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Adjective Declensions: German For English Speakers

This document provides information about adjective declensions in German. It explains that German adjectives take case endings when used before nouns, similar to nouns. There are soft endings for adjectives used with definite articles and hard endings in other cases. Tables are presented showing the adjective endings for masculine, feminine, neuter and plural nouns depending on whether they are used with definite, indefinite/possessive articles, or no article.

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283 views1 page

Adjective Declensions: German For English Speakers

This document provides information about adjective declensions in German. It explains that German adjectives take case endings when used before nouns, similar to nouns. There are soft endings for adjectives used with definite articles and hard endings in other cases. Tables are presented showing the adjective endings for masculine, feminine, neuter and plural nouns depending on whether they are used with definite, indefinite/possessive articles, or no article.

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Mon
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© © All Rights Reserved
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German for English

Speakers
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Adjective Declensions

German adjectives work just like English ones, except that they take on case endings when they
come right before a noun:

Der Hund ist groß und braun.


The dog is big and brown.

Der große braune Hund bellte mich an.


The big brown dog barked at me.

To understand these endings, you need to be familiar with the "hard" endings for nouns from
Section II.3. The rule for adjectives before a noun is this: when there’s no hard ending in
the noun or article, add it to the adjective. When there is a hard ending in the noun or
article, the adjective takes a “soft” ending as follows:

M A S CUL I NE FE MI NI NE NE UTE R PLU RAL

Nominative -e -e -e -en

Accusative -en -e -e -en

Dative -en -en -en -en

Genitive -en -en -en -en

The following tables show how this rule is applied. The hard endings are highlighted in yellow,
and the “soft” adjective endings are underlined. With a definite article, the adjective ending is
always soft:

TYPE 1: Definite Articles "The nice man / woman / child / children"

M A S CUL I NE FE MI NI NE NE UTER PLU RAL

die netten
Nominative der nette Mann die nette Frau das nette Kind
Kinder

den netten die netten


Accusative die nette Frau das nette Kind
Mann Kinder

dem netten dem netten den netten


Dative der netten Frau
Mann Kind Kindern

des netten des netten der netten


Genitive der netten Frau
Mannes Kindes Kinder

For the indefinite and possessive articles, the adjective endings are the same except for the three
places where the article has no hard ending and the adjective has to take it on:

TYPE 2: Indefinite & Possessive Articles "My little dog / cat / bunny / birds"

M A S C UL I NE FE MI NI NE NE UTER PLU RAL

mein kleiner meine kleine mein kleines meine kleinen


Nominative
Hund Katze Kaninchen Vögel

meinen kleinen meine kleine mein kleines meine kleinen


Accusative
Hund Katze Kaninchen Vögel

meinem kleinen meiner kleinen meinem kleinen meinen kleinen


Dative
Hund Katze Kaninchen Vögeln

meines kleinen meiner kleinen meines kleinen meiner kleinen


Genitive
Hundes Katze Kaninchens Vögel

And with no article ("the taste of hot coffee"), the adjective always takes on the hard ending,
except in the three cases where it’s still there on the noun:

TYPE 3: No Article "hot coffee / cold milk / fresh bread / warm rolls"

M A S CUL I NE FE MI NI NE NE UTER PLU RAL

warme
Nominative heißer Kaffee kalte Milch frisches Brot
Brötchen

warme
Accusative heißen Kaffee kalte Milch frisches Brot
Brötchen

warmen
Dative heißem Kaffee kalter Milch frischem Brot
Brötchen

warmer
Genitive heißen Kaffees kalter Milch frischen Brotes
Brötchen

Continue to next section >>

I. BASICS

II. NOUNS & ARTICLES

III. ADJECTIVES
1. Adjective Declensions
2. Comparatives & Superlatives

IV. PRONOUNS

V. VERBS

VI. PREPOSITIONS

VII. OTHER TOPICS

REFERENCE MATERIALS

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