siebzehnte

Siebzehnte is the German ordinal numeral meaning the seventeenth. It is used to indicate position in a sequence or to label the 17th item in a set, and it agrees with the gender and number of the noun it modifies (for example: der siebzehnte Tag, die siebzehnte Seite, das siebzehnte Jahrhundert).

Morphology and usage The form siebzehnte is derived from siebzehn (seventeen) plus the ordinal suffix -te, and it inflects like a regular attributive adjective. In nominative masculine it appears as der siebzehnte, in feminine as die siebzehnte, and in neuter as das siebzehnte Jahrhundert. Plural forms exist when referring to multiple seventeenths, though such usage is uncommon outside explicit enumeration. Siebzehnte is commonly used in dates and historical contexts, for example im siebzehnten Jahrhundert (in the seventeenth century) or am siebzehnten Januar (on the seventeenth of January).

Etymology and related forms The word is formed from the cardinal siebzehn (seventeen) with the ordinal suffix -te, following standard German patterns for ordinals up to at least the nineteenth. The feminine and neuter forms share the same base siebzehnte, with inflection determined by the accompanying article and noun.

See also In German, ordinals such as erster, zweiter, dritter, and so on, are used to mark order alongside the cardinal numbers. The seventh, sixteenth, and seventeenth forms follow regular patterns but include irregularities in the earlier teens (for example erste, zweite, dritte) and the more common seventeenth form siebzehnte.

Example usage:

- Der siebzehnte Tag des Monats ist oft besonders.

- Im siebzehnten Jahrhundert erlebte Europa grundlegende Veränderungen.