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Batch 69 Adjective Ending
Batch 69 Adjective Ending
Adjective endings are usually the least favorite part of learning German, from both the students' and the
teacher's viewpoints. I can't make them fun, but I can at least make them a little easier. Yes, they do
require some memorization, but there is a logic to them. With some effort, you should be able to put the
correct endings on adjectives without having to refer to a massive diagram or chart.
Keep in mind 1: Something -- either an article (der/ein/dieser/etc.) or the adjective itself -- must show
what gender the noun is. For example, der Mann clearly shows that Mann is masculine; ein Mann, on the
other hand, does not show this, because ein could also be applied to a neuter noun (ein Kind).
Keep in mind 2: Some articles show that a noun has changed from its original nominative case, others do
not. For example, in the sentence "ich sehe einen Mann", einen shows clearly that Mann is no longer in the
nominative case. In the sentence "ich sehe ein Buch", however, the neuter accusative ein does not differ
from its nominative form, which is also ein. This distinction will be important in deciding which adjective
ending to use.
With those guidelines in mind, we can now set up a flow chart of rules that will give you the correct
adjective ending.
If NO (if there is no article): add the ending that would occur on a der-word for that noun. For
instance:
Deutsches Bier schmeckt gut. (it would be dieses Bier, so we add -es to deutsch)
Ich trinke kalten Kaffee gern. (it would be diesen Kaffee, so we add -en to kalt)
That's it! If you follow these rules correctly, then all adjective endings will fall into place for you. To
summarize in a more graphical form:
There are, of course, a few things you should watch out for -- not exceptions, merely common
misperceptions.
Common problem 1: UNSER. Remember that the -er in unser is part of the article unser (our), it is NOT an
ending itself. (Unser Buch ist gut; unsere Mutti ist nett; unser Vater ist alt.) Unser Vater is equivalent
to mein Vater, and therefore Question 4 applies: when adding an adjective, it must be unser netter Vater to
show the -r inherent to Vater; or unser gutes Buch to show the -s inherent to Buch. Similarly, EUER (your,
pl.) is also an ein-word, the -er is part of the article itself. In their base forms, then, unser and euer do not
show gender.
Common problem 2: What qualifies as an article? Articles in German include all der/die/das words, all ein-
words, and all the dieser, jeder, mancher, and solcher words. Alle (only ever seen as the plural form as an
article) and beide (both) are also articles. Thus a complete list of articles:
der, die, das, den, dem (the)
dieser, diese, dieses, diesen, diesem (this/that/these)
jeder, jede, jedes, jeden, jedem (each/every)
mancher, manche, manches, manchen, (some)
manchem
solcher, solche, solches, solchen, solchem (such)
welcher, welche, welches, welchen, welchem (which)
ein, eine, einen, einem, einer (a/an)
kein--, mein--, dein--, sein--, ihr--, unser--, (no, my, your, his/its, her, our, your,
euer--, Ihr-- Your)
alle, beide (all, both)
Common problem 3: VIELE (many) is not an article -- it is simply another adjective. The same is true
of EINIGE (a few, some), MEHRERE (several), and WENIGE (few, not many). Thus these words as well as any
adjectives following them must be declined according to Question 1, using the der-endings (viele
gute Bücher, einige nette Leute).
Common problem 4: When there is more than one adjective modifying the same noun (the nice old man),
each adjective acts independently and takes the appropriate ending (der nette alte Mann, ein netter alter
Mann). Thus all adjectives in a string will have the same endings.
Common problem 5: Forgetting Question 3 is common -- remember to check if the noun is plural. If it is,
and it has any article before it, the ending will be -en. Plural nouns without an article, following Question 1,
will have -e or -en depending on their case.