German adjectives
Encyclopedia
In German grammar
, the correct inflection
of adjective
s depends on the case, number and gender of the noun phrase
, as well as what kind of determiner
(if any) introduces the noun phrase.
Like articles, adjectives use the same plural endings for all three genders.
Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.
In contrast to Romance
and North Germanic languages
, adjectives are declined only in the attributive position (that is, when used in nominal phrases to describe a noun directly). Predicative adjectives, separated from the noun by "to be", for example, are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverb
s.
There are three degrees of comparison: positive
form, comparative
form and superlative
form. In contrast to Latin or Italian, there is no grammatical feature for the absolute superlative (elative).
Plural nouns being attributed by an adjective of any of the three inflections stated always have an -n added to the plural form in the indirect-object or dative case. This is so unless the plural already ends in -n or is a foreign plural like Autos. This process then yields the following: den armen Leuten, ihren armen Kindern, or kalten Getränken.
Note: The prevailing view is that the mixed inflection is not a true inflection in its own right, but merely the weak inflection with a few additions to compensate for the lack of the masculine nominative and neuter nominative and accusative endings.
The endings are applicable to every degree of comparison (positive, comparative, and superlative).
form is identical to the root of the adjective. So the positive form of the adjective is quite simple to build, you take the stem of the adjective and attach the corresponding ending to it.
consists of the stem and the suffix -er. Inflected, the corresponding adjective ending is attached.
of the superlative
is actually a prepositional phrase. You attach the suffixes
-st and the adjective
ending -en to the root
, and the word am is put before it.
The attributive
superlative form adds the "st" to the comparative root and then the conventional adjective ending.
This form can also be placed in a predicate position with the appropriate adjective ending:
German grammar
This page outlines the grammar of the German language.-Nouns:A German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders . Nouns are declined for case and grammatical number. All nouns are capitalized.-Genders:...
, the correct inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
of adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s depends on the case, number and gender of the noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
, as well as what kind of determiner
Determiner (class)
A determiner is a noun-modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun-phrase in the context, rather than attributes expressed by adjectives...
(if any) introduces the noun phrase.
Like articles, adjectives use the same plural endings for all three genders.
- ein lauter Krach ("a loud noise")
- der laute Krach ("the loud noise")
- der große, schöne Mond ("the big, beautiful moon")
Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.
In contrast to Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
and North Germanic languages
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages, the languages of Scandinavians, make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages...
, adjectives are declined only in the attributive position (that is, when used in nominal phrases to describe a noun directly). Predicative adjectives, separated from the noun by "to be", for example, are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s.
- not *Die Musik ist laute. but Die Musik ist laut. ("(The) music is loud.")
There are three degrees of comparison: positive
Positive (linguistics)
Positive is the form of an adjective or adverb on which comparative and superlative are formed, in English, with the suffixes -ier, -lier, -iest, or -liest, or the forms more/less for polysyllabic adjectives/adverbs. In English, good is a positive adjectival form corresponding to the comparative...
form, comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
form and superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
form. In contrast to Latin or Italian, there is no grammatical feature for the absolute superlative (elative).
Strong endings
Strong inflection is used:- When no article is used
- After etwas (some; somewhat), mehr (more)
- After wenig- (few), viel- (much; many), mehrer- (several; many), all- (all), which also have strong adjective inflection.
- After personal pronouns other than mir, dir, ihm
- After number adjectives with no endings
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | neuer | neues | neue | neue |
| Accusative | neuen | neues | neue | neue |
| Dative | neuem | neuem | neuer | neuen |
| Genitive | neuen | neuen | neuer | neuer |
- Compare this table with the definite article endings (see German articlesGerman articlesGerman articles are similar in most respects to English articles. However, they are declined differently according to the number, gender, and case of their nouns.-Declension:...
). The only difference is the adjectival ending -en in the masculine and neuter genitive singular.
