inflektierten

Inflektieren is a German verb meaning to inflect, that is, to alter a word’s form to express grammatical information such as case, number, tense, mood or person. Inflektierten is the Präteritum (simple past) form of inflektieren for the first and third person plural, as in wir inflektierten or sie inflektierten. The form also appears in narrative contexts describing past inflection actions.

In general usage, the act of inflecting is discussed within grammar and linguistics. The related past participle inflektiert is used to form perfect tenses (for example, Wir haben die Verben inflektiert). The verb and its forms are most common in linguistic descriptions, grammar manuals, and discussions of how words change shape in different syntactic environments.

Inflektierten can also function as an attributive participle in a noun phrase, declining to inflektierten to agree with a plural noun in contexts such as die inflektierten Formen (the inflected forms). This usage illustrates how participles derived from inflektieren can be integrated into noun phrases much like short adjectives.

Summary: inflektierten is the simple past plural form of inflektieren, used to describe past actions of inflecting. The underlying concept (inflektion or flexion) concerns how words change form to encode grammatical information. The standard past participle is inflektiert, used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses, while inflektierten can appear in past-tense statements and as a declined attributive participle in phrases like die inflektierten Formen.