blauen

Blauen is the inflected form of the German adjective blau, meaning blue. In German, adjectives change their endings to reflect gender, number, and case, and blau has several possible endings. Blauen specifically appears in certain inflectional patterns, most commonly after definite articles or in contexts requiring the weak or mixed declension. For example, after a definite article in masculine accusative, you find den blauen Himmel; in feminine dative singular you encounter der blauen Blume; in plural nominative or accusative you see die blauen Augen. The same form also appears in other case combinations, such as den blauen Blumen (dative plural) or dem blauen Auto (neuter dative singular). These examples illustrate how blau takes the ending -en in many common inflected positions.

Etymology and related forms: The German word blau derives from Old High German blāw, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *blæwaz. It is cognate with similar words for blue in other Germanic languages, such as English blue. The modern inflected form blau, and its various endings including blauen, reflect a long history of German adjective declension that marks agreement with nouns and determiners in gender, number, and case.

Usage notes: Blauen is not a standalone noun; it is an inflected adjective form. It frequently occurs in attributive position (before a noun) with a determiner that signals the noun’s gender and case. In contrast, predicative uses of blue involve forms like blau, not blauen, as in Der Himmel ist blau.

Geographic usage: In German-speaking regions, Blauen is also found as a proper-name element in place names, typically referring to hills or mountains named for their blue appearance. In such toponyms, capitalization signals a specific geographic feature rather than the generic adjective form.