Skip to content

mindestens

at least

adverb MIN-des-tens Less Common
Numbers & Measures Quantities

Usage Note

mindestens sets a numerical or quantitative floor: 'at least this much'. For 'at the very least' in a concessive sense ('you could at least call'), Germans more often reach for wenigstens, which carries an emotional, reproachful tone the neutral mindestens lacks.

Examples

"Das dauert mindestens eine Stunde."

Natural Translation

That takes at least an hour.

Literal Translation

That lasts at-least one hour.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore German by topic