Struggling with adjective endings? Well, you’re not alone! Up to 70% of German learners struggle with them according to the Goethe-Institut.
In fact, I did too—and so do many of my students. These adjective endings are just devious little words. It’s easy to mix them up or even forget to use them at all.
We’ll help you with that. Here’s everything you need to know about German adjective endings.
What we'll go through:
- What are German Adjective Endings?
- Types of Adjective Declensions
- How to Master Adjective Endings
- Memorization Techniques
- Common Patterns and Exceptions
- Advanced Usage
- Multiple Adjectives
- Adjective Endings for Specific Words
- Practical Usage and Common Mistakes
- Using Adjeectives in Real-life
- Avoiding Common Errors
- Adjective Endings in Different Cases
- Adjective Endings with Comparative and Superlative Forms
Ready for another German grammar lesson?
While German adjective endings are sometimes quite confusing, they’re actually an important tool for clear and precise self-expression.
An adjective ending in German makes a sentence’s meaning more precise by clarifying their relationships to other words. By using the correct adjective endings, you can ensure that everyone understands exactly what you mean.
What are German Adjective Endings?
Adjective endings in German are the little suffixes added to adjectives if they come right before a noun. They indicate the relationship between the adjective and the noun it’s describing.
While they take up little space in a sentence, they can be quite difficult to master. In fact, according to a 2023 report by Duolingo, it took the average user around 14 hours practicing German adjective endings before they felt confident in their usage.
Function in Sentences
Adjective endings clarify the exact relationship between the adjective and the noun or pronoun it is describing.
Importance in Communication
Despite being a smaller part of the sentence, these adjective endings are essential to the meaning-making process of the German language.
Use the incorrect ending and others may misunderstand what you mean.
Types of Adjective Declensions
German adjectives have three main types of declensions:
- Weak
- Strong
- Mixed
Each type has its usage rules and is also used in different situations.
Weak Declensions
Weak declensions are used when the adjectives follow a definite article (der, die, das) or a word that acts like a definite article (dieser, jener, etc.).
They’re called weak because their adjective ending doesn’t change much across different use noun cases. They’re simply either an -e or an -en.
Refer to the table below:
Strong Declensions
On the other hand, strong declensions are used if the described noun does not use an article.
For strong declensions, endings vary a lot. Because the article is absent, the adjective, along with its ending, is now responsible for providing the grammatical information that articles usually provide.
Mixed Declensions
Mixed declensions are a combination of strong and weak declensions. They also have multiple endings.
They are used after:
- An indefinite article (ein, eine)
- A negative article (kein)
- Or a possessive adjective (mein, dein, etc.)
Here’s a table summarizing which ending to use depending on the case and the article:
Source: expertlygerman.com
How to Master Adjective Endings
Okay, done with the basics—though I know the “basics” can be quite confusing!
Here are a few ways to help you memorize which ending to use.
Memorization Techniques
Mnemonics
Mnemonics or mnemonic devices refer to creating a pattern of letters of words that correspond to the ideas you’re memorizing.
For example, the name “Roy G. Biv” is a mnemonic for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—the colors of the rainbow.
Here’s an example for German adjective endings:
“The end,” which sounds like “die en,” can be used to remember that if the article is “die” then the adjective ending should be “en.”
Practice Exercises
The point of learning a language is to be able to use it. Simply memorizing grammar rules won’t get you far! You need to practice them through exercises or real-life conversations.
In fact, did you know that the German government recently launched a nationwide education campaign seeking to improve grammar proficiency? (So if you don’t want to disappoint the government, better practice!)
Try engaging in practice exercises with adjective endings. That’s how you’ll get used to applying them in actual speech,
Common Patterns and Exceptions
Although seemingly random at first, there are actually patterns when it comes to the association of the adjective endings to the articles and the noun’s case.
Of course, as with any aspect of language, exceptions exist.
Regular Patterns
Being aware of these patterns can greatly accelerate your learning pattern.
For example, one prominent pattern is how any dative or genetive sentence’s adjective will always use an -en ending if the described noun has an article.
Irregular Adjectives
Most adjectives follow the standard rules. But irregular adjectives—as they are aptly named—follow different rules.
Source: googleusercontent.com
Advanced Usage
Feel confident enough with the basics? Great!
Time to tackle more advanced usage of adjective endings. Here are a few scenarios in which people tend to struggle.
