Að þýða vs. að meina

While að meina and að þýða both translate as to mean, they don't really mean the same thing. That's why the natives look at you funny when you mix them up.

Honestly, I blame English for making the word “mean” mean so many things. By what means did they mean to make one word mean so many things? I mean, it's no mean feat to find the mean of so many meanings.

Thankfully, the Icelandic version is clear and simple, once you clear things up.

Rule of Thumb

The difference between að meina and að þýða is that að meina is for people, and að þýða is for words and symbols.

Once more in bullet points for the skimmers in the group.

• Að meina is for people.
• Að þýða is for words and such.

Að þýða

This is about the significance of a word or symbol.

• Hvað þýðir "náriðill"? Ég er að spyrja fyrir vin = What does "necrophiliac" mean? Asking for a friend.
• Rautt ljós þýðir að þú átt að stoppa = Red means stop.
• Þú notar alltaf þetta orð. Ég held að það þýði ekki það sem þú heldur að það þýði = You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

As a bonus, að þýða can also translate as “to translate”.

• Hann þýddi barnabókina úr íslensku á swahili = He translated the children's book from Icelandic to Swahili.
• Geturðu þýtt þetta fyrir mig? = Can you translate this for me?

Að meina

This is all about a person's intent.

• Hvað meinarðu með fjórum eggaldin tjáknum í röð? = What do you mean by four eggplant emojis in a row?
• Hún meinar ekki illa, hún segir bara það sem hún meinar. Og hún er ógeðslega leiðinleg = She doesn't mean anything bad, she just says what she means. And she's really mean.
• Meðaltalið úr illkvitna prófinu var lágt því kennarinn meinti ekki það sem hann sagði = The mean of the mean test was low because the teacher didn't mean what he said.

Summary

Að þýða is for words and symbols, and að meina is for people.

If English didn't insist on using one word (to mean) for things that are clearly very different, this wouldn't be so confusing for learners. I blame English.