assistierte

Assistierte is a German term that functions as the preterite (simple past) form of the verb assistieren, meaning to assist. It is used for ich assistierte and er/sie assistierte in the simple past tense. In everyday spoken German the Perfekt form "ich habe assistiert" is more common; "assistierte" appears mainly in written language, historical narration, and formal or technical contexts.

As an attributive or predicative participle, assistierte can modify nouns to indicate that an action was carried out with assistance. The phrase assistierte Reproduktion or assistierte Reproduktionstechniken is standard in medical and bioethical discussions to denote assisted reproduction technologies. In ethical and legal debates the adjective-like form occurs in terms such as assistierte Sterbehilfe or assistierter Suizid, referring to acts of suicide that are aided by another person.

Grammatically, assistierte is the simple past form and is not the usual participle used to form the present perfect in everyday speech; for most speakers the present perfect uses assistiert, or assistiert haben as appropriate, though "assistierte" remains correct in the pretérito and in fixed terms.

The word is primarily used in German-language medical, legal, and policy discourse, and it illustrates how participation or help is encoded in compound terms. See also: assistieren, assistierte Reproduktion, Sterbehilfe, Suizid.