), the accusative adjective ending must reflect the gender and case of the noun that follows. Under Ein-Wrter you can see which words fall into that category and the Nullartikel is used for those without an article. In the accusative case, feminine and neuter nouns require an -e at the end of the adjective. Then you can click here to purchase the extra materials that go with this lesson including a worksheet and answer key to practice these adjective endings. Als Glcksbringer bringt der Junge die Mnzen seines weisen Vaters, die Ohrringe seiner lieben Oma und die Schuhe seines braunen Pferdes. But if we say "IchkaufedenblauenWagen." In the dative case we use the ending -em to indicate the neuter form, just as the article dem would have done. The most common are statt and anstatt [instead of], trotz [in spite of], wegen [because of] and whrend [during]. "Bist du dem Mann seine Frau?" jen- (that) What are adjectives & where do they go in German? Instead we use genitive demonstrative pronouns, getting structures like whrend dessen [in the meantime], In the nominative case, all of the singular forms require an -e at the end of the adjective. But if we say "Das Mdchen ist schn." If you don't know thatWagenis masculine (der), then you won't be able to say (or write) "Er hateinenneuenWagen." ("I'm buying the blue car. Note that the neutral nominative and accusative change from an -a- to an -e-.. Notice that the last letter of der and the last letter of gelber are the same. If the adjective (grau) comesbeforethe noun (Haus), it needs an ending. The big horse is eating a carrot.Ein groes Pferd isst eine Mhre. Sie spielt Fuball mit meinem alten Vater, meiner jungen Mutter und meinem kleinen Kaninchen. and neut. In the genitive case we use the ending -er on the adjective, because the article would have been der. Jesu Christi. nominative, accusative, It is with such formal some would say stilted German that you might encounter genitive pronouns: Some predicate adjectives are also associated with the genitive: Certain noun phrases in the genitive act like prepositional phrases: 1 For luck the boy brings his wise fathers coins, his dear grandmas earrings and the shoes of his brown horse. The adjective endings for thegenitivecase follow the same pattern as the dative. Der Film war gut. A smart boy saw the film. After youve determined the gender of the noun, you need to think about the case. As you might have guessed, all of these nouns are plural, with the exception of the last one in the sentence, der Spielturm. while one-syllable nouns take an "-es": (des Mannes) although colloquial speech will sometime add just -s). This makes the adjective require -e at the end. In colloquial speech, Germans often use the preposition von In this sentence there are two adjectives that end with -e and two that end with -en. You can put the adjective directly before the noun or you can put it after the verb to describe the subject. When just a masculine or neuter noun follows the preposition Flippo, Hyde. I like to eat cookies with cold milk.Das ist die optimale Temperatur kalter Milch. If you don't know thatHausis neuter (das), then you won't be able to say (or write) "Er hat ein neuesHaus." The first only has an -e, because the gender of the noun was already identified in the article der. Frisches Brot ist das Beste. The -en at the end of jeden shows us that the noun is masculine and accusative, which in turn requires the adjective to include -en at the end as well. Die lauten Kinder der faulen Eltern schreien die bldesten Beleidigungen von den hchsten Stellen des Spielturms. These adjectives now require the same letter that would have been on the definite article. The smart boy saw the film.Ein kluger Junge hat den Film gesehen. alle (all) As you can see from these examples, we are no longer limited to describing the subject of the sentence when we add the adjective directly in front of the noun. If the name already ends in "-s" or "-z," then an apostrophe is added:2. In German we have the exact same two options. I know what you are thinking when you first saw the ein-word adjective endings chart. The -er at the end of dieser indicates that the noun is being used in the nominative case. All of the nouns are feminine, so the nominative case noun, die kluge Frau, and the accusative case noun, die teure Halskette, both have an -e at the end of their respective adjectives, kluge and teure. As with the other examples, all of the nouns in this sentence use the same gender. This option is unavailable to non-native speakers. Amazingly (for an English-speaker), German children learn all this naturally in the process of learning to talk. The minimum ending for an adjective before a noun is an "e" but there are some other possibilities. If it comesafterthe noun and verb (ist), it should have no ending. ), there is no ending at all on the adjective (schnorblau) because the adjective is located after the noun (predicate adjective). Here is an example of that. Trotz ihres guten Franzsisch konnte sie nichts verstehen. Yellow cheese doesnt taste good to me.Ich mag gelben Kse. Here are a few quick examples of these words in action. dative accusative nominative genitive cases pearltrees case object german indirect possessive German adjectives get extra precise about their forms by aligning in several ways with the noun they describe. A big horse is eating a carrot. I like the smell of fresh bread. Next to them you can see the endings for the adjectives that follow them. There are both strong and weak forms of adjectives. The large horse gives the well-behaved girls cute bunny the sweet baby carrot. So we would get "den blauenWagen" (the blue car), but "dieblaueTr.." (the blue door), or "dasblaueBuch" (the blue book). Both of these are expressed in German with words that act like indefinite articles. Other article-like words such as dieser, jener, jeder, mancher, welcher, and solcher all decline following the table above. Now that we have all three categories of adjectives, you can see a full overview of all of the endings all adjectives take and how they are used with this chart. This works for definite and indefinite articles. The following chart shows the adjective endings for thenominativecase with the definite articles (der, die, das) and the indefinite articles (ein, eine, keine). If there is a link that leads to an outside site from which you could potentially make a purchase, it is very likely an affiliate link for which Herr Antrim will receive a small portion of your purchase. At first this may seem overwhelming, but there are really only 2 endings. Furthermore, their plural forms are the same as their accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms: e.g.. ("Herr" is an exception: den Herrn, dem Herrn, des Herrn; [plural:] die Herren, den Herren, der Herren). This does not cost you any extra, but it does help keep this website going. Remember when your English teacher tried to explain the difference between thenominativeandobjectivecases? This is also a good example for impressing upon English-speakers the importance of learning thegender of nounsin German. The word ein, however, is used for both masculine and neuter nouns. If you know what your chart looks like and which forms are where, you can simply remember your Oklahomies and your Tex-ens. In both sentences, "das Haus" is the nominative subject. When you use an indefinite article in German, words that translate as a or an in English, you mostly use the same adjective endings as you do for adjectives that follow definite articles, words that translate as the in English. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/german-adjective-endings-nominative-case-4070890. The rule for adjectives with the definite article (der,die,das) or the so-calledder-words (dieser,jeder, etc.) grammar possessive adjectives numl All of these nouns in this sentence are masculine, so the only adjective that ends with -e is the one in the nominative case. The following chart shows the adjective endings for theaccusativecase(direct object) with definite articles (der, dem, der) and the indefinite articles (einen,einem,einer,keinen). Notice how the ending changed between these two sentences. The rest of the nouns are plural. Lingvist helps you to gain vocabulary faster and more effectively. The plural article ending is -en and the adjective follows suit to make it allen armen Kindern. While an adjectives job in a sentence is already to make things more precise, descriptive, or colorful, German adjectives really go the extra mile! When neither a definite nor an indefinite article is used, the adjective ending generally follows the ending that is normally on the definite articles. They include anlsslich [on the occasion of], angesichts [in the face of; in view of], How to Tell If a German Word Is Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter, Learning Adjective and Color Endings in German, Learn About German's Genitive (Possessive) Case, Learning German "Give and Take" - "Geben, Nehmen", Translating the Terms for "People" in German, English-German Glossary: In der Schule (School), Learn the Months, Seasons, Days, and Dates in German, A List of English to German Translations of the Countries of the World, Learn All About Dual Prepositions in German, A Guide to German Plural Nouns With -e Endings. All like fresh bread.Wir machen unser Mittagessen mit frischem Brot. I also included indications of what counts as each category of ending. is simple because the ending is always -ein thenominativecase (except for the plural which is always -enin all situations!). When we get to the genitive case, we again have a small deviation from the der-words chart, as the adjective ending is -en, while the definite article would have been des. Download the app and enjoy Lingvist at its best. In the accusative case the ending becomes -en, which is the same as the masculine accusative article den. You often dont need an article with plural nouns, so it stands to reason that you would often use an adjective with those nouns, too. She ran away one night. These nouns are all the direct objects of the sentence. (2021, February 14). Herr Antrim is a German teacher with over 10 years of teaching experience. boy." Im going to spend the next several lessons teaching you pretty much everything you need to know about adjectives in German. "the horse's mouth"; "the books' covers." In the genitive, there is no distinction between a "der-word" and an "ein-word."1. The adjective endings -en, -e, and -escorrespond to the articlesden,die, anddasrespectively (masc., fem., and neuter). Here they are again for reference: They are also used with demonstratives pointing something out and a few other quantitative terms: derselb- (the same) The placement of the adjective in German and English is exactly the same, between the article (the word for the, a or an) and the noun. Notice I said "use," not "explain." You can confirm this if you look at the English versions of the previous two sentences about the gray house. While this is also important in German, there are a few other properties of the noun that you need to consider before selecting the correct ending. Bis zum nchsten Mal. The easiest way to know which ending is appropriate is to first memorize the patterns (shown in tables below) then think of the definite article that accompanies the noun and use that to help select which ending goes along with it. are