beschritten

Beschritten is the past participle of the German verb beschreiten. It denotes the act of treading a path or route, and more broadly the act of undertaking or embarking on a course of action. The expression den Weg beschreiten is used for both physical traversal and figurative beginnings, and the construction with perfect tense typically uses the auxiliary haben, as in Er hat den Pfad beschritten.

The verb beschreiten is formed with the prefix be- attached to the verb schreiten (to stride). The infinitive is beschreiten, the present tense forms include ich beschreite, du beschreitest, er beschreitet, and the simple past is beschritt. The past participle is beschritten, used with haben in perfect constructions. Because beschreiten is an inseparable-prefix verb, the prefix remains attached in main tense forms, and the object often appears before the participle, as in Er hat den Weg beschritten.

In usage, beschritten tends to occur in formal, literary, or historical prose rather than everyday speech. It emphasizes a decisive or ceremonial aspect of moving along a path or adopting a new policy or direction. Example: Die Regierung hat damit einen neuen Kurs beschritten. Synonyms in similar contexts include gehen a path, einschlagen a course, or betreten in the sense of entering a path, though each carries its own nuance. See also beschreiten’s related forms and idiomatic uses in German.