Gedankens

Gedankens is the genitive singular form of the German noun Gedanke, meaning "thought." In standard usage, possession is expressed with des Gedankens, as in Die Bedeutung des Gedankens (the meaning of the thought). Gedankens by itself is not used as a common stand-alone noun in modern German; it appears mainly in fixed expressions or as the stem in compounds that draw on the genitive form of Gedanke.

Gedanke is masculine; its nominative singular is der Gedanke, the genitive singular des Gedankens, and the plural die Gedanken. The form Gedankens is thus tied to the genitive, not to plural. The plural Gedankens does not exist in ordinary usage; the plural is Gedanken.

In everyday language, speakers use Gedanken for multiple thoughts, or Gedanke in the singular with appropriate possessive constructions. The term Gedankens may appear in historical or literary contexts, and in some compound nouns that draw on the genitive form, though it is relatively rare.

See also: Gedanke; Gedanken; Gedankenexperiment.