German word

ahnen

Pronunciation

IPA/ˈaːnən/

Meaning

  • verbhave a feeling

Example

Ich ahne, dass etwas nicht stimmt.

I have a feeling that something is wrong.

Illustration for ahnen (have a feeling)

More examples

Wenn ich sein Gesicht sehe, ahne ich Ärger.

When I see his face, I have a feeling that trouble is coming.

Core concept

A faint shadow of an unseen fact appears before the evidence does.

Common phrases

  • nichts Gutes ahnen

    have a bad feeling

  • davon ahnen

    have an inkling of it

Similar words

vermuten: Infer that something is probably true from clues, without certainty.
meinen: Express a personal belief that something is true despite limited evidence.
fürchten: Anticipate something bad with fear and anxiety.
spüren: Feel or detect a faint physical change or nearby presence.

Definition in German

Ein vages Gefühl haben, dass etwas so ist, ohne klare Beweise oder genaue Informationen.

Word origin

Ahnen continues Middle High German anen and is related to the noun Ahnung, which names an intuitive sense of something not yet clear.

Usage tips

  • Ahnen commonly introduces a dass-clause, as in 'Ich ahne, dass ...'; it presents a hunch rather than a reasoned conclusion.

Other meanings

  • guessverb
  • suspectverb

Opposites

Related words

  • die Ahnunginklingnoun
  • ahnungsloscluelessadjective
  • vorausahnenforeseeverb

Word lists with this word