symbolischen

Symbolischen is the inflected form of the German adjective symbolisch, meaning "symbolic" or "relating to symbols." In German grammar, adjectives change according to case, gender, number, and article. Symbolischen is the weak inflection form used after definite articles or other determiners in certain cases, most notably the dative case and in many plural contexts. It occurs across masculine, feminine, and neuter singular, as well as plural, whenever the adjective follows a definite determiner.

Examples illustrate its use: mit dem symbolischen Geschenk (dative neuter singular); für die symbolische Bedeutung (accusative feminine singular); mit den symbolischen Zeichen (dative plural). In nominative or accusative cases with a definite article in plural, the form also appears as symbolischen, for example Die symbolischen Zeichen. When there is no definite article, the strong or mixed inflection changes the ending, yielding forms such as symbolische Zeichen (nominative plural) or eine symbolische Bedeutung (nominative feminine singular).

Etymology and usage: symbolisch comes from the root Symbol, with the German suffix -isch forming an adjective meaning "pertaining to symbols." The specific ending -en in symbolischen reflects standard German weak inflection after a definite determiner in several cases. In practice, symbolischen appears frequently in formal or descriptive German, especially in discussions of signs, symbolism, philosophy, art, and literature, where precise grammatical agreement with a determiner helps clarify meaning.