Deklination der Adjektive
I. no endings:
in prädikativer Stellung = after sein, werden, bleiben
Der Stoff ist billig.
Benzin wird teuer.
Diese Waren bleiben billig.
II. Endings:
in attributiver Stellung = in front of a noun
Ich mag den blauen Stoff sehr.
In attributiver Stellung vor einem Substantiv haben Adjektive entweder (either) starke (strong) oder
schwache (weak) Endungen.
II.1 Starke Endungen (= die Endungen des [of the] bestimmten Artikels) haben Adjektive
in zwei Fällen (in two cases):
nach Nullartikel (= kein Artikel):
nach endungslosen „ein-Wörtern“ (forms of „einwords“ without endings): ein, kein, mein, dein, sein,
ihr, unser, euer,
ihr, Ihr
Schönes Wetter heute!
Wir haben ein kleines Problem.
Das Hemd ist aus reiner Seide.
Mein kleiner Bruder hat Geburtstag.
Ich bekam zwanzig rote Rosen.
Unser neuer Chef heißt Groß.
Starke Adjektivdeklination
MASKULINUM
NEUTRUM
FEMININUM
Singular
Plural
NOMINATIV
-er
-es
-e
-e
AKKUSATIV
-en
-es
-e
-e
DATIV
-em
-em
-er
-en
GENITIV
-en
-en
-er
-er
II.2
Schwache Endungen haben die Adjektive in den folgenden (following) Fällen:
nach dem bestimmten Artikel (der, das, die, ... )
Der frühere Chef hieß Klein.
Ich sage der neuen Chefin « Guten Tag ».
Die alten Chefs gehen jetzt alle in Pension.
nach demonstrativen Artikeln: dieser, jeder, alle ( solche, welche)
Diese ausländischen Studenten kommen aus Frankreich.
nach den deklinierten Formen (« ein-words » with endings) von ein, kein, mein, dein, sein, ihr,
unser, euer, ihr, Ihr
Mit unserem früheren Chef waren wir sehr zufrieden.
Ich gebe ihrem jungen Hund ein Leckerli.
Wir haben uns über seinen kranken Sohn unterhalten.
Schwache Adjektivdeklination
MASKULINUM
NEUTRUM
FEMININUM
Singular
Plural
NOMINATIV
-e
-e
-e
-en
AKKUSATIV
-en
-e
-e
-en
DATIV
-en
-en
-en
-en
GENITIV
-en
-en
-en
-en
When does an adjective need an ending?
There are two ways to use adjectives in a sentence: as a descriptive adjective ("the house is nice"), or
as an attributive adjective ("it is a nice house"). All attributive adjectives – adjectives that precede a
noun which they modify – MUST show declension, i.e. they must have an ending in German. If an
adjective does not precede a noun, but rather occurs as a descriptive adjective after the noun, then it
does not have any ending. Compare the following:
Descriptive Adjective = no ending Attributive Adjective = with ending
Das Haus ist schön.
Das ist ein schönes Haus.
Meine Katze ist alt.
Ich habe eine alte Katze.
What ending does it take?
There are many ways to understand and learn adjective endings: if you were to simply memorize a
chart, you would need to memorize 48 different possible combinations – but it would work, if that's
what you prefer. But there is a more logic-oriented framework, with a set of rules.
Keep in mind 1: When there is an adjective connected to a noun, then something – either an article
(der/ein/dieser/etc.), possessive pronoun (mein/dein/sein/etc.) or the adjective itself – must show of
what gender the noun is. For example, der Mann clearly shows that Mann is masculine; ein Mann, on
the other hand, does not show this, because ein could also be applied to a neuter noun (ein Kind).
Keep in mind 2: Some articles show that a noun has changed from its original nominative case,
others do not. For example, in the sentence "ich sehe einen Mann", einen shows clearly that Mann is
no longer in the nominative case. In the sentence "ich sehe ein Buch", however, the neuter accusative
ein does not differ from its nominative form, which is also ein. This distinction will be important in
deciding which adjective ending to use.
With those guidelines in mind, we can now set up a flow chart of rules that will give you the correct
adjective ending.
Question 1: Does the adjective have an article (direct, indirect, demonstrative) or possessive
pronoun in front of it? (der, die, ein, dieser, alle, mein, euer, …)
If NOT: add the ending that would occur on a “der-word” for that noun.
