Kindlichen

Kindlichen is the inflected form of the German adjective kindlich, which means childlike or relating to children. As an adjective, kindlich describes qualities or characteristics associated with children or with a childlike quality. The form appears in contexts where the adjective is declined for case, gender, and number.

In usage, kindlich can describe people, behavior, or traits, for example: ein kindlicher Blick (a childlike/gaze), kindliche Eigenschaften (childlike characteristics), or die kindliche Entwicklung (the development of a child). The specific form kindlichen appears in several grammatical cases and numbers, particularly with definite or determiner phrases and in plural forms. For instance, nominative plural is die kindlichen Kinder, accusative plural is die kindlichen Kinder, and dative plural is den kindlichen Kindern. In singular forms you encounter der kindliche Mann (nominative masculine, no -n), den kindlichen Mann (accusative masculine), dem kindlichen Mann or dem kindlichen Kind (dative masculine or neuter), and der kindlichen Frau or des kindlichen Kindes (genitive feminine or neuter).

Declension note: the ending -lichen is common after definite articles in many cases (den kindlichen Mann, der kindlichen Frau, der kindlichen Kinder). It also occurs in other inflected positions, such as den kindlichen Kindern (dative plural) and der kindlichen Kinder (genitive plural). The base form kindlich comes from Kind + -lich, a productive German suffix forming adjectives meaning related to or resembling the root concept.