation and forms
Pronunciation and audio for the lemma and important forms.
-
Lemma
Einfall/ˈaɪ̯nfal/
-
Article phrase
der Einfall/deːɐ̯ ˈaɪ̯nfal/
-
Plural
Einfälle/ˈaɪ̯nfɛlə/
Declension / Forms
How the noun changes across German cases and singular or plural.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | der Einfall | die Einfälle |
| Akkusativ | den Einfall | die Einfälle |
| Dativ | dem Einfall | den Einfällen |
| Genitiv | des Einfalls | der Einfälle |
Usage and collocations
Typical constructions, prepositions and word combinations.
- Collocationeinen guten Einfall haben
- Adjective combinationein genialer Einfall
- Prepositional constructionauf einen Einfall kommenauf + Akkusativ
- Sentence patternDer Einfall kam ihr plötzlich.
- Collocationeinen Einfall umsetzen
Semantic relations
How this meaning relates to other meanings and easily confused words.
- Near-synonymIdee — idea
- Near-synonymGedanke — thought
A Gedanke is more general; a Einfall refers specifically to a thought that arises suddenly, often creatively.
- Related termVorschlag — suggestion
A Vorschlag is a specific thought for solving a problem or planning, whereas a Einfall can initially be any idea that arises suddenly.
Word formation and word family
How the word is formed and its reviewed lexical family.
Formation typeConversion
- EinfallOther
„Einfall“ is a conversion of the verb „einfallen“.
Word family
- einfallen
- Einfallsreichtum