Adjective Endings: Masculine -en

Level 2

Before a masculine noun, add -en to the adjective: en neien Auto (a new car), de grousse Mann (the tall man).

How It Works

1. The rule
When an adjective stands before a masculine noun, it adds -en. This works after den, en, keen, after possessives such as mäin, and with no article at all.

  • nei → en neien Auto (a new car)
  • grouss → de grousse Mann (the tall man)
  • gutt → mäi gudde Frënd (my good friend)
  • waarm → e waarme Kaffi (a hot coffee)

2. Subject and object look the same
The nominative and the accusative share this ending: De grousse Mann wunnt hei (The tall man lives here) and Ech gesinn de grousse Mann (I see the tall man). See Three Cases.

3. -en or -e?
The adjective ending follows the n-rule, just like the article in front of it:

  • The n stays before a vowel and before d, h, n, t and z: Gudden Owend!, en neien Auto, e groussen Hond, Schéinen Dag nach!
  • The n drops before every other consonant: Gudde Moien!, e grousse Mann, e waarme Kaffi.

Notice that the article and the adjective each follow the rule on their own: in e groussen Hond, the article loses its n before g, but the adjective keeps its n before h.

4. Small spelling changes
Some adjectives change a letter when the ending is added: gutt → gudden, léif → léiwen, rout → rouden. See Adjective Stem Changes.

5. Where the ending does not apply

6. The article before the adjective
With the definite article you will also hear the stressed form deen (dee by the n-rule), especially when you point something out: dee grousse Mann (that tall man). The adjective ending stays the same. See Déi and Dat.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech hunn en neien Auto.

    I have a new car.

    Both keep their n: en stands before the n of neien, and neien stands before the vowel of Auto.

  2. De grousse Mann ass mäi Papp.

    The tall man is my dad.

    Grousse loses its n before the m of Mann.

  3. Mäi gudde Frënd kënnt muer.

    My good friend is coming tomorrow.

    Gutt becomes gudden before an ending, and the n drops before F.

  4. Gudden Owend!

    Good evening!

    The n stays because Owend starts with a vowel.

  5. Ech hätt gär e waarme Kaffi.

    I would like a hot coffee.

    Kaffi is masculine, and waarmen loses its n before K.

  6. Mir hunn e groussen Hond.

    We have a big dog.

    The article loses its n before g, but groussen keeps its n before h. The ending is the same for an object.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the n before a consonant that drops it.

    Ech hunn e gudden Frënd.
    Ech hunn e gudde Frënd.

    F is not one of the letters that keep the n (d, h, n, t, z), so the adjective is written gudde.

  • Leaving the adjective without an ending.

    Ech hunn en nei Auto.
    Ech hunn en neien Auto.

    Auto is masculine, so the adjective needs -en. Only feminine and plural nouns take the bare form.

  • Using the neuter -t with a masculine noun.

    Mir hunn e grousst Hond.
    Mir hunn e groussen Hond.

    Hond is masculine (den Hond), so the ending is -en, not the neuter -t. The n stays because Hond starts with h.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Adjective Endings: Masculine -enLevel 2

Learn This First

Before Adjective Endings: Masculine -en, learn The Article Before an Adjective: Déi and Dat and Adjectives After Sinn.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.