Different types of adjectives in German
Adjectives are words that characterize and describe anybody or anything. In German there exist different types of adjectives and some of them change their ending in accordance to fit to the word they refer to. This chapter will deal with the different types and their usage in German language.
Lesson Outline
Hide- 1.Predicative adjective in German
- 1.1.Verbs introducing predicative adjectives
- 1.2.Predicative adjectives of the subject
- 1.3.Predicative adjectives of the object
- 1.4.Adjectives only used as predicative adjectives
- 2.Attributive adjectives in German
- 2.1.Declension of attributive adjectives in German
- 2.2.Weak declension of attributive adjectives
- 2.3.Mixed declension of attributive adjectives
- 2.4.Strong declension of attributive adjectives
- 3.Adverbial adjectives in German
- 4.Adjectives as nouns in German
- 4.1.Gender of adjectival nouns in German
- 4.2.Declension of adjectival nouns
- 5.Adjectival nouns with ‘etwas’, ‘nichts’, ‘wenig’ and ‘viel’
- 6.Exercises
- 6.1.Exercise for the different functions of German adjectives
- 6.2.Exercise on predicative and attributive adjectives
- 6.3.Exercise on German adjectives as nouns
Predicative adjective in German
Most adjectives can occur before or after a noun, like "the red car" or "the car is red". In case of predicative adjectives, the adjective follows the noun of a sentence. Very often, the predicative adjective and the noun of a sentence are seperated by a verb. It's important to know, that predicative adjectives do not change their style!
Have a question?
Take online language lessons with a professional teacher
- Native & verified teachers
- Free trial lesson
- Learning materials included
Verbs introducing predicative adjectives
Predicate adjectives are one of the different types of adjectives and therefore it's imporant to know when to use predicate adjectives. In German, predicate adjectives are used when the adjective follows a form of the verbs werden, sein or bleiben.
The predicative adjective remains in the same form, regardless of the number, gender and case of the noun.
- Das Spiel ist lustig. (The game is funny.)
- Der Film war interessant. (The film was interesting.)
- Der Vortrag wird spannend. (The lecture will be exciting.)
- Die Blätter bleiben grün. (The leaves stay green.)
Predicative adjectives of the subject
Predicative adjectives can either refer to the subject or the object of a sentence. Especially the verbs werden, sein und bleiben refer to the subject of a sentence.
- Das Haus ist schön. (The house is beautiful.)
- Er sieht nett aus. (He looks friendly.)
- Der Clown ist lustig. (The clown is funny.)
In all sentences, the adjectives are used to describe the subject of the sentence. "Schön" therefore describes the subject "Haus" and "nett" describes the subject "Er".
Predicative adjectives of the object
In contrast to that, the adjectives can also refer to the object of a sentence.
- Sie strichen das Haus blau. (They coloured the house blue.)
- Das Training machte mich besser. (The training made me better.)
- Ich fand das Buch war langweilig. (I think the book was boring.)
In this sentences the predicative adjectives refer to the direct object of the sentence ("Haus" and "Training"), and not to the subject ("Sie" and "Mich").
Adjectives only used as predicative adjectives
Some adjectives can only be used in the predicative way. They can only be linked to the noun via a verb and can't get declined.
- Der Junge geht barfuß. (The boy goes barefoot.) nicht: Der barfuße Junge.
- Das Wetter ist egal. (The weather doesn't matter.) nicht: Das egale Wetter.
- Die Freunde sind pleite. (The friends are bankrupt.) nicht: Die pleiten Freunde.
Attributive adjectives in German
Predicative adjectives do not change their style, regardless of which type of noun they refer to. In contrast to this, attributive adjectives change their endings, depending on the noun they refer to.
Declension of attributive adjectives in German
Because the adjective comes between the article of the noun and the noun itself, you have to decline the adjective referring to the type of noun. Therefore the adjective has to conform with the noun related to number, gender and case. To decline them in the right way, there exist three different types of declencion:
- weak declension (definite article + adjective), e.g. der schöne Hund (the beautiful dog)
- mixed declension (indefinite article + adjective), e.g. ein schöner Hund (a beautiful dog)
- strong declension (no article + adjective), e.g. schöner Hund (beautiful dog)
Keep in mind, that attributive adjectives are the only adjectives that are declined in German language.
