German adjective endings

German adjective endings

By Claudia Franz

Adjective

In German, adjectives​ have to agree in:

• ​gender (m, f, nt)

• case (nom, acc, gen, dat)

• number (s, pl)​

​

BUT ONLY if the adjective comes before the noun​

Multiple Choice

When do you not have to agree the adjective?

• When it comes before the noun

• When it comes after the noun

• When it's the subject

• When it's the object

Multiple Choice

What's the 'definite article'?

• the

• a/an

Definite article

When an adjective follows the definite article it needs the following endings:​

Multiple Choice

What's the ending for the masculine accusative?

• -e

• -en

Multiple Choice

What's the ending for the neuter accusative

• -e

• -en

• -es

Aiming for a 9?

You need the same definite article endings after:

dieser (this)

jener (that)

jeder (every)

welcher (which)​

Indefinite article

This article doesn't show you the gender of the noun (the neuter and masculine tend to be the same).

Therefore, the adjective needs to show instead.​

​

This also goes for 'kein' and all possessives (mein, dein etc.)​

​

​

Indefinite article endings

Multiple Choice

Ich habe einen ________ Freund

• guten

• gute

• guter

• gutes

Multiple Choice

Lucas ist mein ______ Freund

• beste

• bester

• besten

• bestes

Multiple Choice

Ich wünsche euch einen _____ Tag und eine _____ Nacht (schön / gut)

• schöne / gute

• schöner / guten

• schönen / guten

• schönen / gute

Multiple Choice

Hast du keine ________ Sportschuhe zum Tennisspielen?

• weiße

• weißen

• weißes

• weißem

Multiple Choice

Ich fahre mit dem Rad meines _______ Bruder (alt)

• alte

• altem

• alten

• alter

No article?

Sometimes there isn't an article in front of the noun, so the article is used to show the gender AND case of the noun​ its describing.

Multiple Choice

Billig___ Schmuck ist kein gutes Geschenk

• er

• es

• en

• e

Multiple Choice

Meine Freundin hat blau___ Augen

• er

• es

• e

• en

Multiple Choice

Wir haben den Geburtstag mit kalt___ Sekt gefeiert

• er

• e

• es

• en

There's not really much else to it!

Unfortunately...

You just need to learn the genders of your nouns and the article/adjective tables!