Bewunderte

Bewunderte is a form of the German verb bewundern. It is used as the simple past (Präteritum) for the first and third person singular: ich bewunderte, er/sie/es bewunderte. In narration this form expresses a past action of admiring something or someone. The corresponding past participle is bewundert, which is used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses (for example, ich habe bewundert).

Etymology and meaning: bewundern consists of the prefix be- combined with wundern (to wonder). The overall sense is to regard something or someone with admiration or astonishment. The Präteritum form bewunderte reflects standard German verb conjugation for regular-weak verbs in the past tense.

Nominal use: Bewunderte can also appear as a noun when capitalized, der Bewunderte, die Bewunderte, meaning “the admired one” or “the person who is admired.” This nominalized participle is relatively rare and is typically found in literary or stylistic contexts. In everyday language, speakers would usually express the idea with a construction such as “die Person, die bewundert wird” rather than a fixed noun.

Examples:

- Sie bewunderte die Harmonie der Szene.

- Der Künstler bewunderte die Reaktion des Publikums.

- Der Bewunderte nahm das Kompliment entgegen.

Usage notes: bewunderte primarily functions as a past tense form of bewundern, with the standard past participle bewundert for compound tenses. When used as a noun, Bewunderte is capitalized and may require context to clarify the reference.

See also: bewundern, Präteritum, Partizip II (bewundert), Konjunktiv II (bewunderten).