German endings for adjectives. Declension of adjectives in German - German online - Start Deutsch

For some reason, the declension of adjectives is considered a difficult topic. “There are so many endings...” - and the German language is hopelessly compromised. Have you ever encountered Russian case endings? Well, form the instrumental case form from the words “your two clean sleeves”! What? Did you realize it right away? Exactly, “with your two clean sleeves”... Children, by the way, get confused!

Declension, inflection, is an ancient and venerable feature of Indo-European languages. The English language has actually lost its declension, but German retains what existed in all ancient Germanic languages: the declension of adjectives in two types - strong And weak.

By strong declination an adjective without an article changes, for example:

You can see that the basis of the declination here is the same long-known declination of the definite article: der...dem-den, die-der-der-die, das...dem-das. But you’ll have to say goodbye to the genitive case form “des” in the declension of adjectives: in the genitive case singular. masculine and neuter adjectives with any type of declension have an ending -en.

Why does the adjective behave this way? Because there are four cases in the German language, and the language requires them to be distinguished. If an adjective appears without an article, it is forced to take on this function and convey the corresponding case with its endings. This is a strong declination.

What if the adjective appears with an article? Well, let's start with the definite article. Look what happens:

Yes, this is just some kind of resort!.. Behind the article, the adjective feels like behind a stone wall and operates with only two endings: -e And -en. Why bother if the article (or demonstrative pronoun) quite definitely denotes cases? That's what it is weak declination adjective

You may ask: why then does the adjective in the weak form have no ending? -en in all cases? The point is that you still need to distinguish between the singular and the plural. Singular (imp.) - der gut e Freund, plural - die gut en Freunde; in the only - die gut e Idee, plural - die gut en Idean. By the way, according to the weak declension, adjectives of all three genders and in all cases have the same ending in the plural: -en. Now you will see this for yourself in the tables.

An adjective with a definite article is translated as “this/that”, etc. - die gute Idee - this is a good idea das gute Buch - this is a good book etc.

In addition to strong and weak, there is also a mixed declination (see table below). In fact, this just means the declension of singular adjectives with the indefinite article ein, as well as the possessive pronouns mein, dein, etc. and the negation of kein. In indirect cases we will see a universal weak ending there -en, because case will be indicated by the article forms eines, einem, einen. And in the singular, the article ein can introduce a noun of both masculine and neuter gender - and therefore a distinction needs to be made here using the endings of the adjective: ein gut er Freund, but ein gut es Haus. And of course, eine gute Idee. But, I repeat, mixed declension is only relevant for the singular. This is explained simply: in the plural there is no indefinite article.

Strong declination

Singular. Adjective without article

adjective after words: etwas - A little, viel - a lot of, wenig - few, genug - enough; also after manch - other, some, welch - Which (if they perform without endings)

Plural. Adjective without article

adjective after numerals: zwei - two, drei - three; also after the words viele - many, einige - some, mehrere - some, several, wenige - few

Weak declination

Singular. Adjective with definite article

dieser - this, jener - That, jeder - every, solcher - such, welcher - Which, mancher - some, some, some

Plural. Adjective with definite article

adjective after pronouns: meine - my, deine - yours etc; after pronouns alle - All, beide - both, solche - such, welche - which, keine - none

Mixed declension

Only singular number

adjective with indefinite article ein; also with possessive pronouns: mein, dein and negation kein

Now a logical question: how to remember all these pronominal “viele-einige...” on the one hand, and “alle-beide...” on the other? The demonstrative pronoun dieser is so similar to the definite article der that they are easily combined into one group. It would be good to learn the rest by heart, but first you should keep in mind: viele schön e Tage (strong declination) - but alle schön en Tage (weak declination).

The pronouns viele and alle are used most often. Likewise, we often have to say meine, deine, Ihre (Freunde, Bücher, etc.). Therefore, be sure to remember: meine gut en Freunde.

In German the form viele - many is used where in Russian we are accustomed to seeing the adverb “many”. Wed:

• Da sind viele Studenten. - There are a lot of students there.
• Er hat viele probleme. - He has a lot of problems.

