manipulierten

Manipulierten is a German form of the verb manipulieren, meaning to manipulate, influence, or handle something, often with a sense of coercion or deception. In grammar, manipulierten serves as the simple past (Präteritum) form for plural subjects and as a past participle form in compound tenses. Examples: Sie manipulierten die Daten. Wir manipulierten die Ergebnisse. The corresponding full paradigm in the Präteritum includes ich manipulierte, du manipuliertest, er manipulierte, wir manipulierten, ihr manipuliertet, sie manipulierten.

As an attributive participle, manipulating the data, the form appears as manipulierte data in plural: die manipulierten Daten. In this position it agrees with the noun in number and case. Predicatively, one would normally say die Daten waren manipuliert. Thus, manipulating is versatile in German, functioning as both a finite verb form and an adjective-like descriptor.

Use and nuance: manipulations often refer to influencing or controlling people, information, or objects, sometimes through deceptive or covert means. The term is common in discussions of research integrity (datamanipulation), media literacy (manipulierte Bilder), political communication (manipulierte Botschaften), and everyday language describing deceit or coercion. The noun form Manipulation, and related terms such as Manipulator or Manipulierung, are frequently used to discuss the act or process of manipulation.

Etymology and related forms: manipulieren is a loanword from Romance languages, with cognates in French manipuler and English manipulate. The root is associated with the hand, reflected in the German word’s sense of handling or controlling. A nominalized plural form Die Manipulierten may appear in journalistic or sociological texts to refer to people who have been manipulated.