sichtbaren

Sichtbaren is the inflected form of the German adjective sichtbar, meaning visible. It is not a separate lexical item but a grammatical form that appears when the adjective precedes a noun under certain grammatical conditions. The ending -en is common in plural forms and appears in several cases, especially after definite determiners or in mixed declensions.

Etymology and usage context: The adjective sichtbar comes from the German suffix -bar, which forms adjectives meaning “able to be …,” here “able to be seen.” Sichtbaren, like sichtbar, is used to describe things perceivable by sight, as opposed to hidden or invisible phenomena. In scientific, literary, and everyday language, it is employed to indicate perceptual visibility or perceptual evidence.

Declension notes: In German, adjective endings depend on case, number, gender, and the determiner. With definite articles (die, der, dem, den), sichtbaren appears in plural as die sichtbaren Sterne (nominative/accusative), den sichtbaren Sternen (dative), der sichtbaren Sterne (genitive). Without a definite article, strong endings apply: sichtbare Sterne (nominative/accusative plural), sichtbaren Sternen (dative plural), sichtbarer Sterne (genitive plural). The form sichtbaren is thus typical for plural, and also occurs in some mixed-declension contexts.

Examples:

- Die sichtbaren Sterne am Himmel funkelten. (The visible stars sparkled.)

- Ich sehe die sichtbaren Spuren im Schnee. (I see the visible traces in the snow.)

- Den sichtbaren Merkmalen zufolge wurde der Bericht bestätigt. (According to the visible features, the report was confirmed.)

See also: sichtbar, visibility, German declension.