Sinn machen

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German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Recorded in earlier rare use by Goethe, Lessing, Luther, and others, including "Petrus der maister Lampardus, der die sentencias machet, das ist das puch von hochen synnen zu teutsch."[1] From Medieval Latin (scholasticism) "sententiam facere".

Sinn machen has seen increasingly widespread use since the 1970s, probably due to the influence of the English expression make sense. Thus, the German expression is probably an interesting example of a rare case of a combination of a resurrected phrase and a modern loan translation. It is now widely used and is listed in Duden as belonging to the colloquial language register.[2]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /zɪn ˈmaxn̩/, /zɪn ˈmaxən/

Verb[edit]

Sinn machen (weak, third-person singular present macht Sinn, past tense machte Sinn, past participle Sinn gemacht, auxiliary haben)

  1. (intransitive, colloquial) to make sense
    Synonyms: Sinn haben, Sinn ergeben, sinnvoll sein

Conjugation[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Sinn” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
  2. ^ Sinn” in Duden online