The five endings highlighted in bold are the most important ones to learn, as all the rest end in 'en'. Unlike in English, German adjectives are 'declined' (i.e. Wondering how? Important: are you familiar with the German grammatical cases? As you study the table below you will notice the adjectival endings with the possessive pronouns in the singular are exactly the same as those used after the indefinite article, as described in the previous section. Let's have a look at these endings in the plural with the help of the following table: 4. For example, in English: 'The lovely house'. And, while adjectival endings are perhaps not the most essential part of conversational German (i.e. All possessive pronouns will follow exactly the same patterns, detailed below. Adjectives are descriptive words. With ein-words, the ending varies according to the modified noun's gender (see below). What are adjectives and adjectival endings? Anyway, here is the table. As you all know, German case system is an integral part of the language. Or, if you feel like a well-deserved break, why not have fun learning some überlong world-record breaking German words.
Adjectival endings with the possessive pronoun in the plural. Adjective endings reference tables. It will be set out in an easy-to-follow format with English examples throughout. Can you believe the longest German word contains no less than 80 letters?! However , when we change the sentence to say: 'The lovely house' - 'Das schöne Haus' you will notice an 'e' appears at the end of the adjective 'schön'. They either end in 'en' or 'e'. Example 2:'The man is tall' - 'Der Mann ist groÃ'. You can find them here: nominative, accusative, dative, & genitive. 'two old men'). Adjective endings. You will firstly learn the adjectival endings in the singular (i.e. Every aspect of German adjectival endings follow clearly set-out rules. Adjectival endings with indefinite articles, 4. German adjectival endings with the definite article. In certain situations, colors can also be nouns and are thus capitalized: "eine Bluse in Blau" (a blouse in blue); "das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen" (to promise heaven and earth, lit., "the blue of the heavens"). Lots of examples and tips on counting in German. German Adjective Endings by Case. The declension of German articles and adjectives in front of nouns is a problem for many learners of German. Learn more about how this resource can be of value to you by clicking here. 1. For this exercise, you will be given a paragraph consisting of 10-20 sentences with missing words. The only instance in which they are not declined is when the adjective is not directly followed by a noun. (The house is large.) the German equivalent of my, your, her, his, our, etc.) This lesson will focus on German adjectival endings. This lesson will be split into four parts: 1. In order to complete the exercise, you must fill in each blank with the correct German adjective. Adjectival endings with definite articles, 3. In all other instances, the adjective has no ending ( Der Tisch ist groß . 'Tall' is the adjective as it is describing the building. German adjective endings aren’t the first thing you need to worry about when you learn German.When you first start learning German, you should focus on the basic German words. 'my shirt') and then the endings in the plural (i.e. Unlike English adjectives, a German adjective in front of a noun has to have an ending (-e in the examples above). By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, German Adjective Endings: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative Cases, Learn the Colors, and Colorful Expressions, in German, German Verbs with Prepositions 1 - German Lesson, Using German Participles as Adjectives and Adverbs, How to Tell If a German Word Is Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter, Learn About German's Genitive (Possessive) Case, The Quick Guide on Descriptive German Adjectives, A List of English to German Translations of the Countries of the World, Learning German "Give and Take" - "Geben, Nehmen", The German Word 'ihr' Is an Article and a Pronoun, der rote Wagen (the red car), der Wagen ist rot, ein blaues Auge (a black eye), er ist blau (he's drunk), die hellblaue Bluse (the light blue blouse)**, die dunkelblaue Bluse (the dark blue blouse), die gelben Seiten (yellow pages), ein gelbes Auto.
