getreten

Getreten is the past participle of the German verb treten, which means to step, tread, or kick. It is used to form perfect tenses in German, with different auxiliary verbs depending on sense. When treten is used transitively, the auxiliary is haben: Ich habe den Ball getreten (I kicked the ball). When treten denotes movement or a change of location without a direct object, the auxiliary is often sein: Ich bin in den Raum getreten (I stepped into the room).

As a participle, getreten can also function as an adjective or in predicative position to describe something that has been trodden or pressed down by feet. In such use it can appear in phrases like getretenes Gras or getretene Pfade, signaling wear or compaction from footsteps. In everyday language the participle helps convey both the action of stepping and the resulting state.

Etymologically, getreten comes from the German verb treten. It has cognates in other West Germanic languages, notably Dutch treden and English tread, reflecting a common Proto-Germanic ancestry for the verb meaning to walk or to strike with the foot.

In sum, getreten is the key past participle form of treten, central to describing both the act of stepping or kicking and the resulting condition of surfaces or objects that have been stepped on, with the choice of auxiliary (haben or sein) guiding the grammatical meaning. See also treten for broader verb conjugation and usage.