I. Role of Adjectives
Like in English, adjectives are used to give more information about a given noun including size, number, color, etc. These describing words take a variety of forms depending on their position in the sentence as well as the type of article accompanying the noun. Sometimes the adjective stays in its original form, and other times, the adjective changes in one of several ways.II. Adjective as Predicate
When the goal of a sentence is to describe a noun, the adjective serves as the predicate of the sentence.| Das Wetter ist schön. The weather is nice. Dein Freund ist intelligent. Your (boy)friend is intelligent. Der Kuchen ist lecker! The cake is delicious! Die Musik ist schrecklich. The music is awful. |
As you can see, the noun is separated with the verb to be when the adjective is in the predicate position. In this position, the adjective has no change in form based on gender or number.
III. Weak Adjectives with Definite Articles
When an adjective is used in another context besides the predicate, it precedes the noun directly and takes either a “weak” or “strong” ending. Weak endings are always used when there is a definite article or a der-word present. These endings are shown in the table below:Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
Nom. | der kleine Mann | die kleine Frau | das kleine Auto | die kleinen Leute |
Acc. | für den kleinen Mann | für die kleine Frau | für das kleine Auto | für die kleinen Leute |
Dat. | mit dem kleinen Mann | mit der kleinen Frau | mit dem kleinen Auto | mit den kleinen Leuten |
Gen. | wegen des kleinen Mannes | wegen der kleinen Frau | wegen des kleinen Autos | wegen der kleinen Leute |
Since the weak adjective endings provide little information about the noun’s case, an article or a der-word must be present in order for the weak adjective ending to be used.
| Die Polizei verhaftet den betrunkenen Mann. The police are arresting the drunk man. Das Haus wurde von dem jungen Mann gekauft. The house was purchased by a young man. Er hat diese schöne Frau geheiratet. He married this beautiful woman. Er schreibt der schönen Frau jeden Tag. He writes to the beautiful woman every day. |
IV. Weak endings with Indefinite Articles
A. Usage
Weak endings are also used after indefinite articles - as long as they show the proper information about the noun.| eine freundliche Katze - weak (feminine, nominative) in einem tiefen Wald - weak (masculine, dative) bei einer französischen Firma - weak (feminine, dative) für einen guten Mann - weak (masculine, accusative) |
B. Exceptions
Weak endings can be used with all indefinite articles with the exception of ein. In the masculine nominative, and in the neuter nominative and accusative, ein does not give enough gender or case information. In these instances, a strong adjective ending must be used. Strong endings are discussed further in another lesson.| ohne ein deutsches Auto - strong (neuter, accusative) kein deutsches Bier - strong (neuter, nominative) ein kleiner Hund - strong (masculine, nominative) |
V. Multiple Adjective Phrases
No matter how many adjectives precede a given noun, they all take the same weak ending:| Die kleine intelligente Frau unterrichtet den Kurs. The small, intelligent, woman is teaching the course. Das ist eine informative gutgeschriebene Zeitung. That is an informative, well-written newspaper. Ich sehe den sympathischen großen Mann. I see the friendly, tall, man. |