Adjectives and adjective endings
Adjectives and adjective endings
In the following sentence, the adjective comes after the noun: The dog is aggressive. Der Hund ist aggressiv.Intensifiers
Intensifiers are words which tell you to what extent things are true. For example, a noise could be very loud or quite loud. Here are some of the most common:Intensifiers
| German | English |
|---|---|
| sehr | Very |
| nicht sehr | Not very |
| zu | Too |
| ganz | Quite/completely |
| ziemlich | Quite/fairly |
| ein wenig | A little |
| ein bisschen | A bit |
| wirklich | Really |
| etwas | Somewhat |
Sentences with intensifiers
| English | The dog is really aggressive | My coat is very long and red | My brother is a bit irritating |
| German | Der Hund ist wirklich aggressiv | Mein Mantel ist sehr lang und rot | Mein Bruder ist ein bisschen nervig |
Examples of adjectives coming before the noun
The adjective dick (fat) is the one we are interested in. The noun is Katze (cat).- My cat is fat. -> Meine Katze ist dick -> The adjective is after the noun. It has no ending added.
- My fat cat is cute -> Meine dicke Katze ist süß -> Here, it's before the noun. An ending has been added.
Picking the right word
To know which word to pick, you need to know two things:- The gender of your noun (see 'Gender' section or look it up in a dictionary).
- What case your word is going to be, ie nominative, accusative, dative or genitive.
Adjective endings reference tables
Definite article (the)
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative case | der alte | die alte | das alte | die alten |
| Accusative case | den alten | die alte | das alte | die alten |
| Dative case | dem alten | der alten | dem alten | den alten (*1) |
| Genitive case | des alten(*2) | der alten | des alten(*2) | der alten |
Indefinite article (a)
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative case | ein alter | eine alte | ein altes | (keine) alten(*3) |
| Accusative case | einen alten | eine alte | ein altes | (keine) alten(*3) |
| Dative case | einem alten | einer alten | einem alten | (keine) alten(*1, 3) |
| Genitive case | eines alten(*2) | einer alten | einer alten(*2) | (keiner) alten(*3) |
No article
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative case | alter | alte | altes | alte |
| Accusative case | alten | alte | altes | alte |
| Dative case | altem | alter | altem | alten (*1) |
| Genitive case | alten (*2) | alter | alten (*2) | alter |
More on dative and genetive
- (*1) = In the dative plural, add an -n to the end of the noun, eg den kleinen Kindern
- (*2) = In the genitive, add an -(e)s to the end of the noun, eg des alten Mannes
- (*3) = kein/e/n is being used to show the plural because you can say 'no shoes' but not 'a shoes'!
For example, in the sentence 'I have an old tortoise':
- Find the correct section (definite article/indefinite/no article) - we are using 'an' here, so we use the ein section (indefinite article).
- Find the correct column for the gender of your noun - tortoise is die Schildkröte, which is feminine, so we use eine
- Follow it down to the correct case - 'I have an old tortoise' is accusative, so we use eine - Ich habe eine ______ Schildkröte
- Complete your sentence using the adjective ending from the table - ich have eine alte Schildkröte.
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