Multiple Adjectives
In real life, people often use multiple adjectives to describe a single noun or pronoun. Learners often struggle with using the correct ending when a sentence has multiple adjectives.
Order of Adjectives
Unlike English, German has no strict rules about the ordering of multiple adjectives when describing the same noun. However, native speakers will have some general tendencies.
Typically speaking, adjectives are arranged like this: subjective adjectives are mentioned first while more general, inherent, or specific descriptors are placed closer to the noun.
In German, when multiple adjectives are used to describe a noun, the order is more flexible than in English, but there are general tendencies that native speakers often follow. Adjectives are typically arranged from more subjective or general qualities to more specific or inherent characteristics of the noun.
Common Order of Adjectives in German:
1. Opinion or Evaluation: gut (good), schlecht (bad), schön (beautiful), hässlich (ugly)
2. Size: klein (small), groß (big)
3. Age: alt (old), neu (new), jung (young)
4. Shape: rund (round), eckig (angular)
5. Color: rot (red), blau (blue), grün (green)
6. Origin or Nationality: deutsch (German), französisch (French)
7. Material: hölzern (wooden), metallisch (metallic)
Example:
Ein schöner großer alter runder brauner deutscher Holztisch.
"A beautiful big old round brown German wooden table."
Parallel Endings for Multiple Adjectives
So what do you do about multiple adjectives describing the same noun?
Use parallel endings—or the same endings—for each of them.
For example, to say She is a funny young woman, say:
Sie ist eine lustige junge Frau.
Both lustig and jung here end with an -e.
Should I use commas for multiple adjectives?
In German, when multiple adjectives describe a noun, commas are generally not used to separate them. The adjectives are placed directly before the noun without any punctuation:
Ein großer schöner alter Baum
-A big beautiful old tree
Exception:
If the adjectives are of equal rank and independently modify the noun, you can use commas to separate them. This often applies when you can insert the word "und" ("and") between the adjectives without changing the meaning:
Ein interessanter, lehrreicher Vortrag
-An interesting, informative lecture
So you could also say:
Ein interessanter und lehrreicher Vortrag.
-An interesting and informative lecture
Adjective Endings for Specific Words
Some words also have different rules for adjective endings. Be wary of these as they’re easy to forget!
Endings after Numerals
German numbers can change how adjective endings are used. Beyond counting, the numbers must be in agreement with the adjective declension.
Endings after Pronouns
Pronouns in German can be tricky, as the declension rules aren’t the same as that with nouns. Different types of pronouns will also have different declension patterns.
Source: expertlygerman.com
Practical Usage and Common Mistakes
Now that we’ve covered the theoretical, here’s how to use them in real life effectively.
It can definitely be tricky, so you’ll likely make some common mistakes. That’s okay! We’ll also outline these common mistakes so you know what to look out for.
Using Adjectives in Real-Life
Using adjective endings correctly may seem like a relatively minor part of German grammar. Some may even say that you can pass tests without mastering adjective endings (which isn’t true, by the way).
However, there’s no way you’ll be able to actually communicate in German effectively in real life.
Conversational German
Everyday conversations need precise and correct usage of adjective endings. Otherwise, you may end up confusing others, especially native speakers.
They may understand something different than what you intended to say.
Written Communication
Incorrect adjective endings are arguably more noticeable on paper.
And consider this: native German speakers tend to use 1.8 adjectives on average based on a University of Vienna study.
So if you wish to study or work in Germany—endeavors that need a lot of writing—you’ll want to master declensions.
Avoiding Common Errors
Are you finding adjective endings difficult? Well, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Even more advanced German speakers still struggle with them from time to time
But don’t worry, here’s how you can avoid these common mistakes.
General Confusion
There are a lot of adjective endings. It’s natural for learners to be confused about which declension to use in a given sentence.
There’s no better solution than good ol’ practice and exposure therapy. As with anything, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.
Case and Gender Mistakes
Many mistakes occur due to confusion about a noun’s case and gender. This is especially true if you come from a language where nouns aren’t gendered! Here’s how to do better with these.
Source: reddit.com
Adjective Endings in Different Cases
Let’s take a better look at how adjective endings change depending on the noun case. At least in my opinion, this is where it gets pretty fascinating!
Nominative Case Endings
The nominative case refers to when a noun is the subject or the doer of the sentence.
