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How to use German Adjectives


In German, adjectives change their endings depending on whether the person or thing you are referring to is masculine, feminine or neuter, and singular or plural. It also depends on the case of the person or thing you are describing and whether it is preceded by the definite or indefinite article.

German adjectives come before the noun they describe, but when used with a verb it is placed after the verb.

e.g.

Die alte Frau – the adjective ‘alte’ is before the noun ‘Frau’

Du bist schön – the adjective ‘schön’ is after the verb

Adjectives used after the definite article Der, Die and Das:

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural all Genders
Nominative -e -e -e -en
Accusative -en -e -e -en
Genitive -en -en -en -en
Dative -en -en -en -en

Examples:

Nominative: Der junge Hund hat Hunger.

Accusative: Ich habe die junge Katze gefüttert.

Dative: Er hilft dem jungen Kind beim Anziehen.

Genitive: Der Hund des jungen Mannes ist sehr krank.

Adjectives used after the indefinite article Ein and Kein:

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural all Genders
Nominative -er -e -es -en
Accusative -en -e -es -en
Genitive -en -en -en -en
Dative -en -en -en -en

Examples:

Nominative: Eine alte Frau läuft über die Straße.

Accusative: Ich habe einen alten Hund.

Genitive: Die vielen Geheimnisse einer alten Frau sind…

Dative: In einem alten Haus kann es sehr kalt sein.

Adjectives used, when there is no article before the noun:

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural all Genders
Nominative -er -e -es -e
Accusative -en -e -es -e
Genitive -en -er -en -er
Dative -em -er -em -en

Examples:

Nominative: Gute Freunde sind wichtig.

Accusative: Ich trinke gerne guten Wein.

Genitive: Die Hilfe guter Menschen ist wichtig.

Dative: Zu gutem Wein esse ich gerne Käse.

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4 Responses to “How to use German Adjectives”

  1. Purple Lover says:

    Thanks for your great post ^^. So helpful ^^

  2. Anjana-victoria says:

    Danke..das ist toll! Thanks this is brilliant!

  3. poor_richard says:

    thx! i think i finally got it right now. it doesn’t seem to be that hard, does it? :)

  4. No, it is not too hard. You only need to know the German cases and genders :-)

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