German

Noun

Drei f ‎(genitive Drei, plural Dreien)

1. three (digit/figure 3)

Declension

Central Franconian

Numeral

drei

1. (most dialects) three

German

Etymology

From Old High German drī, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Compare Dutch drie, English three, Danish tre.

Alternative forms

• drey (obsolete)
• Drei (when used substantively)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁaɪ̯/, [dʁaɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯

Numeral

drei

1. three

Declension

• Nominative and accusative are nowadays always uninflected. The substantival form dreie is nowadays dialectal.
• The genitive case takes the form dreier if no article or pronoun is preceding: Vater dreier Kinder – “a father of three children”. But: der Vater der drei Kinder – “the father of the three children”. The form dreier is somewhat elevated; even in formal writing it is sometimes more natural to avoid it (Vater von drei Kindern).
• The dative case is often uninflected in adjectival use: Ich sprach mit drei Zeugen. – “I spoke with three witnesses.” When used as a noun, it may take the form dreien: Ich sprach mit dreien. – “I spoke with three.” This rule is usually observed in formal standard German; but when a specification in the genitive case (or with von) is following, the bare form is common: Ich sprach mit drei der Zeugen. – “I spoke with three of the witnesses.” In colloquial German, dreien is never obligatory.

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

German Low German

Alternative forms

• (in some dialects) dree

Etymology

Compare Old Saxon thrīe, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Ultimately cognate to German drei, Dutch drie, English three.

Numeral

drei

1. (Low Prussian) three (3)

See also

• Plautdietsch: dree

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

drei

1. imperative of dreie