4. Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. In other words, they determine what a particular noun is like.
In German, adjectives can also be inflected.
When adjectives appear independently – in other words, when they are not located directly before the noun they describe – they do not inflect:
Dieser Dokumentarfilm ist interessant.
This documentary is interesting.
However, if the adjective is located right before its headword, the adjective inflects. The inflection can either be strong or weak:
Das ist ein interessanter Dokumentarfilm. STRONG
This is an interesting documentary.
Das ist der interessante Dokumentarfilm, von dem ich dir erzählt habe. WEAK
This is the interesting documentary that I told you about.
The strong inflection endings are shown in the table below. Adjectives are inflected this way when they are preceded by the indefinite article, possessive pronouns (e.g. mein neues Handy my new cellphone) and numerals, or when located before abstract words that do not have an article (e.g. Er hat die Prüfung mit gutem Erfolg bestanden. He passed the test with good results.)
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | süßer Saft | ewige Liebe | teures Benzin | kleine Kinder |
| Accusative | süßen Saft | ewige Liebe | teures Benzin | kleine Kinder |
| Dative | süßem Saft | ewiger Liebe | teurem Benzin | kleinen Kindern |
| Genitive | süßen Saft | ewiger Liebe | teuren Benzin | kleiner Kinder |
Adjectives inflect in terms of the weak inflection, if they are preceded by the definite article as well as words such as: dieser, jeder, alle, solche, beide, etc. (e.g. Bei solchem lauten Lärm kann man sich nicht konzentrieren. It is impossible to concentrate with such loud noise.)
Notice that there are only two different endings: -e or -en!
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der dunkle Tag | die schöne Stadt | das blaue Auto | die weichen Kissen |
| Accusative | den dunklen Tag | die schöne Stadt | das blaue Auto | die weichen Kissen |
| Dative | dem dunklen Tag | der schönen Stadt | dem blauen Auto | den weichen Kissen |
| Genitive | des dunklen Tages | der schönen Stadt | des blauen Autos | der weichen Kissen |
Rule of thumb: If the noun’s gender and case are visible from the article (or other defining word), the adjective no longer has to indicate these. This is when the weak inflection form is used:
Da ist das rote Haus. ⇒ The definite article tells us that the noun is neuter and nominative. The adjective therefore has a weak inflectional ending.
Da ist ein rotes Haus. ⇒ The indefinite article does not indicate whether the noun is masculine or neuter. The adjective needs to have an ending that specifies this and thus has to have a strong inflectional ending.