tausende

Tausende is a German noun meaning thousands. It denotes a large, indeterminate number and is the plural form related to the numeral tausend. The bare plural Tausende is commonly used without an article in phrases such as Tausende von Menschen, meaning thousands of people. In contexts where a definite group of thousands is implied, the definite plural form die Tausenden can be used, for example when referring to several thousand units as distinct groups.

In grammatical use, Tausende is capitalized as a noun. It can be declined like a regular plural noun: as a nominative/accusative plural it appears as Tausende, and in the dative it commonly takes the form Tausenden (mit Tausenden von…). The genitive plural is typically der Tausenden in constructions that require a definite article.

Usage notes and nuance: Tausende emphasizes scale rather than an exact count, making it common in journalism, literature, and everyday speech when an approximate magnitude is intended. It contrasts with tausend, the exact numeral for 1,000. The word also appears in related expressions such as tausendfach, meaning thousandfold, which illustrates how the base meaning extends to multiplication or repetition.

See also: Tausend; Zahlwörter in German; Tausende von.