Adjektive Endungen von Frau Templeton

When does an adjective need an ending? Only adjectives that precede a noun which they modify -- MUST have an ending in German Das ist ein schönes Haus. Das Haus ist schön.

Keep in mind! Something -- either an article (der/ein/dieser/etc.) or the adjective itself must show what gender the noun is. Some articles show that a noun has changed from its original nominative case, others do not.

Ask yourself these questions, when determining the adjective ending!

Question 1 Does the adjective have an article in front of it? If NO (if there is no article): add the ending that would occur on a der-word for that noun. If YES (if there is an article already), move on to question 2. Ich trinke kalten Kaffee gern. (There is no article, but it would be den Kaffee, so we add -en to kalt)

Question 2 Is the article in the standard, unchanged form? If NO (if the article is different from its original form), add -en. If YES (if the article is in its original form), move on to question 3. Ich kenne einen guten Mann. (einen, masculine accusative, has changed from the original ein)

Question 3 Is the noun singular? If NO (if the noun is plural), add -en. If YES (if the noun is singular), move on to question 4. Ich sehe die kleinen Kinder (die, plural accusative, is in its original form, but it is plural, so an -en is added to jung)

Question 4 Does the article show gender? If NO (if the article is ein/dein/etc): add -er for masculine nouns, -es for neuter nouns. If YES (if the article already shows the gender): add -e. Das ist ein gutes Buch. (something needs to show the neuter gender of Buch -- since ein does not show it, -es is added to gut) 

Schritt für Schritt

Das ist der Hund unserer alten Oma. Achtung! UNSER Remember that the -er in unser is part of the article not an ending. Das ist unser Hund. Das ist der Hund unserer alten Oma.

Achtung! Articles in German include: all der/die/das words all ein-words all dieser, jeder, mancher, solcher and welcher words alle and beide

Die vielen Kinder füttern mehrere Vögel. Achtung! VIELE (many), EINIGE (a few, some), MEHRERE (several), WENIGE (few, not many) are not articles – They are simply another adjective and get an adjective ending Die vielen Kinder füttern mehrere Vögel.

Der alte, kleine Mann geht nur sehr langsam über die Straße. Achtung! When there is more than one adjective modifying the same noun each adjective acts independently and takes the appropriate ending. Thus all adjectives in a string will have the same endings. Der alte, kleine Mann geht nur sehr langsam über die Straße.

Achtung! Remember to check if the noun is plural. If it is, and it has any article before it, the ending will be -en. Plural nouns without an article, following Question 1, will have -e or -en depending on their case.

Helpful Hints Dative and Genetive adjective endings always –en If the article ends in –en the adjective will end in –en If the article shows gender the adjective will end in -e

Übung macht den Meister 1. Deutsch_____ Brot (n) schmeckt immer gut.  2. Erik ist ein gut______ Freund (m) von mir. 3. Ich habe diese lustig_____ Geschichte (f) verstanden.   4. Jener nett____ Mann (m) ist sehr fleißig. 5. Wo ist euer neu______ Auto (n)? 6. Er hat einige alt_____ Kassetten (pl) zu Hause. 7. Haben Sie Ihr schön_____ Bild (n) dabei? 8. Im Zimmer habe ich laut_____ Musik (f) gehört. es er e e es e es e

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