grundliegenden

Grundliegenden is a plural attributive form of the German adjective grundlegend, which means fundamental, essential, or underlying. It is used to describe elements that form the basis or underlying nature of a concept, argument, or system. In standard German, it commonly appears before plural nouns and agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.

Grammatical note: After definite determiners or demonstratives, the attributive adjective in the plural typically takes the weak ending -en. Examples include die grundliegenden Prinzipien, den grundliegenden Regeln, der grundliegenden Annahmen, and den grundliegenden Befunden. With other determiners or no article, different endings can apply, such as grundlegende Prinzipien in the common plural form without a definite article.

Usage and meaning: Grundlegen conveys the sense of being foundational or underlying. It is frequent in academic, scientific, legal, and policy writing when referencing core concepts, assumptions, findings, or structures that support an argument or system. In English, it is often translated as underlying, foundational, or fundamental.

Examples:

- Die grundliegenden Prinzipien der Ethik sind weithin anerkannt.

- Die grundliegenden Annahmen des Modells wurden überprüft.

- Die Ergebnisse stützen sich auf den grundliegenden Befunden.

Related forms: While grundlegen is the root, the commonly used adjective form in many contexts is grundlegend; grundlegen and its inflected forms appear in various grammatical environments.