Vorausgesetzten

Vorausgesetzten is the declined attributive form of the German adjective derived from the verb voraussetzen, which means to presuppose or to assume. In usage, vorausgesetzt describes something that is taken as given or required as a condition for other statements or actions. The form vorausgesetzten is specifically the plural form you encounter when the noun it modifies is plural and the article is definite (and, by extension, in other cases with plural nouns).

Grammatically, vorausgesetzten can appear in all plural cases after a definite article: die vorausgesetzten Bedingungen (nominative or accusative), der vorausgesetzten Bedingungen (genitive), den vorausgesetzten Bedingungen (dative). In singular usage, the adjective would take other endings: der vorausgesetzte Zustand, die vorausgesetzte Bedingung, das vorausgesetzte Prinzip. The word is most common in technical, legal, and academic German, where it describes prerequisites or conditions that are assumed to be true or must be met.

In addition to its attributive use, the participle form vorausgesetzt exists as a conjunction meaning “provided that” or “assuming that,” as in Vorausgesetzt, dass alle Voraussetzungen erfüllt sind. This conjunction sense is distinct from the attributive adjective form and is widely used in formal and conditional clauses.

Related terms include the noun Vorausetzung (premise, prerequisite) and the adjective-pronoun combination vorausgesetzte/vorausgesetzte. The nuance centers on whether the condition is presupposed or required for a statement, action, or analysis, rather than being demonstrated within the discussion itself.