potentiellen

Potenziell is a German adjective meaning "potential" or "possible." It is used to describe something that could become real under certain conditions but is not yet actual. In everyday and technical language, potentiell often introduces possibilities, risks, or future states rather than certainties.

Etymology and usage share a common origin with related nouns such as Potenzial and Potential, which come from Latin potentia. In German, the standard spelling of the base adjective is potentiell or potenziell in some contexts, with the preferred form potenziell in most contemporary texts. The noun forms Potenzial and Potential are used in similar ways, especially in scientific and mathematical writing.

Declension and grammatical function help determine the form of the word in a sentence. As an attributive adjective before a plural noun with a definite article, it takes the ending -en: die potenziellen Risiken. Without an article, the strong ending for plural is -e: potenzielle Risiken. With a possessive or demonstrative determiner, such as unsere oder diese, the ending remains -en: unsere potenziellen Kunden, diese potenziellen Lösungen. In the dative plural with a definite article, it is also den potenziellen Risiken. In predicative position after sein, bleiben die Adjektivformen unverändert: Die Risiken sind potenziell.

Common contexts include business, science and risk assessment. Beispiele: potenzielle Kunden (potential customers), potenzielle Auswirkungen (potential effects), potenzielle Gefährdungen (potential hazards). The term distinguishes between what exists in possibility versus what is actual, making it a frequent qualifier in planning, forecasting and analysis.

See also: Potenzial, Potential, potenziell vs. potenziell energy terms in physics. Potenzial is the noun used for an energy-like or potential field concept, while potenziell describes the characteristic of existing as a possibility.