Weak declension of attributive adjectives
This declension is used, when the article itself gives all information about number, case and gender of the noun.
| Weak declension | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der gute Hund | die gute Katze | das gute Tier | die guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Accusative | den guten Hund | die gute Katze | das gute Tier | die guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Dative | dem guten Hund(e) | der guten Katze | dem guten Tier(e) | den guten Hunden/Katzen/Tieren |
| Genitive | des guten Hundes | der guten Katze | des guten Tier(es) | der guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
If you look closely at it you might realize, that you only have to add an -e or -en.
Mixed declension of attributive adjectives
The mixed declension is used, when an indefinite article (like ein, kein), or a possesive determiner (like mein, dein, ihr etc.) describes the noun.
| Mixed declension | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein guter Hund | eine gute Katze | ein gutes Tier | keine guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Accusative | einen guten Hund | eine gute Katze | ein gutes Tier | keine guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Dative | einem guten Hund(e) | einer guten Katze | einem guten Tier(e) | keinen guten Hunden/Katzen/Tieren |
| Genitive | eines guten Hundes | einer guten Katze | eines guten Tieres | keiner guten Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
Mixed declension table is the same as the weak declension table, except the nominative masculine, the nominative neuter and accusative neuter.
Strong declension of attributive adjectives
The strong declension is used, when there is no preceding article related to the noun, or the preceding article doesn't give enough information about number, gender and case of the noun.
| Strong declension | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | guter Hund | gute Katze | gutes Tier | gute Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Accusative | guten Hund | gute Katze | gutes Tier | gute Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
| Dative | gutem Hund(e) | guter Katze | gutem Tier(e) | guten Hunden/Katzen/Tieren |
| Genitive | guten Hundes | guter Katze | guten Tieres | guter Hunde/Katzen/Tiere |
Keep in mind that the ending for genitive masculine and neuter is -en.
Adverbial adjectives in German
An Adverb can be a word or a set of words that modifies adjectives, verbs or other adverbs. They can give us information about the how, when, where, how often and to what degree.
- Adverbs of time (This words will give you information about the when)
- e.g. heute, gestern, morgen, sofort, seit
- Adverbs of frequency (This words will give you information about the how often)
- e.g. manchmal, oft, immer, nie, regelmäßig
- Adverbs of quality (This words give you information about the how)
- e.g. gut, schlecht, mittelmäßig
- Adverbs of quantity (This words tell you about the how often as well)
- e.g. viel, wenig, gar nicht
- Adverbs of intensity (This words will give you information about the degree of something happening)
- e.g. sehr, total, überhaupt nicht
In adverbial use, the adjective comes with no ending.
For example:
- Petra kann sehr gut kochen. (Petra can cook very well.)
- Er singt oft. (He is singing frequently.)
- Peter fährt immer schnell. (Peter always drives fast.)
If more than one adverb appears in series, the adverbs are ordered as follows: time, manner, place.
Sie ist jetzt leider draußen. (She is unfortunately outside now.)
Adjectives as nouns in German
Many adjectives can also be used as nouns. They then either stand for people or abstract objects, like things you can't touch. Again, the ending of the noun is then determined by its number, gender and case. If you use adjectives as nouns it's important to write them with a capital letter.
- der/die Kranke (the sick person)
- ein Kranker/eine Kranke (a sick person)
- Kranke (sick persons)
In German, much more adjectival nouns are used than in English.
Gender of adjectival nouns in German
Of course the gender of a noun depends on the adjective that is transformed into a noun. If the noun is describing a special person, then the noun will be masculine or feminine, depending in the person's sex. If the noun doesn't refer to any kind of person, it's usually neuter.
| Adjective | Noun (masculine) | Noun (feminine) |
|---|---|---|
| blond (blond) | der Blonde (male blond person) | die Blonde (female blond person) |
| alt (old) | der Alte (old male person) | die Alte (old female person) |
| verwandt (related) | der Verwandte (male relative) | die Verwandte (female relative) |
| Adjective | Noun (neuter) |
|---|---|
| böse (evil) | das Böse (the evil) |
| ganz (whole) | das Ganze (the whole) |
| wichtig (important) | das Wichtige (that which is important) |
If you want to use an adjective as a noun, just add an -e to the end of the adjective, change its first letter to a capital one, and put an article (der, die, das) in front of it.
