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-falls, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-falls in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-falls you have here. The definition of the word
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German
Etymology
Suffixation of the conjunction falls, this presumably from the genitive of Fall.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-falls
- used to form adverbs from adjectives[1]
- gleich (“similar”) + -falls → gleichfalls (“similarly”)
- besten (“best”) + -falls → bestenfalls (“at best”)
- notwendig (“necessary”) + -falls → notwendigenfalls (“if necessary”)
- used to form adverbs from pronouns[1]
- kein (“no”) + -falls → keinesfalls (“in no case”)
- ander (“other”) + -falls → anderenfalls (“alternatively”)
Usage notes
- This suffix forms adverbs that imply a particular condition or circumstance, similarly to phrases like "in case of," "if," or "in the event of" in English, and it adds a hypothetical or conditional sense to words.
- The adverbs are formed either from an adjective or from a pronoun.
- Since the suffix comes from a genitive formation, adjectives are often accompanied by an interfix -en, which originally corresponds to the strong masculine singular declension of the adjective itself.
- For the same reason, some pronouns could present the interfix -es, as in keinesfalls.
Derived terms
References