Bekannten

Bekannten is the inflected form of the German adjective bekannt, meaning well-known or familiar. It can appear in two main senses: as an adjective in weak declension and, when capitalized, as part of the plural noun Bekannte(Bekannten) referring to people one knows.

As an adjective, bekannt takes the weak ending -en after a definite article or other determiner that provides case information. Examples: die bekannten Städte (the well-known cities, nominative plural), die bekannten Städte (the well-known cities, accusative plural), den bekannten Städten (to the well-known cities, dative plural). In singular forms with definite articles: dem bekannten Mann (to the well-known man, dative singular masculine) or der bekannten Frau (the well-known woman, in the appropriate case). The -en ending signals that the determiner carries the required grammatical information, so the adjective does not carry a strong ending. The form bekannter occurs in some cases of the comparative or in mixed declension, but the common plural weak ending is bekannten.

As a noun, Bekannte (plural) or Bekannter (singular) refers to people one knows, i.e., acquaintances. The plural is usually Bekannte or Bekannten depending on case: die Bekannten (the acquaintances, nominative plural), den Bekannten (to the acquaintances, dative plural). The noun is always capitalized, unlike the adjective form. When used without an article, plural Bekannte means “acquaintances” in a general sense.

Etymology traces back to the adjective bekannt from the verb kennen (to know). In everyday German, bekannt remains common as an adjective meaning well-known, while Bekannte/Bekannten as a noun denotes people one knows.