not genitive in and of themselves. manch- (some) You can click here and download the adjective endings charts used in this lesson for free. This allows us to follow the endings across the genders. This is another illustration of why it is important to learn thegender of nounsin German. The dative case is used with the indirect object, which is why we changed the feminine to der and the adjective ending to -en. In fact, all of the dative and genitive adjective endings are still -en. This alignment, which is a type of inflection (like verbs undergo), is called declension. the latter) noun: When such a pronoun depends on a preceding noun, desselben or derselben can be employed: Further pronoun examples can be found below. This time we have the feminine form welche to indicate that the teacher is the subject of the sentence and therefore nominative. Imagine that the definite articles still sneak in there to have some influence over the indefinite, even when theyre not invited. The only one that doesnt match is in the genitive case. Well, if you understand the concept in English, it will help you with German. Hallo, Deutschlerner. German nouns have a certain case, which you can spot based on the definite article (the in English) they use. You can download all of the materials Herr Antrim has ever created about German adjectives in one bargain bundle here. Basically, if it isnt one of your Oklahomies, use -en on the adjective. a tall man. The feminine articles end with -er, but the adjective endings still end with -en. After the preposition mit we use the dative case, which is indicated by the masculine and neuter articles einem and the feminine article einer. The first ending that is cited is that of the genitive case. These words include: dieser, alle, jeder, jener, welcher, manche, solche and beide. Nor is the interrogative wessen (= "whose"). Which words require the same adjective endings as the der-words? In the dative case we see gelbem instead of dem. "German Adjective Endings: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative Cases." The grammar of modern German is similar to Old English (including gender for nouns!). As I said, these endings are used when there is neither a definite nor indefinite article in front of the adjective. For example: Other endings of weak nouns are "-ant," "-arch," "-ege," "-ent," "-ist," "-oge," "-om," "-oph," and "-ot." The following chart shows the adjective endings for the dativecase(indirect object) with definite articles (der, dem, der) and the indefinite articles (einen,einem,einer,keinen). The adjective endings for all of the adjectives in this case are -en. The last letter or letters will change to match the der-word ending chart and the adjectives that follow will use the same endings as the adjectives do when they are followed by words like der, dem, des and so on. Copyright 2021 Learn German with Herr Antrim. I am making a sandwich with yellow cheese.Ich mag den Geschmack gelben Kses. If the noun is plural and you are using a definite article, you add -en to the end of the adjective. Therefore we only need an -e at the end of the adjective. In normal speech, German often use the dative after trotz and wegen. (The car is blue. It is important to remember that certain words in German act like definite articles. A Catholic priest, a Methodist pastor (female) and a brown horse go into an Irish bar. Das groe Pferd isst eine Mhre. How is there a plural column for this? While you cant say a books, you can say my books or no books. The last noun in the sentence isnt in the nominative case, but still requires eine as the article and an -e at the end of the adjective to show that this is feminine and accusative. A few weak nouns add "-ns," for example: One neuter noun is also weak in the dative and takes an "-ens" in the genitive: While the Latin accusative and dative forms of Jesus Christus (Jesum Christum, Jeso Christo) are not used in modern German, the genitive is: With weak nouns the accusative and the dative are usually identical with the genitive but not always. diesseits [on this side of], and jenseits [on the other side of]: George O. Curme's Grammar of the German Language (New York: Macmillan, 1922) lists All plural nouns require adjectives with -en, if there is an article. Are you the man's wife? Understanding which adjective ending to select is a pretty hefty first step, so dont worry if you need to let the different requirements sink in for a while. The grammar-police find that appalling, but in fact the dative is actually the older form. In these examples we can see how the neuter noun Brot changes between the cases. The article would have been des, but the adjective ending is -en. previous If it still seems complicated to you, you may get some help from Udo Klinger'sDeklination von Adjektiven(in German only). Note that, despite their appearance here, these are not the same as "possessive pronouns": The third-person demonstrative pronouns which can be possessive pronouns are commonly employed: In ambiguous situations, the demonstrative possessive pronoun points to the nearest preceding (i.e. We have created an app that gets the most out of Lingvist and your device. Tschss. As you probably guessed, this has to do with the gender of nouns and the cases in which they are used. beide (both). In the first example the article das clearly identifies the gender of the noun Pferd as neuter. It shows you the definite and indefinite articles with the adjective endings that follow them plus the unpreceded adjective endings, which are indicated with a blank line in front. Der gute Film beginnt in 30 Minuten. Here are a few examples. https://www.thoughtco.com/german-adjective-endings-nominative-case-4070890 (accessed July 22, 2022). Meine Brder und deren Kinder sind schon angekommen. When the relationship between two English nouns is defined by one's possession of the other, A frequent alternative to the genitive case is a prepositional phrase with "of": "the color of the car" (= "the car's color"). german declension adjective adjectives language declining most coach with the genitive ending still pronounced as "-es." There is also the option to put the adjective directly before the noun they describe. When using the genitive case, the articles for masculine and neuter nouns end with -s. The adjectives that follow them use -en. Fresh bread is the best.Alle mgen frisches Brot. This includes how adjectives are used both with and without a noun, how to choose the ending for an adjective when it is used with a noun, how to use the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, and how to use past and present participles as adjectives. Lets take a look at some examples to see what this looks like. In the chart below you can see all of the definite articles for each case and gender. The nominative and accusative cases use -e as the adjective endings, as the definite articles would have been die. If you answered thatgrauin the first sentence has no ending andgrauin the second sentence does have an ending, you're right! Die kluge Frau der netten rztin kauft der 5-jhrigen Tochter die teure Halskette. *Plural nouns in the dative add an -n or -en ending if the plural form does not already end in -(e)n. As we saw earlier(Nominative), an adjective that precedes a noun must have an ending--at least an -e.Also,notice that the endings shown here in the ACCUSATIVE (direct object) case are identical to those in the NOMINATIVE (subject) case with the sole exception ofthemasculinegender(der/den). Find out more. Once you notice the parallel and the agreement of the lettersn,e,swithden,die,das, it makes the process a little clearer. In grammatical terms, adding endings to words is called "inflection" or "declination." Besides the obviously lame set up for a joke, this sentence includes one masculine noun, one feminine noun and one neuter noun in the normative case. Kluge Kinder erzhlen vertrauenswrdigen Eltern doofe Geschichten anstatt echter Wahrheiten. In the dative case, the ending becomes -en, as the article becomes den. But first, we need to talk about another grammar term: case. This lesson will focus on the basics; what adjectives are and how to use them in German. ein groer [-r from der] Mann We've updated our Privacy Policy, which will go in to effect on September 1, 2022. or "Der Wagen ist blau." Definite articles (der-words) require different adjective endings than indefinite articles (ein-words) and there is a third category when there is no article. Hyde Flippo taught the German language for 28 years at high school and college levels and published several books on the German language and culture. I like my younger brother.Die Mutter gibt den lauten Kindern keine Schokolade. Like many other apps, we collect personal data to provide a better experience for our learners. Sign up for Lingvists online German course to start quizzing yourself and get your brain used to recognizing the case, gender, and plurality of the noun, as well as which article you want to use. The film was good.Mein Bruder ist jung. The five-year-old can't explain the grammar rules involved here, but she can use them. So we would get "Der blaueWagen" (The blue car), "Die kleineStadt.." (The small town), or "Das schneMdchen" (The pretty girl). They call them their Oklahomies. There is a special form of wegen: Quite a few verbs once took a genitive object, but over time they have switched to the accusative. This sentence has all four cases in it. The first one used an -e while the last two used -en. The adjective ending rule here is: in the accusative case with the definite article (the/den, die, das) the adjective ending is always -enforthemasculine(den) form. Adjectives for masculine nouns get -er, feminine -e and neuter -es. Strong endings are used for the indefinite article (a/an) and when there is no determiner present, except masc. Das ist alles fr heute. It is masculine and its only there to make the rest of the sentence work. Nobody has to explain it! ThoughtCo, Feb. 14, 2021, thoughtco.com/german-adjective-endings-nominative-case-4070890. For now, we're going to stick to the simple one, the nominative case. Since the article ein could be masculine or neuter in the nominative case, we still have to identify the gender through the adjective, which in this case indicates neuter with -es at the end. Lets start with the adjectives after der-words. Frnky's Flowers. ("He has a new house."). This makes the forms that require -en endings Tex-ens. The adjectives gut, jung and laut describe the subjects der Film, mein Bruder and die Kinder. My brother is young.Die Kinder sind heute laut. This makes us show the gender through the adjective, which is why the adjective now ends with -er. One example is vergessen, although the name of the flower Vergissmeinnicht (forget-me-not) remains. Die meisten Glaubenslehrer verteidigen ihre Stze nicht, weil sie von der Wahrheit derselben berzeugt sind, sondern weil sie diese Wahrheit einmal behauptet haben. What do you notice about the wordgrau? ), the adjective must reflect the gender of the noun that follows. This smart boy has seen every dumb film by Tarantino. The children in this sentence are the indirect object of the sentence, which makes them dative. See below for a discussion of when the genitive is used in German, but first we will examine how it is configured. This makes this group of adjective endings by far the easiest to remember.