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German 2 Unit 7: Adjective Endings

When an adjective stands before a noun, German gives it an ending that depends on the noun's gender, case and number and on the word that comes before it. Adjective endings are one of the most visible markers of accurate German.

Covers: Predicate versus attributive adjectives, Endings after der-words (weak), Endings after ein-words (mixed), Endings with no article (strong), Adjective endings in the dative, Spelling changes (hoch, teuer, dunkel)

Study guide

An adjective that follows a linking verb such as sein, werden or bleiben is a predicate adjective, and it takes no ending: Der Film ist neu. Die Jacke bleibt warm. An adjective placed directly before a noun is an attributive adjective, and it always takes an ending: der neue Film, eine warme Jacke. The ending signals information about the noun. The basic principle is that somewhere in front of the noun, either the article or the adjective must show the gender and case clearly. If the article already does the job, the adjective takes a simple weak ending (-e or -en). If the article does not, the adjective takes over that job with a strong ending.

After der-words (der, die, das, dieser, jeder, welcher, alle), the article already shows gender and case, so adjectives take weak endings. There are only two: -e and -en. Use -e in five places: the nominative singular of all three genders (der alte Mann, die alte Frau, das alte Haus) and the accusative feminine and neuter (die alte Frau, das alte Haus). Use -en everywhere else: the masculine accusative (den alten Mann), the entire dative (dem alten Mann, der alten Frau), the genitive, and all plurals (die alten Häuser). Many students picture this as a chart with a small block of -e in the upper left and -en everywhere else.

After ein-words (ein, kein and the possessives mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr), the endings are mostly the same as after der-words, with three exceptions. In the masculine nominative and the neuter nominative and accusative, ein has no ending, so the adjective must show the gender: ein alter Mann (masculine nominative -er), ein altes Haus (neuter nominative and accusative -es). Everywhere else the ending matches the weak pattern: eine alte Frau, einen alten Mann, mit einem alten Freund, meine alten Freunde. Because ein has no plural, plurals appear after kein or a possessive: keine neuen Ideen, unsere besten Freunde, always with -en.

When no article precedes the adjective, the adjective carries the article's ending itself; these are called strong endings. Compare dieser with the strong forms: guter Kaffee (like dieser), gute Milch (like diese), gutes Wasser (like dieses, though the article is das), and in the plural gute Freunde. In the dative, the strong endings are -em, -er, -em and -en: mit heißem Wasser, bei schönem Wetter, mit kalter Milch, mit guten Freunden. Strong endings appear in menus, ads and many fixed phrases: Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Guten Morgen (accusative masculine), Viele Grüße. Numbers and words like viele and einige also trigger strong endings: drei kleine Kinder, viele neue Bücher.

A few adjectives change their spelling when they take an ending. Hoch drops the c: Der Berg ist hoch, but ein hoher Berg. Adjectives ending in -el drop the e before l: dunkel becomes eine dunkle Nacht, and those ending in -er after a diphthong often drop the e as well: teuer becomes ein teures Auto, sauer becomes saure Gurken. Several adjectives such as lila, rosa and orange traditionally take no ending at all. When two or more adjectives precede the same noun, they all take the same ending: ein großer, schöner Garten; mit meinen alten, guten Freunden. Finally, adjectives used as nouns are capitalized but keep their endings: der Deutsche, ein Deutscher, die Kranken.

Key ideas

• Predicate adjectives after sein, werden or bleiben take no ending.
• Attributive adjectives before a noun always take an ending.
• After der-words, adjectives end in -e in the nominative singular and the accusative feminine and neuter; otherwise -en.
• After ein-words, the same pattern applies except masculine nominative -er and neuter nominative/accusative -es.
• With no article, the adjective takes strong endings that copy the der-word endings.
• In the dative and in all plurals after an article, the ending is -en.
• Hoch, dunkel and teuer change spelling: hohe, dunkle, teure.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Adding an ending to a predicate adjective (Das Auto ist neues).
• Using -e for the masculine accusative after den (den alte Mann instead of den alten Mann).
• Forgetting -er or -es after ein (ein neu Auto, ein klein Hund).
• Using weak endings when there is no article (mit kalt Milch, guten Kaffee schmeckt).
• Keeping the c of hoch before an ending (ein hocher Turm).

Before the test, make sure you can

• Distinguish predicate adjectives from attributive adjectives.
• Supply weak endings after der-words in all cases.
• Supply endings after ein-words, including the -er and -es exceptions.
• Supply strong endings when there is no article.
• Use the correct ending after dative prepositions.
• Spell hoch, dunkel and teuer correctly with endings.
• Describe clothing, people and places using several adjectives.

Words to know

neu

new

alt

old

teuer

expensive

billig

cheap

hoch

high, tall

dunkel

dark

hell

bright, light

die Jacke

jacket

der Mantel

coat

das Hemd

shirt

die Hose

pants

die Schuhe

shoes

der Rock

skirt

freundlich

friendly

lustig

funny

ernst

serious

fleißig

hard-working

faul

lazy

klug

smart

hübsch

pretty

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.