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adjectives/adjective-declensions.md

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+title: "Adjective Declensions - German for English SpeakersGerman for English Speakers"
+source: "https://germanforenglishspeakers.com/adjectives/adjective-declensions"
+crawled: "2026-06-30"
+---
+
+# Adjective Declensions - German for English SpeakersGerman for English Speakers
+
+# Adjective Declensions
+
+German adjectives work just like English ones, except that they take on case endings when they come right before a noun:
+
+_Der Hund ist **groß** und **braun**._  
+The dog is big and brown.
+
+_Der **große** **braune** Hund bellte mich an._  
+The big brown dog barked at me.
+
+To understand these endings, you need to be familiar with the "hard" endings for nouns from [Section II.3](/nouns/declension-tables.md "II.3 Declension Tables"). The rule for adjectives before a noun is this: **_when there’s no hard ending in the noun or article, add it to the adjective._** When there _is_ a hard ending in the noun or article, the adjective takes a “soft” ending as follows:
+
+Masculine
+
+Feminine
+
+Neuter
+
+Plural
+
+**Nominative**
+
+\-e
+
+\-e
+
+\-e
+
+\-en
+
+**Accusative**
+
+\-en
+
+\-e
+
+\-e
+
+\-en
+
+**Dative**
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+**Genitive**
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+\-en
+
+The following tables show how this rule is applied. The hard endings are highlighted in yellow, and the “soft” adjective endings are underlined. With a definite article, the adjective ending is always soft:
+
+  **TYPE 1: Definite Articles**
+
+"The nice man / woman / child / children"
+
+Masculine
+
+Feminine
+
+Neuter
+
+Plural
+
+**Nominative**
+
+de**r** **nette** Mann
+
+di**e** **nette** Frau
+
+da**s** **nette** Kind
+
+di**e** **netten** Kinder
+
+**Accusative**
+
+de**n** **netten** Mann
+
+di**e** **nette** Frau
+
+da**s** **nette** Kind
+
+di**e** **netten** Kinder
+
+**Dative**
+
+de**m** **netten** Mann
+
+de**r** **netten** Frau
+
+de**m** **netten** Kind
+
+de**n** **netten** Kinder**n**
+
+**Genitive**
+
+de**s** **netten** Manne**s**
+
+de**r** **netten** Frau
+
+de**s** **netten** Kinde**s**
+
+de**r** **netten** Kinder
+
+For the indefinite and possessive articles, the adjective endings are the same except for the three places where the article has no hard ending and the adjective has to take it on:
+
+  **TYPE 2: Indefinite & Possessive Articles**
+
+"My little dog / cat / bunny / birds"
+
+Masculine
+
+Feminine
+
+Neuter
+
+Plural
+
+**Nominative**
+
+mein **kleiner** Hund
+
+meine **kleine** Katze
+
+mein **kleines** Kaninchen
+
+meine **kleinen** Vögel
+
+**Accusative**
+
+meinen **kleinen** Hund
+
+meine **kleine** Katze
+
+mein **kleines** Kaninchen
+
+meine **kleinen** Vögel
+
+**Dative**
+
+meinem **kleinen** Hund
+
+meiner **kleinen** Katze
+
+meinem **kleinen** Kaninchen
+
+meinen **kleinen** Vögeln
+
+**Genitive**
+
+meines **kleinen** Hundes
+
+meiner **kleinen** Katze
+
+meines **kleinen** Kaninchens
+
+meiner **kleinen** Vögel
+
+And with no article ("the taste of hot coffee"), the adjective always takes on the hard ending, except in the three cases where it’s still there on the noun:
+
+  **TYPE 3: No Article**
+
+"hot coffee / cold milk / fresh bread / warm rolls"
+
+Masculine
+
+Feminine
+
+Neuter
+
+Plural
+
+**Nominative**
+
+**heißer** Kaffee
+
+**kalte** Milch
+
+**frisches** Brot
+
+**warme** Brötchen
+
+**Accusative**
+
+**heißen** Kaffee
+
+**kalte** Milch
+
+**frisches** Brot
+
+**warme** Brötchen
+
+**Dative**
+
+**heißem** Kaffee
+
+**kalter** Milch
+
+**frischem** Brot
+
+**warmen** Brötche**n**
+
+**Genitive**
+
+**heißen** Kaffee**s**
+
+**kalter** Milch
+
+**frischen Brotes**
+
+**warmer** Brötchen
+
+ 
+
+[Continue to next section >>](/adjectives/comparative-and-superlative-forms.md)