Different types of adjectives in German
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Find a teacherAdjectives 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.
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!
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.
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.
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".
In contrast to that, the adjectives can also refer to the object of a sentence.
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").
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.
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.
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:
Keep in mind, that attributive adjectives are the only adjectives that are declined in German language.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In adverbial use, the adjective comes with no ending.
For example:
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.)
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.
In German, much more adjectival nouns are used than in English.
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.
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 |
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.)
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