Nachfolgenden

Nachfolgenden is the inflected form of the German adjective nachfolgend, meaning “following” or “subsequent.” It describes something that comes after or is subsequently mentioned or described. As an attributive adjective, nachfolgend declines like other adjectives when a determiner provides gender, number, and case.

Grammatical usage: The form nachfolgenden appears in masculine accusative singular (den nachfolgenden Abschnitt), masculine dative singular (dem nachfolgenden Abschnitt), feminine and neuter forms (die nachfolgende, das nachfolgende Urteil in their respective cases), and in plural (die nachfolgenden Abschnitte; den nachfolgenden Abschnitten). The exact ending depends on case, gender, and number, and is typically triggered by articles or adjectives preceding the noun.

Adverbial use: In many contexts, especially in formal writing, the adverb nachfolgend is used to mean “in the following” or “subsequently.” For example: “Nachfolgend werden die Bedingungen erläutert.” In this usage the word is not inflected as an adjective.

Etymology: The form derives from nach- (“after”) + folgen (“to follow”) with the participial suffix -end, yielding an adjective meaning “following.” The -en ending shown here results from agreement with a masculine plural or other determiner across different cases.

Common contexts: Nachfolgenden occurs frequently in legal, scientific, and technical texts to refer to items, sections, or years that come after a previously mentioned element. It is also used in descriptive headings to introduce subsequent content.

In sum, nachfolgenden is a versatile declined form of nachfolgend used to specify the case-appropriate “following” attribute of a noun, while its adverbial counterpart nachfolgend serves to signal upcoming content.