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Adjective endings are usually the least favorite part of learning German, from
both the students' and the teacher's viewpoints. I can't make them fun, but I can at
least make them a little easier. Yes, they do require some memorization, but there
is a logic to them. With some effort, you should be able to put the correct endings
on adjectives without having to refer to a massive diagram or chart.
Keep in mind 2: Some articles show that a noun has changed from its original
nominative case, others do not. For example, in the sentence "ich sehe einen
Mann", einen shows clearly that Mann is no longer in the nominative case. In the
sentence "ich sehe ein Buch", however, the neuter accusative ein does not differ
from its nominative form, which is also ein. This distinction will be important in
deciding which adjective ending to use.
With those guidelines in mind, we can now set up a flow chart of rules that will
give you the correct adjective ending.
If NO (if there is no article): add the ending that would occur on a der-
word for that noun. For instance:
Deutsches Bier (it would be dieses Bier, so we add -es to
schmeckt gut. deutsch)
Ich trinke kalten Kaffee (it would be diesen Kaffee, so we add -en to
gern. kalt)
If NO (if the article is different from its original form), add -en.
Ich kenne einen guten (einen, masculine accusative, has changed
Mann. from the original ein)
Ich spreche mit der (der, feminine dative, has changed from the
netten Frau. original die)
If NO (if the article is ein/dein/etc): add -er for masculine nouns, -es for
neuter nouns.
Das ist ein gutes Buch. (something needs to show the -s that is
inherent to das Buch -- since ein does not
show it, -es is added to gut)
Sein alter Hund war in (something needs to show the -r that is
der Küche. inherent to der Hund -- since sein does not
show it, -er is added to alt)
If YES (if the article already shows the gender): add -e.
Hier ist eine kleine (eine shows that Lampe is feminine, so only
Lampe. -e is added to klein)
Wo ist der rote Mantel? (der shows that Mantel is masculine, so
only -e is added to rot)
That's it! If you follow these rules correctly, then all adjective endings will fall
into place for you. To summarize in a more graphical form:
There are, of course, a few things you should watch out for -- not exceptions,
merely common misperceptions.
Common problem 1: UNSER. Remember that the -er in unser is part of the
article unser (our), it is NOT an ending itself. (Unser Buch ist gut; unsere Mutti
ist nett; unser Vater ist alt.) Unser Vater is equivalent to mein Vater, and
therefore Question 4 applies: when adding an adjective, it must be unser netter
Vater to show the -r inherent to Vater; or unser gutes Buch to show the -s
inherent to Buch. Similarly, EUER (your, pl.) is also an ein-word, the -er is part
of the article itself. In their base forms, then, unser and euer do not show gender.
Common problem 4: When there is more than one adjective modifying the
same noun (the nice old man), each adjective acts independently and takes the
appropriate ending (der nette alte Mann, ein netter alter Mann). Thus all
adjectives in a string will have the same endings.