Harmlose

Harmlose is the attributive, declined form of the German adjective harmlos, meaning harmless. It is not a separate word with its own meaning; rather, it is the form used before a noun when the noun is introduced by a definite article or another determiner that marks gender and number.

In singular usage with a definite article, the forms are:

- der harmlose Mann (masculine)

- die harmlose Frau (feminine)

- das harmlose Kind (neuter)

In plural, after the definite article, the adjective takes the weak ending -en:

- die harmlosen Tiere

The base form harmlos can also appear in other grammatically correct forms depending on the determiner and case, such as mit einem harmlosen Tier (with an harmless animal) in the neuter singular after the indefinite article.

Etymology and meaning:

Harmlos derives from the German root harm- meaning harm or injury, with the suffix -los meaning without. The combined sense is “without harm,” i.e., harmless. The form harmlose reflects standard German inflection rules for adjectives used attributively with definite articles.

Usage notes:

Harmlose is used in ordinary German to describe something that does not cause harm or danger. When speaking about multiple items, the plural form becomes harmlosen after a definite article, as in die harmlosen Beispiele (the harmless examples). In other grammatical contexts, different endings of harmlos appear depending on the determiner and case.

See also:

Harmlos, Harm, Harmlosigkeit.