kap8AdjEnd.html

Adjective Endings: An Introduction

There are two kinds of adjectives:

1.) Predicate Adjectives:

follow the verb
have no ending

==> Das Wetter ist schön.

==> Die Pizza war kalt.

2.) Attributive Adjectives:

precede the noun that they modify
have an ending that gives information about the noun

==> Oh ist das schöne Wetter!

==> Magst du große Hunde?

In both these cases, the adjectives' endings give information about the noun they precede.

Kinds of Adjective Endings

There are two kinds of Adjective Endings: STRONG and WEAK

STRONG endings

give all the information about the noun which the adjective modifies:

Case, Number and Gender

the Strong Endings mirror the definite articles

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nom	-er	-e	-es	-e
Akk	-en	-e	-es	-e
Dat	-em	-er	-em	-en

WEAK endings

are so called because they do not reflect all the information about the adjective

there are two forms of the WEAK endings: -e and -en

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nom	-e	-e	-e	-en
Akk	-en	-e	-e	-en
Dat	-en	-en	-en	-en

Choosing the right Adjective Ending

There are three easy steps to determining the Adjective Ending.

Ask the following questions:

1.) Is there an article (definite: der, die, das), indefinite article (ein, kein) or possessive adjective (mein, dein, ihr, eure, ihren) preceding the adjective and the noun?

YES: ==> go to Step 2 Beispiel: Ich habe einen großen Hund.
Explanation: "einen" is an indefinite article

NO: ==>    STRONG ending                        Beispiel:    Ich mag große Hunde.
                                                                    Explanation: There is no article.
                                                                                    "Hunde" is plural and accusative.
                                                                                     Adj Ending is "e" [STRONG: Pl, Akk]

2.) Does the article or possessive adjective have an ending?

YES:    ==> go to Step 3                            Beispiel: Ich habe einen großen Hund.
                                                                  Explanation: "einen" has the ending for
                                                                                        Masc, Sing., Akk:   "en"

NO:      ==> STRONG ending                    Beispiel: Ich habe ein kleines Auto.
                                                                  Explanation: "ein" has no ending to give information
                                                                                    the ending "es" gives the information that
                                                                                    Auto is Akk, Neut, Sing.

3.) WEAK Ending