Verfassten

Verfassten is a German verb form derived from verfassen, which means to compose or draft a text. As a finite form, verfassten is the Präteritum (simple past) for third-person plural subjects and for the formal address Sie. For example: Die Studierenden verfassten eine Stellungnahme. Sie verfassten den Bericht. In these sentences verfassten marks a completed action in the past.

Verfassten can also appear as a participial form used in attributive position. The past participle of verfassen is verfasst, and when used as an adjective with a plural noun preceded by a definite article, it takes the ending verfassten: die verfassten Briefe = the written letters. This usage describes documents that have already been drafted or written.

Etymology and sense: verfassen combines ver- with fassen (to grasp or to seize) and has developed a specialized sense related to producing written texts, drafts, or official documents. The prefix ver- often adds a sense of completion or result in this verb.

Usage considerations: In modern German, verfassen is common in formal, academic, legal, and journalistic contexts. Verfassten as a finite form appears mainly in narrative past tense, while verfasst as a past participle is used with auxiliary haben in perfect tenses (Sie haben den Bericht verfasst). The attributive adjective form verfassten is found in phrases like die verfassten Unterlagen or die verfassten Briefe.

See also: verfassen, schreiben, Dokumentation.