stäcken

Stücken is the dative plural form of the German noun Stück. The base word Stück means a piece, a portion, or a work such as a musical composition or a theater piece. The standard nominative and accusative plural is Stücke; Stücken is used specifically in the dative plural when the noun is declined in that case.

In practice, Stücken appears in sentences after prepositions or verbs that require the dative: for example, mit den Stücken, aus den Stücken, bei den Stücken. It does not function as a separate lexical item in ordinary speech; rather, it is the grammatical inflection of Stück. When numerals or determiners are involved, the noun can still appear as Stücke in the plural in the nominative or accusative, while Stücken appears in the corresponding dative constructions.

The noun Stück has several senses in German. It can refer to a physical piece or slice of something, a serving or portion, or a completed work such as a musical piece or a theatrical piece. The plural Stücke is common in general statements or listings, while Stücken is confined to contexts requiring the dative case.

In summary, Stücken is not a separate meaning of its own but the grammatical dative plural form of Stück. Its use is determined by sentence structure and the case required by surrounding words.

See also: Stück, Stücke.