einfallen
German, verb
einfallen is spelled E-I-N-F-A-L-L-E-N (9 letters) and appears 11 times per million words in written German, the 6,291st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Einfallen is a German verb meaning “to occur (to someone), to come (to someone); to come to mind [with dative ‘to someone’] (idiomatically translated by English think of with…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Einfällen is a different word: “dative plural of Einfall”. With a capital, Einfallen is a different word: “gerund of einfallen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “(unerwünscht oder sogar gewaltsam) eindringen”.
What does einfallen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to occur (to someone), to come (to someone); to come to mind [with dative ‘to someone’] (idiomatically translated by English think of with the dative object as the subject)
Laß dir was einfallen!
- 2
for there to be a memory [with dative ‘to someone’] (idiomatically translated by English remember with the dative object as the subject)
Es ist mir wieder eingefallen
- 3
to invade
Die Soldaten fielen in das Land ein.
- 4
to collapse, to fall in
Wegen der schweren Flut sind die Wände des Hauses eingefallen.
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Einfall
noun
- 1
neutergerund of einfallen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. (unerwünscht oder sogar gewaltsam) eindringen 2. sich (plötzlich) an etwas erinnern 3. (Syntax wie [2]) sich etwas Neues ausdenken, das einem (spontan) in den Sinn kommt 4. in sich zusammenstürzen, in sich zusammenfallen, einstürzen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of einfallen
- fällt ein present singular third-person
- fiel ein past
- eingefallen participle past
- sein auxiliary
- 7 strong
- einfallend participle present
- einzufallen infinitive infinitive-zu
- falle ein first-person indicative present
- fallen ein first-person indicative plural
- fällst ein indicative present second-person
- fallt ein indicative plural present
- fallest ein second-person singular subjunctive
- fallet ein plural second-person subjunctive
- fielen ein first-person indicative plural
- fiele ein first-person singular subjunctive
- fielst ein indicative preterite second-person
- fielt ein indicative plural preterite
- fielest ein second-person singular subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to einfallen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is einfallen in German?
einfallen appears 11 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).