sicheren

Sicheren is not a standalone lexical item in German, but the inflected form of the adjective sicher, meaning safe or secure. In German grammar, sicheren arises from the weak (or mixed) adjective declension when the adjective follows a determiner that marks the case, such as der, die, das or possessive determiners like mein, dein, and so on. In the plural, the weak ending -en is used in all cases, which produces the form sicheren in many contexts.

The primary use of sicheren is in plural noun phrases after definite determiners or possessives. For example: Die sicheren Optionen bieten Stabilität (nominative plural). Wir wählen die sicheren Optionen (accusative plural). Wir arbeiten mit den sicheren Optionen (dative plural). Der Preis der sicheren Optionen ist angemessen (genitive plural). The phrase mit sicheren Händen is a common idiom, where sicheren appears in the dative plural after mit.

In contrast to the plural form, the singular forms of sicher take different endings, such as sichere (feminine nominative singular) or sicheren (masculine accusative singular in certain mixed declensions). The form sicheren thus serves as a clear indicator of number and case when the adjective appears with a determiner in plural.

Etymologically, sicheren derives from sicher, which traces back to the Germanic root meaning safety or certainty; the -en ending reflects standard plural weak declension in contemporary German. Overall, sicheren is a grammatical form rather than a separate vocabulary entry, used to modify plural nouns in specific grammatical contexts.