One of the most feared topics in German grammar is the Adjektivdeklination. You need to change not only articles, but also adjective endings according to which gender (masculine, femininem neutral) and which case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) it is used in. Lastly, it also depends on the number (singular vs. plural). Luckily, all genders are the same in the plural, which gives us 4 categories (masculine, feminine, neutral and the plural).
Within these categories the right ending of the adjective also depends on the article that is used: definite, indefinite or the “zero article” (no article). In the plural, the indefinite article and the “zero” article” coincide. In other words, there is no indefinite article in the plural. So, in theory there are 44 different possibities.
This sounds worse than it actually is, because
- Some forms don’t change at all within one category (e.g. die schöne Frau, eine schöne Frau, schöne Frau).
- Some are not very common, especially the zero article in the singular.
- There are some great tips and tricks.
- The more you hear and see them, the more you’ll get used to them. At some point they will just sound right to you! 🙂
Also check out my article in which I show you how to avoid the 5 most common mistakes.
| maskulin | feminin | neutral | Plural | |
| NOMINATIV | der schöne Mann ein schöner Mann schöner Mann | die schöne Frau eine schöne Frau schöne Frau | das schöne Kind ein schönes Kind schönes Kind | die schönen Häuser schöne Häuser |
| AKKUSATIV | den schönen Mann einen schönen Mann schönen Mann | die schöne Frau eine schöne Frau schöne Frau | das schöne Kind ein schönes Kind schönes Kind | die schönen Häuser schöne Häuser |
| DATIV | dem schönen Mann einem schönen Mann schönem Mann | der schönen Frau einer schönen Frau schöner Frau | dem schönen Kind einem schönen Kind schönem Kind | den schönen Häusern schönen Häusern |
| GENITIV | des schönen Mann(e)s eines schönen Mann(e)s schönen Mann(e)s | der schönen Frau einer schönen Frau schöner Frau | des schönen Kind(e)s eines schönen Kind(e)s schönen Kind(e)s | der schönen Häuser schöner Häuser |
Download:
Adjektivdeklination complete table (PDF)
Adjektivdeklination complete table – high quality (bigger file size) (PDF)
Further reading:
Find out what the five most common mistakes with the Adjektivdeklination are and how to avoid them!
