flektiert

Flektiert is a term used in linguistics to describe a word form that has undergone inflection (Flexion). A flektierte Form carries grammatical information such as case, number, gender, tense, mood, person, or degree. In languages with rich morphology, most content words are flektiert, while analytic languages have fewer inflected forms.

The process is called flektieren; it involves changing the form of a word, often by adding endings or making internal stem changes. Verbs are conjugated; nouns and adjectives are declined. For example, the verb gehen is flektiert: ich gehe, du gehst, er geht; in the past tense er ging; das Partizip II ist gegangen. The noun Hund flektiert in forms like der Hund (Nominativ Singular), des Hundes (Genitiv Singular) und die Hunde (Nominativ Plural). The adjective groß flektiert sich in Deklination, as in ein großer Mann versus ein großes Haus, depending on article and case.

In grammar, describing a form as flektiert distinguishes it from the lemma or base form and from unflektierte elements. The concept is central to understanding how languages encode grammatical relations through word form variation. It is discussed across languages with different morphologies, and is contrasted with derivation, which creates new words rather than altering existing ones.