ausbreiteten

Ausbreiten is a German verb meaning to spread out, to lay out, or to extend over a surface. It can refer to physical spreading, such as a map being laid flat, fabrics unfurled, or flowers expanding across a bed, as well as to abstract spreading, like influence, news, or diseases. The form is built from the prefix aus- plus the verb breiten, and it is commonly used in both literal and figurative contexts.

In grammar, ausbreiten is a separable-prefix verb. In present tense, the prefix separates: ich breite aus, du breitest aus, er breitet aus, wir breiten aus, ihr breitet aus, sie breiten aus. In the simple past (Präteritum) this yields forms such as ich breitete aus, du breitestest aus, er breitete aus, wir breiteten aus, ihr breitetet aus, sie breiteten aus. The past participle is ausgebreitet, used with habe: Sie hat die Karten ausgebreitet. When describing a completed spread without specifying the subject, one can say: Die Karten wurden ausgebreitet.

The noun form associated with the action is das Ausbreiten, meaning the act of spreading out. A more common noun for the general concept is die Ausbreitung, which denotes spreading, expansion, or diffusion in a broader sense, including geographical, cultural, technological, or epidemiological contexts.

The term ausbreiteten as a single word is not standard in modern German orthography. The correct conjugations place the prefix aus before the verb stem in finite forms (e.g., breiteten aus), and the participle form is ausgebreitet. In practice, misspellings or OCR errors may render the form as ausbreiteten, but this is not considered correct standard usage.