Fehlenden

Fehlenden is the inflected form of the German adjective fehlend, derived from the verb fehlen (to be missing, to be absent). In usage it means missing or lacking and is placed before a noun to indicate that something is not present or incomplete. The form is common in both everyday and formal language, especially in contexts dealing with documents, information, or components that are not yet available.

Grammatically, fehlenden is an attributive adjective form whose ending depends on gender, number, case, and the presence of a definite article. With a definite article, the plural nominative and accusative takes fehlenden (die fehlenden Informationen), and the plural dative takes fehlenden as well (den fehlenden Unterlagen). In singular, other endings appear: der fehlende Mann, die fehlende Information, das fehlende Teil. When the article is indefinite or absent, strong or mixed inflection rules apply, yielding forms such as eine fehlende Information or fehlende Informationen in appropriate contexts.

Common uses include phrases such as fehlende Informationen, fehlende Unterlagen, and fehlender Beleg, where fehlenden or other endings reflect grammatical case and number. The term is frequently found in administrative, audit, and reporting language to indicate that required elements are not yet provided or are absent.

Etymology and related forms: fehlenden is tied to fehlen and the participle formen fehlend; related terms include fehlen (to be missing) and verfehlen (to miss). The word should not be confused with verfehlend, which has a different nuance.

See also: fehlen, fehlend, verfehlen.