determinerpronoun

beide

both

Dieses Wort benutzt man, wenn man von zwei Dingen oder Personen spricht und meint, dass sie zusammen gemeint sind.

Definition & meaning

beide means “both” or “the two”. It refers to exactly two people or things considered together.

Beide Kinder schlafen. — Both children are sleeping.
Ich kenne beide. — I know both of them.
Beide Möglichkeiten sind gut. — Both possibilities are good.

It can also be used in the construction beide … und …, meaning “both … and …”:

Beide Anna und Peter kommen. — Both Anna and Peter are coming.

As a pronoun, beide can mean “both of them”:

Beide sind schon da. — Both of them are already here.

Grammar & Word origin

beide is a plural determiner, adjective-like word, or pronoun. It is used only for two people or things.

Typical forms:

Nominative/accusative: beide
Dative: beiden
Genitive: beider

Examples:

beide Bücher — both books
mit beiden Händen — with both hands
die Meinung beider Parteien — the opinion of both parties

With a definite article, the form die beiden is common:

die beiden Freunde — the two friends

Historically, beide comes from an old Germanic word meaning “the two” and is related to the English word both. It is not formed from the modern German preposition bei .

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

die beiden — “the two”; often more specific and conversational than beide, especially when referring to two previously mentioned people or things.
beides — “both”; used when referring to two ideas, qualities, or things, often without a noun: Beides ist möglich. — Both are possible.
sowohl … als auch … — “both … and …”; used to connect two explicitly stated elements. It is a conjunction structure rather than a simple pronoun or determiner.

Antonyms

There is no exact single antonym for beide. Depending on the context, possible opposites include:

einer — one of the two
keiner — neither of the two
einzeln — individually or separately, emphasizing that the two are not considered together