Hölzernen

Hölzernen is the inflected form of the German adjective hölzern, meaning wooden. It functions as an attributive adjective that agrees with a noun in gender, number, and case. The form hölzernen appears in certain grammatical contexts, most commonly in the dative plural and in other cases when the determiner requires a stronger or mixed ending.

In practice, hölzernen is heard and written in phrases such as die hölzernen Möbel (the wooden furniture) or den hölzernen Möbeln (to the wooden furniture) when the noun is plural and the article is definite. In phrases without a definite determiner, the strong declension yields forms such as hölzernen Brettern (from hölzernen Bretter), as in Aus hölzernen Brettern lässt sich vieles bauen. The form can also appear in feminine or neuter constructions with appropriate determiners, reflecting the same underlying pattern of endings.

Because hölzern is a normal German adjective, hölzernen is not a separate noun and does not appear alone as a term. Its usage is strictly grammatical, signaling that the noun it modifies is made of wood. The word derives from the common German root Holz (wood) with the standard adjectival suffixes that produce the various inflected forms, including hölzernen in many plural and case combinations.

See also: German adjective declension, hölzern, wood in German vocabulary.