Gewordenen

Gewordenen is a German grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item. It is the declined form of the past participle geworden, which comes from the verb werden (to become). In ordinary usage geworden is the participle used to form perfect tenses and passive constructions, as in ich bin geworden (I have become) or es ist geworden (it has become).

Gewordenen appears when the participle is inflected to agree with a noun in case, gender and number, or when it is used in a nominal (noun-like) function. In practice, German writers typically prefer the related nominal forms for a substantive sense: Gewordene (singular) and Gewordenen (plural). These forms function as nouns meaning “the ones who have become” or more generally “the becoming ones.” The use is more common in literary, philosophical, or rhetorical contexts than in everyday speech.

Examples of use, conceptually:

- As a noun phrase: Die Gewordenen standen am Rand des Feldes. (The ones who have become stood at the edge of the field.)

- As a plural form in citations or headings: Die Gewordenen des Zeitgeists.

In philosophy and literature, das Gewordene or die Gewordenen can denote states of having been formed or realized, emphasizing completion or transformation rather than the ongoing process of becoming. Because gewordenen is primarily a grammatical inflection of geworden, most references treat it as a functional form rather than a separate semantic item; the substantive sense arises through Gewordene/Gewordenen.