While seen as the “default” case as it’s arguably the most common case, the rules of declension aren’t necessarily easy. There’s no really straightforward pattern, you’ll really need to memorize the ending for each case and article combination!
Predicative vs. Attributive Adjectives
German adjectives can be placed either after a verb (predicatively) or before a noun (attributively).
Remember that you only need to use adjective endings if the adjective is used attributively!
Accusative Case Endings
A noun is in an accusative case if it is the direct object of the sentence or the receiver of the adjective’s action.
Adjective endings for accusative cases are largely similar to nominative cases, with the exception of masculine nouns.
Accusative Prepositions
It’s also important to note that certain prepositions will always use the accusative case of a noun.
And so when these prepositions are used, the adjective ending changes as the noun case changes (into accusative).
Dative Case Endings
The dative case is when nouns are indirect objects and when used with certain prepositions.
Good news: its adjective endings are largely similar across genders!
If the noun has an article, simply use -en. It only varies when using a strong declension (no article).
Dative-only Verbs
Certain verbs will always take a noun in the dative case. As such, simply always use dative endings for these verbs.
Source: germanwithlaura.com
Genitive Case Endings
Nouns in the genitive case show possession or association. While not as commonly used in spoken German, it’s still used often in written German.
Like dative cases, use -en when in the presence of an article and memorize the endings for each gender of nouns with no articles.
Genitive Prepositions
Like the other cases, some prepositions will always trigger the noun to be in the genitive case. While these prepositions are not used often in daily speech, you should still keep them in mind.
Adjective Endings with Comparative and Superlative Forms
And last but not least, adjective endings for comparative and superlative adjectives!
Don’t worry - at least the rules here are relatively simpler!
Comparative Adjective Endings
When adjectives are used to compare two or more nouns, the comparative form of the adjective is used. A German adjective is transformed into its comparative form by adding -er.
However, if the adjective comes before a noun, the usual ending must be used in addition to the -er.
Regular Comparatives
Most German adjectives form their comparative forms in the way described above. Pretty straightforward, no?
As an example, take the adjective klein.
Its comparative form is kleiner - and you use this form if a noun doesn’t come after it.
However, if a noun does come after, you add an ending.
Take the phrase das kleinere Haus (the smaller house).
The comparative form kleiner adds an -e ending as it comes right before a neuter noun in the nominative or accusative case.
Most German adjectives form their comparatives in a regular way. Once you know the pattern, it's pretty straightforward.
Let's look at the adjective "klein" (small).
Its comparative form is "kleiner" (smaller).
In the phrase "das kleinere Haus" (the smaller house), "kleiner" takes the ending -e because it's modifying a neuter noun in the nominative or accusative case.
Irregular Comparatives
However, once again, some adjectives are special snowflakes and will employ different rules for their comparative forms.
Source: language-easy.org
Superlative Adjective Endings
Superlative adjectives describe the highest degree of a certain quality. While slightly trickier to use than comparative forms, they do have an easy-to-follow pattern.
Superlatives in Predicative Position
When a superlative adjective is used predicatively (or after a verb), it uses a special form different from other German adjectives. This form remain remains consistent no matter the gender or number of the nouns.
Source: language-easy.org
Learning Recap
Here’s a quick recap of German adjective endings:
- Different declensions and endings are used, depending on the article and other factors:some text
- Use weak declensions with definite articles and words that act like them.
- Use strong declensions if the noun does not have an article.
- Use mixed declension with indefinite articles, possessive adjectives, and the negative article "kein".
- Comparative forms of adjectives attach an -er when used predicatively, and attach an -er as well as the corresponding ending when used attributively
- Common mistakes stem from confusion about similar adjective endings, noun gender, and noun case
- As hard as adjective endings may be, regular practice will still trump them!
German adjective endings are hard and confusing - and they’re quite a rough bump in the journey for many learners. However, most of them get over the hump eventually—given enough dedication and practice, of course!
One of the best ways to reduce confusion is to simply get used to using them during speech. If you have no one to talk or practice German with, check out Deutsch Gym!
It’s a platform where members can engage in daily speaking sessions with native German speakers and fellow learners. We offer a warm, welcoming space where people are encouraged to express themselves, practice the language together, and even make German friends!
Here, people can build their confidence and sharpen their German skills.
Join other learners in Deutsch Gym today with a 5-day free trial as everyone works through that declension confusion!