The endings (finals) of adjectives (adj.) in German, which are added during declension (cl.), depend on a number of points, namely,

• with which article (art.) is a German noun (noun) used in speech, accompanied by the adj. – with indefinite, with definite or with zero,
• in what number is this noun used?
• in which case is this noun used?
• what genus is the thing characterized by the adj. noun

Adjective endings in German I

Adjective endings in German II

Note to the table:

• gray background = weak sk.
• reddish background = strong darkening
• white background = mixed color

Weak declination

When using a noun with a certain art. The adjective that defines a given noun acquires the ending. according to the weak type. This type of storage characterized by the presence of only two endings – “-e” and “-en”. Finish “-e” is acquired only by adj. in Singular Nominativ (all three genders) and in Akkusativ (neuter and feminine) (see examples above in gray). Adj. will also purchase final by weak type, if a certain art. replace pronouns (places), which clearly convey the grammatical categories of the noun. To such places. include indicative places. this one is dieser, this one is solcher, that one is jener, each one is jeder, some is mancher, that one is derjenige, the same one is derselbe, interrogative place. which - welcher (plus all corresponding feminine and neuter places, as well as plurals from the named groups); pronouns both – beide, all – alle.

Strong declination

When using a noun with a zero art. (and also in the absence of any replacing this art. pronouns) related to the noun adj. acquires final according to the strong type, that is, in all cases it takes the final form. definite articles (except neuter and masculine in Genitiv - see examples in the tables above on a reddish background). Adjectives are declined according to the same type if, when defining nouns, they occupy a place after cardinal numerals (for example, ten - neun, six - sechs, etc.) and places. many - viele, various, some - mehrere, some - wenige, all - sämtliche, etc.

Mixed declension

After unspecified art. (see examples in the table above on a white background), places. kein and possessive pronouns adj. They tend to be mixed, combining the characteristics of both the weak and the strong. Its peculiarity compared to the other two types of cl. described above. is that mixed cl. is present only in the singular. Plural adjectives following possessives. and after keine, acquire the same endings as after definite articles.

A German adjective is a part of speech that expresses a characteristic of an object, answering Welcher's questions? Welche?Welches? (which? which? which? which?).

Declension of adjectives

An adjective changes when it is a modifier of a noun. The type of declension depends on the type of article and pronoun. Declension can be of three types: weak, strong, mixed. Through the declension of an adjective, you can determine the case, number and gender of a noun. The endings in the declension of an adjective can be expressive or neutral. An adjective receives a neutral ending if the endings of the pronoun or article are expressive and vice versa. That is, in the “article – adjective – noun” scheme there can be only one expressive ending.

1. Strong declension (no article)

The strong declension is used when a noun does not have an article or pronoun. In this case, the adjective plays the role of the definite article and takes on its ending.

2. Weak declension (definite article)

The weak inflection of an adjective is used with the definite article or with the pronouns dieser (he), jener (he), jeder (every), solcher (such), welcher (which), mancher (some), which have the inflection of the definite article. If the form of the article is initial, the ending of the adjective is neutral (-e), if the form of the article is changed, the ending is expressive (-en).

3. Mixed declension (indefinite article)

The adjective will have a mixed declension if the indefinite article is used, the pronoun kein (no one, no one) or the possessive pronouns mein (my), dein (your), unser (our), euer (your) are used. The mixed declension is used only with a singular number.

In the plural, there are only two types of declension for adjectives: strong and weak. If there are several adjectives with a noun, they receive the same declension. The rule for declension of adjectives applies to ordinal numbers and participles.

DEGREES OF COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

Qualitative adjectives and adverbs have three degrees of comparison: positive (der Positiv), comparative (der Komparativ) and superlative (der Superlativ).

Comparative degree = positive degree + suffix –er

Superlative = positive degree + suffix -(e)st

For example: positive degree - schön (beautiful), comparative degree - schöner (beautiful), superlative degree - Der Schönste (the most beautiful).

