Oberen

Oberen is the declined form of the German adjective ober, meaning upper or top. It does not function as a standalone word in typical usage; instead, it appears as the adjectival form before plural nouns when the noun is definite, conveying the sense of “the upper …” or “the top …” For example, die oberen Stockwerke means “the upper floors,” and die oberen Etagen means “the upper floors” as well.

Morphology and usage notes:

In German adjective declension, after a definite article in the plural, the ending -en is used. Therefore, with die as the definite article, the form is die oberen … (upper plural nouns). The same stem can take different endings in other cases or with other articles: der obere Stock (singular, nominative), dem oberen Stockwerk (singular, dative), den oberen Stockwerken (plural, dative). The form oberen therefore indicates a plural, definite context of an upper or superior grouping described by the noun.

Common contexts:

Oberen appears frequently in architecture, real estate, urban planning, and descriptive writing about buildings or city areas. It helps distinguish levels within a structure (stockwerke, etagen) or sections of a district (oberer Teil der Stadt).

Limitations:

Oberen is not a separate noun or a standalone term; its meaning derives from the base adjective ober and its grammatical role in a sentence. In some contexts, the uppercase noun form Oberen can occur when the adjective is nominalized to refer to a group of “the upper ones” or “the higher-ups,” but this is distinct from the lowercase form oberen.

See also:

ober- prefix, Ober (German for upper), Stockwerk, Etage.