Declension of adjectival nouns
The declension of this nouns is quite easy, because they take the exact same declensions as the adjectives would do in the same grammatical context.
It may help if you at first imagine the declension of the adjective, because the adjectival noun has the exact same endings.
| Declension | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | der Deutsche (the german male) | die Deutsche (the german female) | die Deutschen |
| Akkusativ | den Deutschen | die Deutsche | die Deutschen |
| Dativ | dem Deutschen | der Deutschen | den Deutschen |
| Genitiv | des Deutschen | der Deutschen | der Deutschen |
Adjectival nouns with ‘etwas’, ‘nichts’, ‘wenig’ and ‘viel’
If the adjectives follow one of the words etwas (something), nichts (nothing), wenig (little) or viel (much), the adjectives are formed as a neuter noun and get capitalized.
Sie kocht etwas Gutes. (She is cooking something good.)
Ich habe nichts Neues gelernt. (I haven't learned anything new.)
Er hat wenig Interessantes erfahren. (He learned little interesting.)
Er macht viel Gutes. (He does much good.)
Exercises
- Exercise for the different functions of German adjectives
- Exercise on predicative and attributive adjectives
- Exercise on German adjectives as nouns
Exercise for the different functions of German adjectives
Exercise on predicative and attributive adjectives
Exercise on German adjectives as nouns
What our students say
Unlike in other platforms, all our teachers are manually verified by our professional team. Trust in the experiences of our students.
Hello everyone and a big warm welcome to all the fellow language learners,
My name is Katerina, I’m a native Russian speaker and a foreign language teacher from St Petersburg, Russia. I’ve always been addicted to learning foreign languages, be it English, German, Spanish, Turkish or Arabic, so turning my passion into my job was just a matter of time. I have a Master’s degree in linguistics which taught me to understand the way the mechanism of a language works and thus to help my students see the logics behind the grammar rules. Being a constant language learner enables me to see the process from both sides and to predict the difficulties my students might face. The fact that I’m not a native speaker of English or German means I’ve been through exactly the same language-learning journey you’re about to take, and thanks to my personal experience as a student, I can make this road smooth for you.
I've had students of all ages, from pre-school kids to senior generation, and I feel comfortable working with both beginners and those who are eager to take their learning process to a new level. In my classes I encourage you to talk in the language we’re studying as much as possible, putting every single bit of knowledge into practice right away. If you’re a Russian-learner, I’d be glad to prove it to you that you can absolutely nail my mother-tongue - and yes, you’ll be able to make a small talk in Russian by the end of the first class even if you’re an absolute beginner! We’ll be focusing on the topics that are most relevant to your goals, while discovering the language and getting to know more about the culture of people who speak it.
I offer a short free trial class, for us to give each other a smile and discuss our teaching pattern, in order to ajust it to your goals and make our lessons the bee's knees :) See you soon!
Silvia B.
Ekaterina writes new words and sentences learnt during the lesson. She has got a very nice attitude and great accent! A pleasure to work with... yes, even in German!!!!!
Ekaterina V.
Dear Silvia, thank you very much for your feedback! It's a real pleasure to have classes with you, and I hope you find them useful!
My name is Christina and I provide fun German and French language lesson for children and adult beginners or intermediate who want to strengthen their language skills, improve the grammar knowledge, enrich the vocabulary and get into the German culture! I can teach in English or French!
I had experince in teaching German, English and French to foreign people so I do have a lot of useful learning material I can provide you to make it easier!
Padraig B.
Fantastic opportunity to improve your German with a Native speaker. Christina is really helpful, very friendly and I would fully recommend to anyone!
Christina F.
Thanks a lot Padraig ..... good luck Thank you very much Padraig and good luck
Daniele N.
Miriam is a prepared, available, punctual teacher, but in particular what struck me a lot is her working method, which I consider very engaging and which has made possible almost a year of lessons. Last but not least, Miriam is a nice and sociable person who makes you feel comfortable.
Miriam C.
Dear Daniele, thank you very much for the kind words. It is my pleasure to teach you. Your progress is very motivating. I look forward to our continued cooperation.
Hi!
