überschaubaren

Überschaubaren is a declined form of the German adjective überschaubar, which means "manageable" or "easy to oversee." It describes something whose scope, amount, or complexity can be grasped, estimated, or controlled without excessive effort. The word stems from über- (over) and schaubar (able to be looked at), with the adjectival suffix -bar.

In usage, überschaubar is common in planning, budgeting, and descriptions of tasks or projects. It contrasts with unüberschaubar (too large or complex to oversee) and with übersichtlich (clear and well organized). The form überschaubaren appears when the adjective is declined to agree with a noun in certain cases, especially masculine singular with a determiner in the accusative or in the dative, and in plural forms. Examples: den überschaubaren Aufwand (accusative masculine singular with definite article), dem überschaubaren Aufwand (dative masculine singular), den überschaubaren Aufgaben (dative plural with definite article). With other determiners or in other cases, the endings differ (z. B. ein überschaubarer Aufwand; überschaubare Aufgaben).

Typical collocations include überschaubarer Zeitraum, überschaubare Aufgaben und überschaubarer Umfang. A predicate use also occurs: Der Aufwand ist überschaubar.

Related terms include die Überschaubarkeit (the noun form meaning "the degree of manageability"), überschaubar (the base form), and unüberschaubar (the opposite). The word is standard in formal and semi-formal German and is less common in colloquial speech, where simpler expressions like machbar or handhabbar may be used.