dankende

Dankende is a German word formed from the verb danken, meaning “to thank.” It functions as an adjective and, less commonly, as a nominalized participle. As an adjective, dankende describes something that expresses gratitude or is related to thanking. Typical usages include phrases like eine dankende Geste (“a gesture of thanks”) or dankende Worte (“words of gratitude”).

Grammatical inflection runs with gender and number: der dankende Mann, die dankende Frau, das dankende Kind; die dankenden Gäste. The participial form dankend can appear in adverbial or predicative constructions, for example in phrases such as sprach dankend (spoke thankfully), though predicative use with this exact form is less common than alternatives like dankbar.

Nominally, the form Dankende can occur as a noun to denote a person who gives thanks, but this usage is rare and stylistic. More natural in everyday language is to express the idea with a noun phrase such as die Person, die dankt, or eine dankende Person.

Etymology and relation to other terms: Dankende is derived from the verb danken with the present participle suffix -ende. It is part of a family of gratitude-related words in German, including Dank (thanks), Dankbarkeit (gratitude), and Danksagung (acknowledgement or thanksgiving).

See also:

- Dank

- Dankbarkeit

- Danksagung

- Danken