Describing nouns with adjectives in German

• Adjectives can be used to add more detail to nouns, eg size, colour, an opinion.

• If an adjective is placed before a noun eg. a black cat, the adjective must agree with article, gender, case, and number of the noun.

• This means the spelling of the adjective will change.

The nominative case is used when the noun is the subject of the sentence. This means the noun is doing the action, indicated by the verb in the sentence.

• Das Mädchen spielt Fußball .
  • The girl plays football.

Remember:

To find the subject of the sentence, ask who is doing the action? In this example, who is playing football?

The answer is das Mädchen , so it is the subject and takes the nominative case.

If an adjective is placed before a noun an ending must be added to the adjective. The adjective must agree with the:

• case

• gender

• number and whether the article is definite or indefinite.

The nominative adjective endings for the definite articles are:

The articles dieser/diese/dieses (this), jener/jene/jenes (that), jeder/jede/jedes (every) and welcher/welche/welches (which) also follow this pattern.

The nominative adjective endings for the indefinite articles are:

Possessive adjectives mein (my), dein (your), sein (his), ihr (her), unser (our), euer (your), Ihr (your), ihr (their) and the negative kein also follow this pattern.

Choose the correct adjective:

The accusative case is used when the noun is the direct object of the sentence. This means the noun is receiving the action in the sentence.

For example:

• Der alte Mann isst einen Apfel.
  • The elderly man eats an apple.

Remember:

• To find the direct object of the sentence, ask what is receiving the action.

• Prepositions also determine which case is needed.

The adjective must agree with the case, gender, number and whether the article is definite or indefinite.

The accusative adjective endings for the definite articles are:

The articles diesen/diese/dieses this, jenen/jene/jenes that, jeden/jede/jedes every and welchen/welche/welches which also follow this pattern

The accusative adjective endings for the indefinite articles are:

Possessive adjectives mein my, dein your, sein his, ihr her, unser our, euer your, Ihr your, ihr their and the negative kein also follow this pattern.

Remember: It is only the masculine articles which change in the accusative case.

Choose the correct adjective:

Translate the following phrases into German:

The dative case is used when the noun is the indirect object of the sentence. This means the noun is the recipient of the direct object.

For example:

• Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch.
  • I give the man a book/I give a book to the man.

Remember:

• To find the direct object of the sentence, ask for whom?.

• Prepositions also determine which case is needed.

Add an ending to the adjective if the adjective is placed before the noun.

The adjective must agree with the case, the gender, the number and whether the article is definite or indefinite.

The dative adjective endings for the definite articles are:

The articles diesem/dieser/diesemthis, jenem/jener/jenemthat, jedem/jeder/jedemevery and welchem/welcher/welchemwhich also follow this pattern

The dative adjective endings for the indefinite articles are:

Possessive adjectives meinmy, deinyour, seinhis, ihrher,unserour, eueryour, Ihryour, ihrtheir and the negative kein also follow this pattern.

Remember: To add -n to the plural noun in the dative case.

Choose the correct adjective:

If there is no article before a noun, the adjectival endings are as following:

Examples:

• Ich trinke gern heißen Kaffee mit kalter Milch.

  • I like drinking hot coffee with cold milk.

• Bei schlechtem Wetter können wir nach draußen gehen.

  • In bad weather we can’t go outside.

• Gute Freunde müssen nicht die gleichen Interessen haben.

  • Good friends don’t have to have the same interests.