Fossilised expression 'meines Erachtens' (in my opinion)

meines Erachtens means in my opinion / to my mind and is a fossilised genitive phrase signalling a personal view. It derives from the noun das Erachten (judgement) and is frozen in the genitive. It is often abbreviated m. E. in formal writing.

It typically opens the clause and, like any fronted element, triggers verb-second inversion.

• Meines Erachtens ist das falsch. - In my opinion that is wrong.
• Das war meines Erachtens ein Fehler. - That was, in my view, a mistake.
• Meines Erachtens sollte man warten. - To my mind one should wait.

Common mistakes: It is meines Erachtens, never meines Erachtens nach - the nach is a frequent error caused by blending it with meiner Meinung nach. Do not inflect Erachten. Reserve it for formal contexts; in speech meiner Meinung nach is more usual.

'meines Erachtens' (in my opinion) is a fixed genitive phrase.

Fixed genitive 'in my opinion'; the form is frozen.

'meines Erachtens' ist eine erstarrte Genitivwendung (Meinung).