emphatischen

Emphatischen is the attributive inflected form of the German adjective emphatisch, which means emphatic or expressive. The form appears when the adjective directly precedes a noun and is accompanied by a definite determiner (such as der, die, das, die) or another determiner that supplies full inflection. In German, this is part of the weak declension pattern, where the ending -en is used in most plural forms and in several singular cases.

In practice, emphatischen occurs in various grammatical contexts. For example, in the plural nominative or accusative: Die emphatischen Männer diskutierten lange. In the dative: Er sprach mit emphatischen Gesten. In the genitive singular: Der Charakter des emphatischen Mannes ist schwer zu übersehen. And in the dative plural: Den emphatischen Frauen fiel die Entscheidung schwer. These usages illustrate that the -en ending is common for this adjective form when it follows a definite determiner or a determiner that provides full inflection.

As a form, emphatischen is not a separate word with independent meaning beyond emphatisch; it is a grammatical ending indicating case, number, and gender. Learners of German encounter emphatischen most often in formal or literary texts, where the definite article or similar determiner accompanies the adjective.

Related forms include the base adjective emphatisch and other inflected endings for different cases and numbers, such as emphatischer (masculine/singular nominative) or emphatische (feminine singular nominative or plural). Understanding emphatischen helps with correct adjective declension in attributive position after definite determiners.