Basic Adjective Placement

Level 1

In German, when an adjective comes directly before a noun (e.g., 'the green tree'), it needs a specific ending. This ending changes based on the noun's gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), the case (nominative, accusative, etc.), and whether you use a word like 'der' or 'ein' before it.

How It Works

When an Adjective is used attributively (placed before a Noun), it must agree with that Noun. The specific ending depends on three factors:

  • Gender & Number: Is the Noun masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural?
  • Case: Is the Noun the subject (Nominative), the direct object (Accusative), the indirect object (Dative), or showing possession (Genitive)?
  • The Determiner: What kind of word comes before the Adjective?

There are three types of declension:
1. Weak: Used after definite articles like der, die, or das, and 'der-words' like dieser, welcher, or jeder. Plural quantifiers like alle and beide also trigger weak endings.
2. Mixed: Used after indefinite articles like ein/eine, the negative article kein, or possessives like mein. Note: In the plural, these always take the -en ending.
3. Strong: Used when there is no article at all (e.g., 'kaltes Wasser') or after quantifiers like viele, einige, and wenige. Exception: In the masculine and neuter Genitive singular, the ending is -en instead of -es.

Special Rules:
Adjectives ending in -el always drop the 'e' (e.g., dunkel becomes dunkle). Adjectives ending in -er drop the 'e' only if the stem is unstressed (e.g., teuer becomes teure, but schwer stays schwere). The Adjective hoch (high) drops the 'c' when it has an ending (e.g., ein hoher Berg).

Uninflected Adjectives:
Some adjectives never take endings, such as colors derived from nouns (rosa, beige) and city-based adjectives ending in -er (e.g., Berliner Luft).

Examples (5)

  1. Der kleine Hund spielt.

    The small dog is playing.

    Word by Word: The small dog plays.

    Here, 'klein' takes the ending '-e' because it follows the definite article 'der' (masculine nominative).

  2. Ich habe ein rotes Auto.

    I have a red car.

    Word by Word: I have a red car.

    The adjective 'rot' takes '-es' because it follows 'ein' for a neuter noun in the accusative case.

  3. Wir trinken kalten Tee.

    We are drinking cold tea.

    Word by Word: We drink cold tea.

    Since there is no article, 'kalt' takes the strong ending '-en' to show the masculine accusative case.

  4. Das ist eine teure Uhr.

    That is an expensive watch.

    Word by Word: That is an expensive watch.

    Notice how 'teuer' drops the internal 'e' to become 'teure' before adding the feminine ending.

  5. Er sieht den schwarzen Vogel.

    He sees the black bird.

    Word by Word: He sees the black bird.

    In the accusative case (direct object), masculine adjectives after 'den' take an '-en' ending.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting the ending entirely (English style).

    Der gut Mann.
    Der gute Mann.

    In German, you cannot leave the adjective in its base form if it is before a noun. It must have an ending.

  • Adding endings to adjectives that come after the verb 'sein'.

    Das Haus ist großes.
    Das Haus ist groß.

    Adjectives only take endings when they are BEFORE a noun. When they follow a verb like 'ist', they stay in the base form.

  • Failing to drop the 'c' in 'hoch'.

    Ein hocher Turm.
    Ein hoher Turm.

    The adjective 'hoch' (high) is irregular; the 'ch' changes to 'h' whenever an ending is added.

How It Connects

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Basic Adjective PlacementLevel 1

Learn This First

To place an adjective before a noun, you first need to understand that nouns have specific genders and are often accompanied by articles. It is also helpful to understand the basic meaning of adjectives in a predicate position before using them as attributive modifiers.

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Patterns that build on this one.