Adjektive Adjectives are the words you use to describe everything. Whether it’s the color of your hair or the size of your house, you need adjectives to talk about them. That’s why it’s so important to master adjectives in German. Although grammar can be boring, this part of German is definitely not. Here’s a fun and easy guide to German adjectives. How Adjectives Work in German German adjectives describe or modify a noun. But, what happens when you’re comparing two nouns to each other? Or you’re declaring the superiority of one over all? That’s when you use comparative and superlative adjectives in German. In English, these would be “good – better – best” or “late – later – latest”. But in German, things are a little bit complicated. In German, you need to conjugate an adjective to fit the noun. These declensions vary based on the noun’s case, gender, and plurality. Declensions also change depending on whether the noun appears with a definite or an indefinite article. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of comparative and superlative German adjectives, and how the endings change according to the rules of grammar. Comparative and Superlative German Adjectives Examples of comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives in German would be: • Comparative: Er ist größer als ich (He is taller than me). • Superlative: Er ist der größte (He is the tallest). Like in English, most regular German adjectives are made comparative by adding the suffix “-er”. “Als” in the example is “than”. When adding the -er, if the vowel in the adjective is an a, o, or u, you give it an umlaut (unless it is “au”). There are some exceptions for these rules, but the majority of adjectives can be made comparative in this way: • klein → kleiner (small/smaller) • warm → wärmer (warm/warmer) • schlau → schlauer (smart/smarter) German superlative adjectives are also somewhat similar to their English counterparts. Most superlatives are formed by adding the suffix -ste. Adjectives ending in d, t, or any s-sound (such as -s, -ss, -sch, -z, or -ß) must have an e inserted before the -ste. • billig → billigste (cheap/cheapest) • hübsch → hübscheste (pretty/prettiest) • interessant → interessanteste (interesting/most interesting) Predicative Adjectives Predicate adjectives follow linking verbs like “to be” (sein, werden) or “to remain” (bleiben). They modify the subject and do not have a gendered ending. Example: Der Hund ist schnell. – The dog is fast. Attribute Adjectives Attribute adjectives precede nouns or pronouns and take special endings determined by the gender, number, case and article of the nouns they modify. • war Example: Das was ein schneller Hund. – That was a fast dog. These are the endings you need to use to conjugate attribute adjectives. Singular Plural Masc. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative —er —e —es —e Genitive —es —er —es —er Dative —em —er —em —en Accusative —en —e —es —e Adjectival Pronouns in German Attribute adjectives aren’t the only ones you need to conjugate. According to the table above, certain adjectival pronouns also decline like the definite article “der”: all-, dies-, jed-, manch-, solch-, welch-. These are sometimes referred to as der-words. Plural Singular Masc. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative dieser diese dieses diese Genitive dieses dieser dieses dieser Dative diesem dieser diesem diesen Accusative diesen diese dieses diese Adjectival Possessive Pronouns in German Adjectival possessive pronouns and “kein” (none) decline similarly to the article “ein”, they can be referred to as ein-words. The general declension pattern is as shown in the following table: Example – kein: Singular Plural Masc. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative kein keine kein keine Genitive keines keiner keines keiner Dative keinem keiner keinem keinen Accusative keinen keine kein keine German Adjective Endings With Definite Article These are the endings the adjective receives when the noun it describes comes with a definite article. These are “der”, “die”, or “das”. Plural Singular Masc. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative —e —e —e —en Genitive —en —en —en —en Dative —en —en —en —en Accusative —en —e —e —en German Adjective Endings With Indefinite Article When the nouns the adjective represents comes with an indefinite article, these are the endings you have to use. Indefinite articles in German are all the variations of “ein-” (ein, eine, eines, einer, …) Plural Singular Masc. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative —er —e —es —e Genitive —en —en —en —er Dative —en —en —en —en Accusative —en —e —es —e Examples of Adjectives in German Comparitive Superlative klein small kleiner smaller kleinst smallest leise quiet leiser quieter leisest quietest lustig funny lustiger funnier lustigst funniest alt old älter older ältest oldest Examples of German Adjectives with Umlaut Comparitive Superlative arm poor ärmer poorer ärmst poorest jung young jünger younger jüngst youngest kalt cold kälter colder kältest coldest krank sick kränker sicker kränkst sickest kurz short kürzer shorter kürzest shortest lang long länger longer längst longest stark strong stärker stronger stärkst strongest warm warm wärmer warmer wärmst warmest Irregular German Adjectives As is English, there are many German adjectives with irregular comparative and superlative forms. A summary of some of the more common examples is provided below. Comparative Superlative gut good besser better best best viel much mehr more meist most hoch high höher higher höchst highest nah near näher nearer nächst nearest, next Essential Descriptive Adjectives Vocabulary Pronunciation Translation groß grohs tall klein kliyn short dick dihck big, fat dünn dühnn thin schlank shlahnk skinny stark stahrk strong muskulös mus-ku-LöHS athletic, muscular gutaussehend GOOT-ows-say-hend good-looking attraktiv ah-trahk-TIHF attractive schöne Augen 'SHö-nuh OW-gehn beautiful eyes volle Lippen FOHL-luh LIHP-pehn full lips kleine Nase KLIY-nuh NAH-suh small nose markante Nase mahr-KAHN-tuh NAH-suh prominent nose lockige Haare LOHCK-ih-guh HAHA-ruh curly hair glatte Haare GLAH-tuh HAHA-ruh straight hair
