Nominalized Adjective

In German, you can turn almost any adjective, participle, superlative, or ordinal number (e.g., der Erste, als Zweites) into a noun simply by capitalizing it. While they often appear with an article, they can also stand alone (e.g., Gutes tun). This is a very productive part of the language. Note: Adverbial superlatives with am (e.g., am besten, am schnellsten) are an exception and are generally not capitalized.

1. Meaning by Gender:

• Masculine/Feminine: Refers to people. Der Alte (the old man), die Angestellte (the female employee), der Reisende (the traveler).
• Neuter: Refers to abstract things or general concepts. Das Gute (the good), das Wichtigste (the most important thing). Languages and colors can appear as standard nouns (das Deutsch, das Blau) or as fully nominalized adjectives that take adjective declension endings (das Deutsche, das Blaue).
• Plural: Refers to groups. Die Reichen (the rich), Arme und Reiche (poor and rich people).

2. The Declension Rule:
This is the most important part: they still behave like adjectives grammatically. You must apply weak, mixed, or strong endings depending on what comes before them. This applies to all cases, not just the Nominative.
Example: ein Deutscher (Nominative), mit einem Deutschen (Dative).

3. Usage with Quantifiers:
They often follow words like etwas (something), nichts (nothing), viel (much), or alles (everything).

• After etwas, nichts, viel, wenig: Use the strong neuter -es ending in the Nominative and Accusative (e.g., etwas Neues). In the Dative, they take the -em ending (e.g., mit etwas Neuem). Note: The word anderes is traditionally written in lowercase in phrases like etwas anderes, though capitalization (etwas Anderes) is also permitted.
• After alles: Use the weak neuter -e ending in the Nominative and Accusative (e.g., alles Gute). In the Dative, it takes the -en ending (e.g., mit allem Guten).
• After plural quantifiers: The ending depends on the quantifier. Words like viele, einige, and wenige trigger the strong plural ending (e.g., viele Reiche). Words like alle, keine, beide, and sämtliche trigger the weak plural ending -en (e.g., alle Deutschen).

4. Dropped Nouns:
Be careful not to confuse nominalized adjectives with regular adjectives referring to a dropped noun. If an adjective stands alone but refers to a noun mentioned earlier or later, it remains a regular adjective and is not capitalized (e.g., Ich habe ein rotes Auto und er hat ein blaues.).