Beurteilten

Beurteilten is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb beurteilen, meaning to judge, evaluate, or assess. It is used in written German to describe past evaluations or judgments. The stem beurteil- combines with a standard weak-verb ending to indicate past tense.

In Präteritum, the full conjugation for the verb beurteilen is: ich beurteilte, du beurteiltest, er beurteilte, wir beurteilten, ihr beurteiltet, sie beurteilten. The past participle used with auxiliary verbs is beurteilt, as in habe/hat beurteilt in the Perfekt. In everyday spoken German, speakers often prefer the Perfekt (e.g., habe beurteilt) for past events rather than the Präteritum.

Usage and nuance: beurteilten is used to describe forming an opinion or evaluation about something based on evidence or criteria. It is common in academic, legal, journalistic, and evaluative contexts. For example: Die Experten beurteilten die Ergebnisse kritisch. Das Committee beurteilte die Bewerbungen sorgfältig. A related verb, bewerten, emphasizes assigning a value or score and is often used interchangeably in casual language, though beurteilen more directly conveys forming an opinion.

Distinguishing forms: beurteilten should not be confused with the noun Beurteilung (an assessment or evaluation) or with verwandte Verben wie beurteilen vs. bewerten, which carry subtle distinctions in emphasis on opinion versus value. Beurteilten, as a past-tense form, is a standard grammatical feature of written German.