Mixed inflection
The mixed inflection is used:- after the indefinite article ein-, kein-, and the possessive determiners.
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | neuer | neues | neue | neuen |
| Accusative | neuen | neues | neue | neuen |
| Dative | neuen | neuen | neuen | neuen |
| Genitive | neuen | neuen | neuen | neuen |
Weak endings
Weak inflection is used:- After the definite article
- After derselb- (the same), derjenig- (the one)
- After dies- (this), jen- (that), jeglich- (any), jed- (every), which decline like the definite article.
- After manch- (some), solch- (such), welch- (which), which decline like the definite article.
- After mir, dir, ihm
- After arm (meagre), alt (old), all (all)
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | neue | neue | neue | neuen |
| Accusative | neuen | neue | neue | neuen |
| Dative | neuen | neuen | neuen | neuen |
| Genitive | neuen | neuen | neuen | neuen |
Plural nouns being attributed by an adjective of any of the three inflections stated always have an -n added to the plural form in the indirect-object or dative case. This is so unless the plural already ends in -n or is a foreign plural like Autos. This process then yields the following: den armen Leuten, ihren armen Kindern, or kalten Getränken.
No Endings
Several adjectives take no ending at all:- Singular limiting adjectives: wenig, etwas, genug, and viel
- The plural limiting phrase 'ein paar'
Criteria for Inflection
German adjectives take different sets of endings in different circumstances. Essentially, the adjectives must provide case, gender and number information only if the articles do not. This is among the more confusing aspects of German grammar for those learning the language. However, the adjective endings nearly always adhere to the following rules:Strong Inflection
The strong inflection is used when there is no article at all, or if the noun is preceded by a non-inflectable word or phrase such as ein bisschen, etwas or viel ("a little, some, a lot of/much"). It is also used when the adjective is preceded merely by another regular (i.e non-article) adjective.Mixed Inflection
The mixed inflection is used when the adjective is preceded by an indefinite article (ein-, kein-) or a possessive determiner.Note: The prevailing view is that the mixed inflection is not a true inflection in its own right, but merely the weak inflection with a few additions to compensate for the lack of the masculine nominative and neuter nominative and accusative endings.
Weak inflection
The weak inflection is used when there is a definite word in place (der, die, das, den, dem, des, jed-, jen-, manch-, dies-, solch- and welch-). The definite word has provided most of the necessary information, so the adjective endings are simpler.The endings are applicable to every degree of comparison (positive, comparative, and superlative).
Positive form
The uninflected basic positivePositive (linguistics)
Positive is the form of an adjective or adverb on which comparative and superlative are formed, in English, with the suffixes -ier, -lier, -iest, or -liest, or the forms more/less for polysyllabic adjectives/adverbs. In English, good is a positive adjectival form corresponding to the comparative...
form is identical to the root of the adjective. So the positive form of the adjective is quite simple to build, you take the stem of the adjective and attach the corresponding ending to it.
- schön (basic positive form)
- das schöne Lied ("the beautiful song")
Comparative form
The basic comparative formComparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
consists of the stem and the suffix -er. Inflected, the corresponding adjective ending is attached.
- schöner (basic comparative form)
- das schönere Lied ("the more beautiful song")
Superlative form
A predicate formPredicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
of the superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
is actually a prepositional phrase. You attach the suffixes
Affix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
-st and the adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
ending -en to the root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
, and the word am is put before it.
- am schönsten ("the most beautiful")
- Ich finde dieses Haus am schönsten. ("I find this house the most beautiful.")
The attributive
Attributive
In grammar, an attributive is a word or phrase within a noun phrase that modifies the head noun. It may be an:* attributive adjective* attributive noun* attributive verbor other part of speech....
superlative form adds the "st" to the comparative root and then the conventional adjective ending.
- das schönste Lied
This form can also be placed in a predicate position with the appropriate adjective ending:
- Dieses Haus ist das schönste. ("This house is the most beautiful.")