Gedeckter

Gedeckter is a German attributive adjective form of gedeckt, which can mean “set” in the sense of a table being prepared for a meal, or “covered” in a broader sense. It is most commonly encountered in dining contexts, where it describes a table that has place settings, dishes and cutlery arranged in advance. As a past participle of decken, gedeckt also forms the basis for related expressions such as der Tisch ist gedeckt (the table is set).

Morphology and usage notes: Gedeckter is the masculine singular form used without a definite determiner or with certain determiners in the nominative case (strong or mixed declension). With a definite article, the forms change by case and gender (for example, der gedeckte Tisch in nominative, den gedeckten Tisch in accusative). With an indefinite article, as in ein gedeckter Tisch, the adjective takes the mixed endings. The plural forms include gedeckte Tische (no article) or die gedeckten Tische (with definite article).

Beyond dining, gedeckt can describe things that are covered or layered, such as ein gedeckter Himmel (an overcast sky) or gedeckte Oberflächen (covered surfaces), though such uses are less common and often context-specific.

See also: gedeckt (the past participle or other uses), decken (the verb), Tisch (table) and related terms for furniture and dining settings.