In counting, the formeins is used:eins zunull(“one–nil”) (sport result). The name of the numberone, as a noun, isEins.
In order to distinguish the numeral ("one") from the indefinite article ("a, an"), the former (which is stressed in pronunciation) may be printed initalics or with increasedletterspacing:
Ich hatte nurein Bier bestellt.
Ich hatte nureinBier bestellt.
ein can stay uninflected as inein oder zwei Wochen(“one or two weeks”),ein bis zwei Wochen(“one to two weeks”)
ein can be governed by the definite article to mean "the one":Ich hatte nurdas eine Bier bestellt.(“I had ordered justthe one beer.”)
In (originally) central and northern vernaculars the diphthongei- is usually not pronounced in the indefinite article, which gives rise to the informal contractions’n,’ne,’nem,’ner(dative), and’nen. (There are no contracted genitive forms.)
Earlier contracted forms which are not in use anymore areeim foreinem (though compare modern colloquialei’m) andeins foreines (as ineins Mann[e]s,eins Kind[e]s). Even older forms areein foreine (as inein Frau),einm foreinem andeinr foreiner.
1843, Carl Friedrich Friccius,Geschichte des Krieges in den Jahren 1813 und 184. Mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Ostpreussen und das Königsbergsche Landwehrbataillon, page418:
Rund herum gerieth Alles in Flammen. Eine Menge Kugeln aus der Festung schlugen dicht neben, über und hinter uns, oder mit fürchterlichem Geprassel in den Waldein; keine aber traf und der Himmel beschützte uns wunderbar.
Benecke, Georg Friedrich; Müller, Wilhelm; Zarncke, Friedrich (1863), “ein”, inMittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
Ni is often added after the noun or verbnoun whichein precedes. In formal language, this is done to emphasise the determiner or pronoun. In colloquial language, it is not necessarily an indicator of emphasis, and is often included with the determiner and always included with the pronoun. The exception to the latter case is in passive constructions employingcael, whereni is never used.
In formal Welsh, the contraction'n is a valid form ofein found after mostly functional vowel-final words. In colloquial Welsh,ein is often contracted to'n after almost any vowel-final word.
Pronomialein or'n can occur before any verbal noun. Before a verb, pronomial'n is found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles. See entry for'n for more information.
The colloquial pronunciation/ən/ is the original pronunciation, as shown by the Middle Welsh formyn. The more careful pronunciation/ei̯n/ is a laterspelling pronunciation.
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “ein”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page38
