mehreren

Mehreren is the dative plural inflection of the German determiner and pronoun mehrere, meaning several or a number of. It appears when referring to several items or people in the dative case, typically after prepositions that require dative or in constructions where the noun is omitted.

In standard usage, mehrere has distinct forms depending on case. The nominative and accusative plural form is mehrere (for all genders), as in mehrere Gründe (several reasons) or ich kenne mehrere (I know several). The dative plural form is mehrere in singular? No, the dative plural is mehreren, as in mit mehreren Personen (with several people) or unter mehreren Kandidaten (among several candidates). The form mehrere is used for nominative and accusative, while mehreren is used for dative plural.

Grammatical notes: mehrere behaves like a mixed determiner/adjective that declines with the noun it accompanies. Its declension mirrors other determiner-like words in German. Therefore, when the noun is in the dative plural, the form is mehreren; otherwise, it is mehrere in the nominative or accusative plural.

Usage: mehrere is commonly used to indicate an unspecified but nontrivial number of items or people. It is more precise than einige (some) and less fixed than a specific number. In formal or written German, mehrere is a neutral, widely accepted way to refer to a non-exact plurality.

See also: mehrere, German grammar of adjectives and determiners, German pronouns in the plural.