Adjectives as Nouns
Adjectives and participles can also be used as nouns.
They then stand for people or abstract objects (things that you can‘t touch).
They are really nouns but are declined like adjectives.
Examples:
- „Ein fremder Mann klingelt an der Tür.“ = „Ein Fremder klingelt an der Tür.“
- „Ein obdachloser Mensch schläft auf der Straße.“ = „Ein Obdachloser schläft auf der Straße.“
Construction
Normal Sentence: Article + Adjective/Participle + Noun
- „Sandra hat schon wieder einen neuen Freund.“
When using the adjective/participle as a noun, remove the original noun:
- „Sandra hat schon wieder einen Neuen.“
We dropped the noun „Freund“ after the adjective because it´s obvious. Therefore the adjective becomes a noun and the first letter gets capitalized. Despite the fact that the adjective is a noun now it keeps its adjective declension.
The noun is only dropped when it´s obvious or universally known. Nouns like „Mensch“, „Frau“ and „Mann“ are dropped very often because most often we know who we are talking about.
Common Examples
Adjectives as Nouns
| Adjective | Adjective as Noun | Adjective | Adjective as Noun |
|---|---|---|---|
| alt | der Alte | dumm | der Dumme |
| arbeitslos | die Arbeitslose | gut | das Gute |
| bekannt | der Bekannte | klein | die Kleine |
| blond | die Blonde | neu | das Neue |
| böse | das Böse | krank | der Kranke |
| deutsch | der Deutsche | tot | die Tote |
Participles as Nouns
| Present Participle | Participle as Noun | Past Participle | Participle as Noun |
|---|---|---|---|
| anwesend | der Anwesende | angestellt | der Angestellte |
| abwesend | die Abwesende | betrunken | der Betrunkene |
| reisend | der Reisende | gefangen | die Gefangene |
| vorsitzend | die Vorsitzende | prostituiert | die Prostituierte |
| überlebend | der Überlebende | vermisst | der Vermisste |
| verletzt | die Verletzte |
*All endings according to Nominative Case
Summary
When adjectives or participles are used as nouns, the original noun (normally „Mann“, „Frau“, „Mensch“) is left out because it is obvious or universally known.
The adjective declension stays based on the article and case.
Further Information
- If you use an adjective as a noun you still have to use its declined version according to Adjective Declension.
- Problems determining the correct ending 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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