verlässliche

Verlässliche is the inflected form of the German adjective verlässlich, meaning reliable or trustworthy. The base form describes someone or something that can be depended on and behaves consistently. In actual use, verlässlich takes different endings depending on gender, number, and article when placed before a noun. For example: die verlässliche Quelle (feminine singular), der verlässliche Partner (masculine singular), das verlässliche System (neuter singular); die verlässlichen Quellen/Partner/Systeme (plural).

When using indefinite articles or no article, the endings change accordingly: ein verlässlicher Freund, eine verlässliche Freundin, ein verlässliches Ergebnis; verlässliche Ergebnisse as a plural form without an article. With a definite article, the typical patterns are der verlässliche Mann, die verlässliche Frau, das verlässliche Kind; die verlässlichen Männer, Frauen, Kinder. The form verlässlich is often paired with its comparative and superlative forms, and appears in both formal and informal registers.

Verlässliche and closely related terms appear across many contexts, from everyday evaluation of people and services to technical descriptions. A common synonym is zuverlässig; while verlässlich emphasizes steady dependability and trustworthiness, zuverlässig is frequently used in technical or practical contexts to denote functional reliability.

Noun formation related to the concept is Verlässlichkeit, meaning reliability or dependability. A nominalized form can appear as Das Verlässliche, referring to the reliable quality or thing, though this usage is less common in everyday speech. See also Verlässlichkeit, Zuverlässigkeit, Vertrauen, and related terms describing trust and dependability.