flüssige

Flüssige is the inflected form of the German adjective flüssig, meaning liquid or in a liquid state. It is used attributively before nouns to describe substances or materials that are not solid. For example, die flüssige Substanz, das flüssige Wasser.

Declension with a definite article follows the standard German adjective endings: masculine nominative der flüssige Zustand, feminine nominative die flüssige Substanz, neuter nominative das flüssige Wasser, plural nominative die flüssigen Substanzen. Without a definite article, strong endings apply: feminine singular flüssige Substanz, neuter singular flüssiges Wasser or flüssiges Öl, plural flüssige Substanzen. These forms reflect the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify.

Flüssige can also appear as a nominalized adjective, written with a capital letter, to refer to liquids or liquids in general, as in das Flüssige (the liquids). This use is less common in everyday language but occurs in technical, philosophical, or literary contexts.

In science and everyday language, flüssig is often used to denote the physical state of matter, distinguishing liquids from solids ( fest ) and gases ( gas). Flüssigkeit is the noun corresponding to liquid, referring to a liquid substance or the state of being liquid, for example in phrases like eine klare Flüssigkeit or Flüssigkeiten im Kühlkreislauf.

Etymology traces flüssig to the Germanic lineage for “flow” and to the noun Flüssigkeit, meaning liquid. The form fluent in modern German highlights the language’s systematic adjectival declension and its reliance on article-based endings to convey grammatical information.