4.4: Adjective Endings

You learned in Unit 3 how endings are added to the der– and ein– words. In addition, German adds endings to regular attributive adjectives when they are modifying a noun. Recognizing these endings can sometimes be a crucial reading skill in order to detect the case and number of a noun.

Noun Phrases without an Article

When a noun phrase does not begin with either a der– word or an ein– word, then essentially any adjectives have to take their place as far as providing signals to you about the case, number, and gender of the noun they are modifying. The chart or “paradigm” below shows what happens to the adjectives if we take the three nouns der Wein, die Milch, and das Bier and describe them with the simple adjectives rot (red), frisch (fresh) and kalt (cold):

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
NOMINATIVE	roter Wein	frische Milch	kaltes Bier	rote Weine
ACCUSATIVE	roten Wein	frische Milch	kaltes Bier	rote Weine
DATIVE	rotem Wein	frischer Milch	kaltem Bier	roten Weinen
GENITIVE	roten Weines	frischer Milch	kalten Bieres	roter Weine

Compare this to the der– word chart in Unit 2 and you will notice only one difference; the genitive singular (masculine and neuter) ends in –en rather than ‑es. Otherwise the endings are the same. In other words, you will be able to apply that same skill from Unit 2 to this kind of noun phrase, so that you can use the above adjective endings to help you identify the case, number, and gender of the noun being modified.

Noun Phrases with an Article

When articles (der– and ein– words) begin the noun phrase, then any adjectives modifying a noun show a different pattern of endings than above. It is not necessary to memorize these declensions in order to read and comprehend German. Remember that it is the article that begins the noun phrase that best helps you identify the role the noun is playing in a sentence.

Nevertheless, it is often useful to recognize that some ending has been added:

1. To help you distinguish adjectives from other kinds of modifiers within the noun phrase which, naturally, do not appear with “adjective endings.” We’ll return to this in the next section.
2. To give you confidence when looking up adjectives in the dictionary, knowing what letters at the end will not be included in the dictionary listing.
3. In the case of some ein– word phrases, the endings immediately give you more information about the noun than the ein– word does alone.

So, here are the adjective endings when an article is present:

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
N.	der alte Mann ein alter Mann	die alte Frau eine alte Frau	das junge Mädchen ein junges Mädchen	die alten Frauen keine alten Frauen
A.	den alten Mann einen alten Mann	die alte Frau eine alte Frau	das junge Mädchen ein junges Mädchen	die alten Frauen keine alten Frauen
D.	dem alten Mann einem alten Mann	der alten Frau einer alten Frau	dem jungen Mädchen einem jungen Mädchen	den alten Frauen keinen alten Frauen
G.	des alten Mannes eines alten Mannes	der alten Frau einer alten Frau	des jungen Mädchens eines jungen Mädchens	der alten Frauen keiner alten Frauen

Points to remember:

1. The first word in the noun phrase indicates in most instances the role the noun plays in the sentence, i.e., its case and its number.
2. No ending on an ein– word is unique to singular nominative and singular accusative.
3. The ending –em is unique to dative singular.
4. die or an ein– word ending in –e (e.g. keine) followed by an adjective which ends in ‑en is always plural.
5. Note the significance of adjective endings on number words. See the end of Reference section 1.