Grammatisch

Grammatisch is an adjective in German that means related to grammar or grammatical. It is used to describe things governed by the rules of a language’s grammar, such as sentences, structures, rules, or phenomena observed in language use. In both formal linguistic descriptions and everyday speech, grammatisch appears when discussing how language is organized and how usage conforms to accepted rules.

Etymology and scope: Grammatisch derives from Grammatik (grammar), which in turn comes from the Greek grammatikē, meaning the art of letters, derived from gramma meaning a letter or written thing. The root is shared with the German noun Grammatik as well as related terms describing language structure.

Usage in linguistics: In linguistic analysis, the related idea is that of grammaticality—the degree to which a sentence or expression adheres to the grammar of a language. Linguists discuss grammatische Merkmale (morphological features) and grammatische Kategorien (parts of speech, tense, case, number, gender) to describe how languages encode meaning and function. The term appears in phrases such as grammatisch korrekt (grammatically correct), illustrating judgments about structure and form.

Cross-linguistic note: English uses the term grammatical, while German can pair grammatisch with a variety of nouns to express grammar-related concepts. In technical contexts, German writers may choose grammatisch or more specific terms depending on the nuance desired.

See also: Grammatik, Grammaticality, Morphology, Syntax, Linguistics.