beruflichen

Beruflichen is the inflected form of the German adjective beruflich, meaning "occupational" or "professional." It is used to describe things related to work or a profession and appears widely in discussions of education, employment, and career development.

Grammatically, beruflich is an adjective and takes endings according to gender, number, and case. The form beruflichen occurs mainly in plural contexts or after determiners that require the -en ending. Examples: in beruflichen Kontexten (in professional contexts), die beruflichen Qualifikationen (the professional qualifications). In singular phrases, other endings appear, such as eine berufliche Ausbildung (a vocational training) or der berufliche Werdegang (the professional career).

Etymology and usage: The word is derived from Beruf (occupation) with the suffix -lich, forming adjectives meaning "related to a profession." In addition to attributive use before nouns, beruflich can also function as an adverb meaning "professionally," as in Er arbeitet beruflich als Lehrer (He works professionally as a teacher).

See also: Beruf, Berufsausbildung, Berufserfahrung, Arbeitswelt.