I would be very glad if you let me be your guide through your language lessons. Spanish is my mother tongue and I really enjoy explaning things that might seem difficult to students. I like explaining grammar, pronounciation, vocabulary and useful idioms. I have been teaching foreign languages since 1994. I can also speak fluently English, Czech, Italian, French, and German. I can teach them too:) I have got a certification as a German Teacher from Goehte Institut Munich and many other certifications for the other languages (Italian PLIDA, French Diplome de Langue, French DELF and DALF, plenty of training courses for teaching Spanish, English TOEFL..) I also have a Ph.D. in Political Economy from the University of Economics in Prague. My favourite students are my three almost "four"lingual daughters:) with which I test all the teaching methods I know...
I always try to adapt my methodology to each student´s needs and expectations, so feel free to contact me and we can start our lessons!
Chiara M.
A prepared and kind teacher, ready to teach with patience and good humor. He provided me with very useful materials to study and review even after the lesson. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a language with a smile. Thanks Silvia :)
Silvia C.
Thank you so much for the Chiara review! It was a real pleasure to have this lesson with you. I wish you a nice trip with the German language!
Alessandra C.
I am very satisfied with the teaching method. I highly recommend it if you want to learn the German language correctly. He has a lot of patience and can teach in a very relaxed way. Very very good
Fiorina D.
Thanks so much. It is understood that for any difficulty and / or misunderstanding I am at your disposal.Rina
My interest in learning foreign languages has arisen since I was a young girl. At 13 I made up my mind to attend the foreign language high school where I graduaded with proficiency. After a few years I got my University degree.
I have been teaching for a few years privately via Skype Italian mainly to German adult students. My method is based to consolidate the grammar knowledge if previuosly done or to base it by catching their attention on interesting topics. I provide my students all material needed to plan a valuable lesson and for this reason I have gathered fulfilling reviews on other teaching platforms
About Italian students studying German with me, most of them are interested in deeping topics dealt at school or being prepared to get a certification.
I look forward to hearing from you
Maria Grazia
Luigi D.
I did the first 4 lessons and I am fully satisfied. Precise teacher, very clear in the explanations, easy to follow, very helpful and patient even with those who start from scratch like me. Excellent pronunciation and very useful support with didactic material available. Result: perfect
Maria Grazia L.
Thanks a lot for the nice review. It is a real pleasure to be able to help you with German.
Hi, my name is Mihaela and I´m a German language teacher with a Masters degree in German, who was born and lived in Switzerland.
I work since 2015 as German language teacher for various companies and since I love languages I became a certified German court interpreter in 2016 and work also as German translator. In 2018 I opened my own company for translation and language education.
I offer standard language courses for A1, A2, B1 and B2 level, they include grammar exercises, vocabulary building and speaking exercises / conversations on various topics. The topics and exercises are following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and they will also prepare you for various language tests (Start Deutsch A1 + A 2, telc Deutsch Beruf, ...).
For C1 and C2 level I offer speaking exercises that will help you to improve your fluency. This is ideal for people who want to expand their vocabulary and improve their communication skills through conversations mixed up with some grammar exercises. Unfortunately I don't offer test preparations for level C1 and C2.
I also offer business German lessons - for people who live and work in German speaking countries and want to expand their business vocabulary (meetings, conversations for social situations, handling correspondence, phrases for professional phone calls and more).
My teaching methods vary according to the learner's language level and needs.
All learning materials and exercises will be provided before or during the lesson.
Lessons are offered for: 60 minutes or 45 minutes
As always, her lessons are great! She takes time to prepare in advance the lesson and pesonalised material for your needs.
Mihaela S.
Corinne T.
Micaela is an excellent teacher, prepared and above all organized and awake. My lerning experience has been more than positive!
Micaela C.
Hello =)
My name is Karolin and I have been living in Chile for more than 2 years now. I've been teaching via Skype for quite some time and I've found that this kind of work is fun. That's why I would like to expand my circle of students.
Both in English and in German, I teach classes for beginners and advanced students. I speak Spanish fluently, but I do not want to cheat anyone, so I note here that I speak the spanish from Chile. I learned and teach the spanish from Spain and I can explain the differences if you're interested, but that is why I only teach spanish for beginners.
If you'd like to get to know me and my teaching methods, just contact me and we will do a free trial lesson.
See you soon!
Martyn H.
The lessons are fun and as I have looked to increase the volume of them to further develop my German, Karolin has shown both understanding and flexibility whilst regularly tailoring lessons to my needs. She is able to give me confidence when I feel like I can do absolutely nothing and always seems to have a way of explaining difficult concepts in a way that I can process and understand. A brilliant teacher.
