I imported a DXF and now I can't add meshes? I'm new to blender but I worked through a number of tutorials on how to build and edit meshes. 

I imported a DXF that I want to use as a starting point and now the standard Shift-A menu that normally presents me with mesh options has changed to just present options for curves (shown below).



I've probably changed modes somehow, I want to switch back to whatever mode allows me to add meshes.

How can I add a mesh?
Looks like you're in edit mode where SHIFT+A opens the curve menu when you're editing a curve object. Just press TAB to return to object mode or select it from the dropdown.

In Blender 2.7x



In Blender 2.8