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title, description, source, crawled
| title | description | source | crawled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjective Declensions | How German adjectives take case endings depending on whether the noun uses a definite article, indefinite/possessive article, or no article. | https://germanforenglishspeakers.com/adjectives/adjective-declensions | 2026-06-30 |
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. 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:
Soft adjective endings (used after a definite article)
| Case | 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. With a definite article, the adjective ending is always soft:
TYPE 1: Definite Articles — "The nice man / woman / child / children"
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der nette Mann | die nette Frau | das nette Kind | die netten Kinder |
| Accusative | den netten Mann | die nette Frau | das nette Kind | die netten Kinder |
| Dative | dem netten Mann | der netten Frau | dem netten Kind | den netten Kindern |
| Genitive | des netten Mannes | der netten Frau | des netten Kindes | der 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"
| Case | 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"
| Case | 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 Brötchen |
| Genitive | heißen Kaffees | kalter Milch | frischen Brotes | warmer Brötchen |