Deutsches Bier schmeckt gut. (it would be das Bier or dieses Bier, so we add -es to
deutsch-)
Ich trinke kalten Kaffee gern. (it would be den Kaffee or diesen Kaffee, so we add -en
to kalt)
If YES: move on to question 2.
Question 2: Is the article in the standard, unchanged form?
(This refers to the second “keep in mind” described above. Ich sehe ein Buch, even though
Buch is in the accusative case, uses the same ein form as the original nominative, so it is in
the original form.; cf.: NOM Ein Buch ist wertvoll. AKK Ich gebe dir ein Buch.)
If NOT (if the article is different from its original form): add -en
Ich kenne einen alten Mann. (einen, masculine accusative, has changed from the
original ein Mann)
Ich spreche mit der netten
(der, feminine dative, has changed from the original die
Frau.
Frau)
If YES (if the article is in its original form): move on to question 3.
Question 3: Is the noun singular?
If NOT (if the noun is plural): add -en.
Ich sehe die jungen Kinder. (die, plural accusative, is in its original form, but it is
plural, so an -en is added to jung)
Keine schönen Frauen waren (keine, plural nominative, is in its original form, but it
da.
is plural, so an -en is added to schön)
If YES (if the noun is singular), move on to question 4.
Question 4: Does the article show gender?
(This refers to the first “keep in mind”. der Mann, den Mann, dem Mann, einen Mann, and
einem Mann all show the gender of Mann, but ein Mann does not (because it could also be
neuter). Das Buch, dem Buch, and einem Buch all show the gender of Buch, but ein Buch
does not. Die Frau, der Frau, eine Frau, and einer Frau all show gender. As you see, pretty
much the only articles which do not show gender are ein and its equivalents (mein, dein,
sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr).
If NOT (if the article is ein/dein/etc): add -er for masculine nouns; -es for neuter nouns.
Das ist ein gutes Buch.
(something needs to show that Buch is neuter – since
ein does not show it, -es is added to gut)
Sein alter Hund war in der
(something needs to show that Hund is masculine –
Küche.
since sein does not show it, -er is added to alt)
If YES (if the article already shows the gender): add -e.
Hier ist eine kleine Lampe.
(eine shows that Lampe is feminine, so only -e is added
to klein)
Wo ist der rote Mantel?
(der shows that Mantel is masculine, so only -e is
added to rot)
That's it! To summarize in a more graphical form:
There are, of course, a few things you should watch out for – not exceptions, but common mistakes.
Common problem 1: UNSER. Remember that the -er in unser is part of the article unser (our), it is
NOT an ending itself. (Unser Buch ist gut; unsere Mutti ist nett; unser Vater ist alt.) Unser Vater is
equivalent to mein Vater, and therefore Question 4 applies: when adding an adjective, it must be unser
netter Vater to show the -r inherent to Vater; or unser gutes Buch to show the -s inherent to Buch.
Similarly, EUER (your, pl.) is also an ein-word, the -er is part of the article itself. In their base forms,
then, unser and euer do not show gender.
Common problem 2: What qualifies as an article? Articles in German include all der/die/das words,
all ein-words, and all the dieser, jeder, mancher, and solcher words. Alle (only ever seen as the plural
form as an article) and beide (both) are also articles. Thus a complete list of articles:
der, die, das, den, dem
(the)
dieser, diese, dieses, diesen, diesem
(this/that/these)
jeder, jede, jedes, jeden, jedem
(each/every)
mancher, manche, manches, manchen, manchem
(some)
solcher, solche, solches, solchen, solchem
(such)
welcher, welche, welches, welchen, welchem
(which)
ein, eine, einen, einem, einer
(a/an)
kein--, mein--, dein--, sein--, ihr--, unser--, euer--, Ihr-- (no, my, your, his/its, her, our, your, Your)
alle, beide
(all, both)
Common problem 3: VIELE (many) is not an article – it is simply another adjective. The same
applies for EINIGE (a few, some), MEHRERE (several), and WENIGE (few, not many). Thus these
words as well as any adjectives following them must be declined according to Question 1, using the
der-endings (viele gute Bücher, einige nette Leute).
Common problem 4: When there is more than one adjective modifying the same noun (the nice old
man), each adjective acts independently and takes the appropriate ending (der nette alte Mann, ein
netter alter Mann). Thus all adjectives in a string will have the same endings.
Common problem 5: Question 3 is often neglected – remember to check if the noun is plural. If it is,
and it has any article before it, the ending will be -en. Plural nouns without an article, following
Question 1, will have -e or -en depending on their case.