instrumental
German, adjective
instrumental is spelled I-N-S-T-R-U-M-E-N-T-A-L (12 letters) and appears 1.6 times per million words in written German, the 28,120th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Instrumental is a German adjective meaning “instrumental” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Instrumental is a different word: “instrumental, instrumental case”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Musik abseits der menschlichen Stimme betreffend”.
What does instrumental mean in English?
adjective
- 1
instrumental
noun
- 1
masculineinstrumental, instrumental case
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. in etlichen Sprachen ein Fall (Kasus) mit eigener Flexionsendung, der das Mittel/Werkzeug benennt, mit dem die Handlung, die im Satz behandelt wird, erfolgt 2. ein Fall (Kasus) der Tiefenstruktur, der das Mittel/Werkzeug benennt 3. ein Musikstück, das ohne Gesang auskommt und nur mit (Musik-)Instrumenten gespielt wird
adjective: 1. Musik abseits der menschlichen Stimme betreffend 2. auf kausalen Zusammenhang bezogen; eines das andere bewirkend
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of instrumental
- instrumentaler masculine nominative singular
- instrumentale feminine nominative singular
- instrumentales neuter nominative singular
- instrumentalen genitive masculine singular
- instrumentalem dative masculine singular
- der instrumentale definite includes-article masculine
- die instrumentale definite feminine includes-article
- das instrumentale definite includes-article neuter
- die instrumentalen definite includes-article nominative
- des instrumentalen definite genitive includes-article
- der instrumentalen definite feminine genitive
- dem instrumentalen dative definite includes-article
- den instrumentalen dative definite includes-article
- Instrumentale nominative plural
- Instrumentals genitive singular
- Instrumentalen dative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to instrumental
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is instrumental in German?
instrumental appears 1.6 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).