gedämpften

Gedämpften is the declined form of the German adjective gedämpft, meaning damped, muffled, or moderated. It is used to describe plural nouns when a definite article or a determiner is present, for example: die gedämpften Geräusche, den gedämpften Tönen. The form also appears in the dative plural, as in mit den gedämpften Geräuschen. The base form gedämpft comes from the verb dämpfen, which can mean to dampen, to suppress, or to moderate.

Meaning and usage

Gedämpft describes attenuation or softening of something, whether physical, such as sound or light, or metaphorical, such as reactions or discourse. Examples include gedämpfte Töne (muffled sounds), gedämpftes Licht (dimmed lighting), gedämpfte Reaktionen (tempered or restrained reactions), or gedämpfte Kritik (softened criticism). The sense depends on context, ranging from a literal reduction of intensity to a figurative moderation of tone or emphasis.

Grammar and inflection

Gedämpften is an inflected adjective form. After a definite article or other determiner, the plural ending is -en in nominative and accusative, and also in the dative plural: die gedämpften Geräusche, ich höre die gedämpften Töne, mit den gedämpften Geräuschen. The predicative form for plural nouns is gedämpft (e.g., Die Töne sind gedämpft). In the singular, different endings apply (e.g., das gedämpfte Licht). Gedämpften is therefore specifically the plural form used with definite-article constructions.

Relation to related uses

In cooking, the past participle gedämpft describes food prepared by steaming, and in plural you may encounter die gedämpften Speisen (the steamed dishes). Gedämpft remains the base adjective form, while gedämpften is one of its plural inflections.