zurückkehrendes

Zurückkehrendes is the attributive form of the present participle zurückkehrend, derived from the verb zurückkehren. In German, it means “returning” or “coming back” and is used as an adjective to describe a noun that is in the process of returning or has recently returned. As an adjective formed from a participle, it declines according to gender, number, and case, and its exact ending depends on whether there is an article.

In practice, the form varies by context. With an indefinite article or no article in neuter singular, the form is zurückkehrendes, as in ein zurückkehrendes Boot. With definite articles and in other gender/number combinations, the endings differ: der zurückkehrende Mann, die zurückkehrende Frau, das zurückkehrende Boot, die zurückkehrenden Soldaten. The participle is typically not used predicatively in everyday German; instead, zurückgekehrt is used to convey the perfective verb meaning, as in Das Boot ist zurückgekehrt.

Usage notes and nuance: zurückkehrendes emphasizes the characteristic of returning, often in contexts such as travel, migration, logistics, or military repatriation. It is primarily an attributive adjective; nominalized forms exist but are rare and are usually capitalized when used as a noun (das Zurückkehrende). In most formal writing, the simple verb form zurückkehren or the past participle zurückgekehrt is preferred for predicative constructions.