When do we have to Decline Adjectives?
When adjectives come before a noun, they must be declined.
⇒ They take an ending.
- „Der junge Mann lernt Deutsch.“ (The adjective „jung“ comes befor the noun „Mann“ ⇒ Adjective Declension)
- But: „Der Mann ist jung.“ (There is no noun behind „jung“ ⇒ No Adjective Declension)
The ending depends on what kind of article comes before the adjective.
Adjective Declension after Definite Articles:
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | der schöne Mann | den schönen Mann | dem schönen Mann | des schönen Mannes |
| Feminine | die schöne Frau | die schöne Frau | der schönen Frau | der schönen Frau |
| Neuter | das schöne Haus | das schöne Haus | dem schönen Haus | des schönen Häuses |
| Plural | die schönen Männer | die schönen Männer | den schönen Männern | der schönen Männer |
The article already signals the case. If the article already signals the case, the adjective doesn´t have to do that. Nevertheless it gets an ending:
⇒ in nominative singular and accusative neutral and feminine we only add an „e“
⇒ in accusative masculine and plural, as well as all persons for plural, dative, and genitive, the adjective ending is an „en“
Examples:
- „Das rote Auto gehört dem reichen Mann.“
- „Hans sitzt auf dem alten Sofa.“
- „Das Haus steht neben dem großen Park.“
- „Das kleine Haus ist grau.“
„Diese“, „jede“, „manche“, and „welche“ use the adjective declension of definite articles as well. All these articles words already possess the ending of the definite articles. ⇒ They already signal the case. ⇒ Adjectives stay with „e“ or „en“.
Adjective Declension after Indefinite Articles:
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | ein schöner Mann | einen schönen Mann | einem schönen Mann | eines schönen Mannes |
| Feminine | eine schöne Frau | eine schöne Frau | einer schönen Frau | einer schönen Hauses |
| Neuter | ein schönes Haus | ein schönes Haus | einem schönen Haus | eines schönen Hauses |
| Plural | -- | -- | -- | -- |
The same endings are also used for possessive articles (mein, dein,…) and the negative article (kein).
But these also have a plural form!
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | mein schöner Mann | meinen schönen Mann | meinem schönen Mann | meines schönen Mannes |
| Feminine | meine schöne Frau | meine schöne Frau | meiner schönen Frau | meiner schönen Frau |
| Neuter | mein schönes Haus | mein schönes Haus | meinem schönen Haus | meines schönen Hauses |
| Plural | meine schönen Frauen | meine schönen Frauen | meinen schönen Frauen | meiner schönen Frauen |
The other possessive articles (dein, sein, ihr,…) and the negative article (kein) use the same endings.
The colored mark shows which part signals the case. In plural, dative, genitive, and accusative masculine the adjective ending is always „en“ because the article signals the case already.
But in nominative and accusative we have articles without an ending (ein, mein,…). They do not signal the case. That´s why the adjective has to do their job and gets the ending of the corresponding definite article (der, die ,das…) in order to signal the case.
Examples:
- „Mein neues Auto steht in der Garage.“
- „Hans sitzt auf einer alten Kiste.“
- „Das Haus ist in keinem guten Zustand.“
- „Das ist ein schmales Bett.“
Adjective Declension without Articles
When there is no article before the adjective (it´s also called zero article), it is declined as follows:
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | schöner Mann | schönen Mann | schönem Mann | schönen Mannes |
| Feminine | schöne Frau | schöne Frau | schöner Frau | schöner Frau |
| Neuter | schönes Haus | schönes Haus | schönem Haus | schönen Hauses |
| Plural | schöne Frauen | schöne Frauen | schönen Frauen | schöner Frauen |
There is no article to signal the case, so the adjective ending must do that job and gets the ending of the corresponding definite article.
Only exception: Genitive masculine and neuter. The ending „en“ is always added because the „s“ at the end of the noun already signals genitive case and the adjective stays „unemployed“.
Examples:
- „Junge Frauen sind oft sehr hübsch.“
- „Ein Deutscher trinkt jedes Jahr 130 Liter kaltes Bier.“
- „Der Ring ist aus purem Gold.“
- „Dort stehen rote Autos.“
Irregularities
If an adjective ends in „e“, we don‘t add a second „e“.
- „leise“ – „ein leises Kind“
(Wrong: ein leisees Kind)
For adjectives that end in „el“, remove the „e“ from the „el“
- „sensibel“ – „ein sensibles Kind“
(Wrong: „ein sensibeles Kind“)
- „dunkel“ – „ein dunkler Wald“
(Wrong: „ein dunkeler Wald“)
For adjectives that end in „er“ and have a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) directly before that „er“, remove the „e“ from the „er“.
- „teuer“ – „ein teures Auto“ (Wrong: „ein teueres Auto“)
- „sauer“ – „ein saurer Apfel“ (Wrong: „ein sauerer Apfel“)
BUT: „sauber“ – „ein sauberes Zimmer“ (No vowel before)
For the adjective „hoch“, remove the „c“
- „Der Turm ist hoch.“
- „Das ist ein hoher Turm.“
(Wrong: „Das ist ein hocher Turm.“)
For adjectives that end in „a“, as well as those that come from city names and end in „er“, there is no declension.
- „Das ist ein rosa Kleid.“
- „Die lila Bluse ist hässlich.“
- „Der Frankfurter Flughafen ist riesig.“
Further Information
- Problems determining the correct endings for adjectives? Go through my Step-by-Step Adjective Declension Guide and everything will become obvious for you! It´s not as hard as it looks!
- Adjective declension depends on the articles in front of the adjective. Different Article (Definite Article, Indefinite Article, Possessive Article or Negative Article), different ending!
- The endings also depend on the four German cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive.
- You have to know the Gender of the noun.
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