verzögerten

Verzögerten is a German verb form derived from verzögern, meaning to delay. It is the third-person plural simple past (Präteritum) form: sie verzögerten. In this use it describes that multiple actions or events were postponed in the past. For example: Die Behörden verzögerten die Entscheidung. In standard prose, verzögerten is the finite verb in past narration.

Distinctions from related forms are important. Verzögert is the past participle used with an auxiliary verb to form perfect tenses (sie haben verzögert), meaning that something was delayed by someone. Verzögerten, by contrast, is the finite past form of the verb and does not function as a participle in this construction.

The relationship to the noun Verzögerung is also notable. Verzögerung means delay and is a common, widely used noun in technical and everyday language. The verb forms verzögern, verzögert, and verzögerten share the same semantic field, describing acts or processes that slow down or postpone.

Capitalization and use in text. When verzögerten appears in a sentence as a finite verb, it is written lowercase. It may be capitalized only if it starts a sentence or is used in a stylized way as a proper noun, which is uncommon. In most contexts, it remains a regular verb form within a sentence.

In summary, verzögerten is the simple past plural form of verzögern, used to indicate that several delaying actions occurred in the past, and it is distinct from the past participle verzögert and the noun Verzögerung.