mehrjährigem

Mehrjährig is a German adjective meaning lasting several years or spanning multiple years. It is commonly used to describe time spans, contracts, plans, budgets or programs that extend over a number of years. The form mehrjährigem is the dative singular ending of this adjective when it appears without a definite determiner, for masculine or neuter nouns, for example in more formal or concise phrasing such as in mehrjährigem Vertrag or in mehrjährigem Zeitraum.

Declension highlights:

- With a definite determiner: der mehrjährige Vertrag (nom masc), das mehrjährige Projekt (nom neut), die mehrjährigen Verträge (nom pl). In the dative with definite articles you would see dem mehrjährigen Vertrag or dem mehrjährigen Projekt.

- With an indefinite determiner: ein mehrjähriger Vertrag, eine mehrjährige Planung, ein mehrjähriges Projekt.

- With no determiner (strong declension): neuer, neues, neue forms apply, and in the dative singular masculine or neuter you get mehrjährigem Vertrag or mehrjährigem Zeitraum.

Thus mehrjährigem appears mainly in contexts without a definite article or in fixed prepositional phrases where the noun is in the dative case.

Etymology and usage notes:

Mehrjährig is formed from mehr (more) and jahrig (year-related) and has become a standard term in legal, financial and planning language to denote durations extending over several years. It is frequently found in formal documents, reports and contracts to specify multi-year commitments, calendars, budgets and obligations. In everyday language, more common alternatives include langjährig or mehrjährig as appropriate to the context.