jährlichen

Jährlichen is a declined form of the German adjective jährlich, meaning annual or yearly. It functions as a modifier and is not a stand-alone noun. The base term jahr- comes from Jahr (year), with the suffix -lich to form an adjective indicating relation to the year.

In German, the ending of adjectives changes according to case, number, and the presence of articles. Die or den ist often followed by jahr- ending -en in many plural and definite-article contexts, producing forms such as jährlichen. For example, nominative plural with a definite article: die jährlichen Kosten; accusative plural: die jährlichen Berichte; genitive plural: der jährlichen Berichte; dative plural: den jährlichen Berichten. In phrases without a definite article, the strong declension yields andere endings, for instance jährliche Berichte (nominative plural) rather than jährlichen Berichte.

Usage notes: jährlich is used to describe events, costs, payments, reports or other items that occur once every year. The form jährlichen appears most clearly when the noun it modifies is plural or when the adjective follows a definite determiner. It can also appear in feminine singular or other cases in combination with determiners, producing derivatives like der jährlichen Zahlung or mit den jährlichen Zahlungen. Understanding the declension helps distinguish meaning across sentences such as Die jährlichen Kosten steigen, Wir prüfen die jährlichen Berichte, Die Kosten der jährlichen Berichte sind hoch.

Etymologically, jährlich derives from Jahr + -lich and is closely related to English annual. It is commonly used in formal writing, accounting, planning, and scheduling to denote yearly frequency.