Most adjectives form comparative degrees without an umlaut. Monosyllabic comparative and superlative adjectives that have the root vowels a, o, u form a degree of comparison with umlaut. Such adjectives include: alt (old), lang (long), grob (rough), arm (poor), scharf (sharp), dumm (stupid), hart (hard), schwach (weak), jung (young), kalt (cold), stark (strong), kurz (short), krank (sick), warm (warm). Adjectives of the positive and comparative degrees are used in short form to denote the nominal part of the predicate, adjectives of the superlative degree - both in short and inflected forms. The comparative degree is characterized by both definite and indefinite articles, and the superlative degree is characterized by the definite article.

Hello friends. In German, if an adjective comes before a noun, it can decline (change endings) depending on the case, gender and number of the noun.

There are 3 declension schemes for German adjectives depending on the article before the noun:

1. weak declension (with the definite article),
2. strong declension (no article)
3. mixed declension (declension with an indefinite article).

Adjectives in German are declined if and only if they come before a noun:

red th table - rot er Tisch
red wow stolU - rot em Tisch

How can one understand which type of adjective is inclined in a particular case?

1. If an adjective comes before a noun without an accompanying word, then it is inflected according to the strong type.
2. If there is an accompanying word, but it ambiguously shows gender, number and case, then the adjective is declined according to the mixed type.
3. If there is an accompanying word and it clearly shows gender, number and case, then the adjective is declined according to the weak type.

Strong declination- this is declension without any article or words that perform the function of an article. In the strong declension, the ending of the adjective must indicate the case of the noun, and therefore coincides with the endings of definite articles.

Attention! The strong plural declension is also used if the adjective is preceded by:

• cardinal numbers (zwei, drei...);
• words viele, mehrere, einige, wenige.

The fact is that numerals (quantitative, i.e. zwei etc.) do not have case endings, just like ein paar. They require a strong inflection: Er kauft ein paar / zwei rote Äpfel (Akksuativ, plural). Words viele, mehrere, wenige, einige function as adjectives. They themselves must be declined and a strong declension must also be placed after them: Ich habe viele interessante Bücher (Akksuativ, plural).

Strong declension of adjectives table

Weak declination- this is declination with the definite article. In the weak declension, the adjective does not need to indicate the case of the noun, since this function is already performed by the definite article. Only 2 endings are used here: -en And -e.

In addition to definite articles, a number of other words require a weak declension of the word

• In all genders and numbers: dieser (this), jener (that), jeder (each), mancher (some), solcher (such), welcher (which);
• In plural ( Plural): possessive pronouns (meine, deine, etc.), keine (none), alle (all), beide (both), sämtliche (meaning alle).

(*)Don't forget that many nouns also change by case. You can read more in the rules for declension of nouns.

Please note that in 5 cases the singular ending is used -e. This Nominative(nominative case) and cases when the article coincides with the form of the nominative case: in Akkusativ feminine and neuter.

Weak declension of adjectives table

Mixed declension- this is declension with the indefinite article and similar words. Since the indefinite article is only in the singular, the mixed declension of adjectives exists only in the singular.

In addition to the indefinite article ( ein), mixed declension is used after:

• possessive pronouns ( mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer) (except for plural);
• denial kein(except for plurals).

Sometimes the mixed declension is not separated into a separate group, since no new endings appear in the mixed declension: sometimes the endings of the strong and sometimes the weak declension are simply used. If the indefinite article (or words from the list above) indicates the case of a noun, then the adjective is used with a weak declension ending. Otherwise, the ending of the strong declination is taken.

For example, what in Nominative And Akkusativ The neuter form of the article/pronoun/negation is used ein/main/kein, which makes it impossible to understand what case/gender it is. For this reason, you need to use the strong declension ending here: ich lese ein gutes Buch / das ist ein neues Buch. But in the masculine gender Akkusativ after einen/meinen/keinen already the end of the weak declination: ich brauche einen neuen Kühlschrank.

Mixed declension of adjectives table

Declension of adjectives in German