{"id":810,"date":"2010-04-09T19:38:47","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T18:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=810"},"modified":"2013-12-03T16:51:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:51:56","slug":"how-to-use-german-adjectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/810\/how-to-use-german-adjectives","title":{"rendered":"How to use German Adjectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Describing the German Adjectives<\/h3>\n

So, to make sure we’re all on the same page, adjectives are descriptive words like young, old, beautiful<\/strong> etc. In German, adjectives change their endings depending on whether the person or thing you are referring to is masculine, feminine or neuter and whether singular or plural. It also depends on the case of the person or thing you are describing and whether it’s preceded by the definite or indefinite article. Sound confusing? don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds and if you get it wrong, you will still be understood.<\/p>\n

\nGerman adjectives come before the noun they describe but when used with a verb it’s placed after the verb.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/strong>
\nDie alte Frau (the old lady) \u21e8 the adjective alte<\/strong> is before the noun Frau<\/strong><\/p>\n

Du bist sch\u00f6n. (You are beautiful.) \u21e8 the adjective sch\u00f6n<\/strong> is after the verb<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Adjectives used after the definite article: der<\/span>, die<\/span> and das:<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nNominative<\/th>\nAccusative<\/th>\nDative<\/th>\nGenitive<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Masculine<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Feminine<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neutral<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plural (all genders)<\/strong><\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nominative:<\/strong> Der junge<\/span><\/strong> Hund hat Hunger. (The young dog is hungry.)<\/p>\n

Accusative:<\/strong> Ich habe die junge<\/span><\/strong> Katze gef\u00fcttert. (I’ve fed the young cat.)<\/p>\n

Dative:<\/strong> Er hilft dem jungen<\/span><\/strong> Kind beim Anziehen. (He helps the young child to get dressed.)<\/p>\n

Genitive:<\/strong> Der Hund des jungen<\/span><\/strong> Mannes ist sehr krank. (The dog of the young man is very ill.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Adjectives used after the indefinite article: ein<\/span> and kein<\/span>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nNominative<\/th>\nAccusative<\/th>\nDative<\/th>\nGenitive<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Masculine<\/strong><\/td>\n-er<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Feminine<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neutral<\/strong><\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plural (all genders)<\/strong><\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nominative:<\/strong> Eine alte<\/span><\/strong> Frau l\u00e4uft \u00fcber die Stra\u00dfe. (An old lady crosses the street.)<\/p>\n

Accusative:<\/strong> Ich habe einen alten<\/span><\/strong> Hund. (I’ve got an old dog.)<\/p>\n

Dative:<\/strong> In einem alten<\/span><\/strong> Haus kann es sehr kalt sein. (It can be very cold in an old house.)<\/p>\n

Genitive:<\/strong> Die Geheimnise einer alten<\/span><\/strong> Frau… (The secrets of an old lady…)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Adjectives used, when there is no article<\/span> before the noun:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nNominative<\/th>\nAccusative<\/th>\nDative<\/th>\nGenitive<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Masculine<\/strong><\/td>\n-er<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-em<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Feminine<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-er<\/td>\n-er<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neutral<\/strong><\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n-em<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plural (all genders)<\/strong><\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-er<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nominative:<\/strong> Gute<\/span><\/strong> Freunde sind wichtig. (Good friends are important.)<\/p>\n

Accusative:<\/strong> Ich trinke gerne guten<\/span><\/strong> Wein. (I like drinking good wine.)<\/p>\n

Dative:<\/strong> Zu gutem<\/span><\/strong> Wein esse ich gerne K\u00e4se. (I like eating cheese with good wine.)<\/p>\n

Genitive:<\/strong> Die Hilfe guter<\/span><\/strong> Menschen ist wichtig. (The help of good people is important.)<\/p>\n

Study and practice the above examples on a regular basis. At first you will get it wrong from time to time but that is OK. Learning from mistakes is one of the fastest ways to learn. However, as you get more confident, you will start to instinctively know the correct way to use an adjective in any German sentence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Describing the German Adjectives So, to make sure we’re all on the same page, adjectives are descriptive words like young, old, beautiful etc. In German, adjectives change their endings depending on whether the person or thing you are referring to is masculine, feminine or neuter and whether singular or plural. It also depends on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15421,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions\/15421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}