Karolin G.
Thanks to many years of experience, I offer you professional language instruction via Skype.
I am a native speaker (bilingual German and English) and have been working with Skype for over 9 years. The courses are optimally tailored to your language level and job description. Arrange a trial lesson.
Proficient handling of everyday German, leading to various certificates (Goethe Certificates, DaF etc.), specific courses for the professional field (hotel, tourism, law, medicine - FACHSPRACHENPRÜFUNG MEDIZIN, technology, business.....).
Sergey B.
I'm learning German with Belinda (currently B1) and I am trying to do a final push, so i can finally start speaking. Classes are very well prepared and structured. The book/ books used in the class have exercises that actually make your brain work and are not always easy to do ( this is for people who had experience with easy and boring grammar materials). We play dialogues, we have conversations through which the teacher understands where I am with my level and is trying to make adjustments to the program. And there's a lot of homework (when you ask for it) !!! : )
Belinda W.
Hello,
my name is Nina, I'm from Austria and I also lived for one year and a half in Canada. I worked there as a German Teacher for adults, so I speak German, English and French.
I also teach English for beginners and advanced beginners.
My teaching methodes are totally based on the level of my student. If somebody is already advanced, I focus on communication and pronunciation. We will arrange on a topic and talk and discuss in the lesson about it.
If my student is a beginner, I'm gonna start with the basics of the German language. (the articles, the verb "to be", the pronouns...)
The learning material is all made by myself, because I'm a German teacher, so that means, I already got lots of working sheets for many topics. I send these to my student via e-mail or put it directly on the coLanguage homepage.
I'm available from Monday to Thursday between 5pm and 08:00 pm. For the weekend it's the best to just send me a request.
Of course is a free trial lesson (it's about 20 minutes) possible.
I'm happy to teach you :-)
See you soon! Nina
Dan O.
Sehr Gut lesson. We read some german news, worked on konjugations. Learned new vocab and really worked on pronunciation.
Nina V.
So with me you can learn all the tipps to improve or learn German. I also worked as an Engineer for several years so we can as well work on your vocabulary in a technical level.
I am a great fan of new cultures and languages.
Feel free to contact me for a class :)
Eric L.
Olivia has been amazing in helping learn German in a crash course fashion. She has materials for exactly the things I needed to know and helped me understand the bare minimum (which is what I was going for) to help me get my ideas across and understand the structure of what people are saying. She is a fantastic teacher.
Olivia P.
German was my key to the world of possibilities and that's why I want to support you on your language path. German was my main focus in my bachelor's degree in Interpreting and Translation and then I completed my master's degree in intercultural German Studies and German as a Foreign Language. My additional education as an Intercultural Trainer and my practical experience from several international language institutes add value to my German lessons that you can benefit from: Only your focus decides - preparation for a language exam or studies, help with various documents and written works or your wish to improve your German in a communicative way. I would very much like to get to know you in a free trial lesson, so that we can discuss your wishes and requirements and prepare the lessons so that they bring you closer to your goal. And all of this from an intercultural perspective and with my personal experience, because I know your own perspective as well as the challenges that language learning brings with it. I'm looking forward to meeting you!
Cristiana P.
Veronika is a very well prepared young teacher, friendly and professional. Her teaching method adapted perfectly to my needs and requirements. Through conversation lessons she helped me gain confidence in my spoken German. I highly recommend her for new starters as well as for students who already have some basic knowledge of German.
Veronika J.
Milena I.
I am thrilled by my teacher Dani. She is nice, positive and does a great job.
Dani K.
I'm a Italian/German bilingual teacher form Florence!
I offer lessons for beginners as well as for advanced speakers. I carry out different kinds of lessons: I could help you for example to prepare for a test, for your trip to Italy or for more advanced needs.
The lessons are focused on improving listening/comprehension skills as well as reading, writing, speaking and grammar.
If you want to know more about my methods, just book a trial lesson! It's free! I hope to see you soon!
Marion V.
The lesson was perfectly geared to my needs. As my requirement for learning does not fit easily in any 'set course' or classroom situation, this individual approach, looking at what I need and then providing it, suits me very well indeed. I am very happy with the way in which the teaching / learning experience is going so far and would certainly recommend Niccoló.
Niccolò C.