gestreckten

Gestreckten is the inflected form of the past participle gestreckt of the German verb strecken. Used as an adjective, gestreckten describes something that has been stretched or extended and typically appears before a noun in attributive position. In plural noun phrases it commonly appears as gestreckten, depending on the case and determiner.

Usage and grammar

As an attributive adjective in plural, gestreckten occurs with determiners that indicate case and number. Examples include die gestreckten Arme (nominative or accusative plural with a definite article), mit gestreckten Armen (dative plural, after a preposition), and der gestreckten Glieder (genitive plural). It can also appear after possessive determiners or demonstratives, as in seine gestreckten Arme or diese gestreckten Glieder. Without a determiner or with a strong declension, the form can vary, for example gestreckte Arme in some contexts. The form gestreckten is not typically used as a bare predicate adjective; the past participle is usually used in a passive or adjectival sense, as in die Arme sind gestreckt.

Meaning and usage

Gestreckten conveys that limbs or parts of the body, or other things that can be extended, have been stretched or extended. It is common in descriptive writing, medical or physiological descriptions, sports and posture contexts, and in translations from English phrases like “stretched arms.”

Etymology

The word derives from strecken, with the standard past participle gestreckt; gestreckten is the attributive plural inflection.

See also

Streckung and Gestrecktheit are related terms describing extension or straightening in German usage.