The German words for colors usually function as adjectives and take the normal adjective endings (but see exceptions below). You will now learn the German adjectival endings for use with the 'possessive pronoun' (i.e. 1. The plural is used without an indefinite article, as in English. Look at the following table for the adjective endings in the nominative (subject) case: With definite article (der, die, das) - Nominative case, With indefinite article (eine, kein, mein) - Nom. Nominative: 'e' from die Accusative: 'e' from die Dative: 'en' from den Genitive: 'er' from der, (For clarity's sake: this information can be found in section two of this lesson: 'Adjectival endings with the definite article in the plural'.). In my experience it's really one of the most enjoyable - and best available - systems for learning German quickly. In order to best help you accomplish your goal of speaking German fluently I've teamed up with the Rocket German Learning System. As you will see in the table below there are just two different endings for adjectival endings in the singular with the definite article. Business German phrases for use in emails and letters as well as for presentations, meetings and phone calls. in all four grammatical cases. Practice German Adjective Endings with a Short Story However, when we change the sentence to say: 'The tall man' - 'Der groÃeMann' you will notice an 'e' appears at the end of the adjective 'groÃ.' Now you have completed your German adjectival endings lesson, why not take a look at my important German phrases section. For example, it would be incorrect to say: 'an old men' or 'an old women'. 'the old man') and then the endings in the plural (i.e. 'Lovely' is the adjective as it is describing the house. What are adjectives and adjectival endings? Just what that ending will be depends on several factors, including gender (der, die, das) and case (nominative, accusative, dative). Adjectives are descriptive words. The German word for 'car' is neuter and is the direct object of the sentence, so the accusative case is used. Unlike English adjectives, a German adjective in front of a noun has to have an ending (-e in the examples above). Note that with ein-words, since the article may not tell us the gender of the following noun, the adjective ending often does this instead (-es = das, -er = der; see above). There’s not too much to say anymore, I think you should have understood the basic principles so far. German Adjective Endings for Nouns without Article. In the following, you will see the table which shows German adjective endings for adjectives that describe nouns without articles. Or, taking another example: 'A tall building'. Here I’ll give you some tips on how to master declension. The chart below shows some of the more common colors with sample phrases. If you would prefer to learn the adjective endings based on the cases in German instead of the articles that precede them, I made videos like that in my 3 Minuten Deutsch series. Adjectival endings with possessive pronouns. As in English, a German adjective can also come after the verb (predicate adjective): "Das Haus ist groß." For more general information about possessive pronouns in German, please click here. 'an old man') and then the endings in the plural (i.e. You'll learn that the colors in "feeling blue" or "seeing red" may not mean the same thing in German. Please take a look at the table detailed below. You will now learn the German adjectival endings for use with the 'definite article' (i.e. Click here to find out which long German words are Guinness World Record breakers and which one involves this very famous European river! 2. German cases and adjective endings chart Posted on March 9, 2015 by TheGermanProfessor — 5 Comments ↓ Diese Woche hat TheGermanProfesser auf Facebook die 5.000-Fan-Marke und auf Twitter die 1.000-Fan-Marke überschritten! In German, adjectives that come directly before nouns (attributive adjectives) require an ending to reflect gender, case and number. But most of the time the ending is an -e or an -en (in the plural). Adjectival endings with the indefinite article in the singular. *Colors ending in -a (lila, rosa) do not take the normal adjective endings. you will, on the whole, be understood whether or not you make a few mistakes), they are a great way to impress German colleagues and friends when you do get them right, as you will often hear Germans themselves making mistakes in this area. By the way, I've teamed up with the Rocket German Learning System in order to help bring you an option proven to help folks speak German effortlessly within a short time period. In such cases, the adjective will have NO ending. If not, please click here to read my essential basic overview, otherwise this lesson will undoubtedly become rather confusing. So, please bear this in mind as you read through this lesson. 'Tall' is the adjective as it is describing the building. Improve your German language skills today with my top tips for learning German. 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. You will firstly learn the adjectival endings in the singular (i.e. German Adjective Endings 1 (part 2 is here) Or in jargon: declension of adjectives. Adjectival endings with the possessive pronoun in the singular.
'the two old men'). ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. 3. Learn German Numbers in this easy-to-follow online lesson.