Declension of adjectives. Detailed with examples

Learning a certain set of words in the German language is only half the task that faces everyone who is going to master this discipline. For beginners, information that explains the role of grammar in language will be useful. It is she who helps to connect words with each other and build phrases.

Without grammar and its many rules, it would be impossible to understand each other - speech would look like a simple set of words. Therefore, when mastering German, you should not neglect its detailed study.

Case and declension of the article in German

In the dictionary we see words that are presented in the nominative case - they answer the question “who?” or “what?” When reading these words, we name objects that themselves produce actions, i.e. are subjects.

If an action is directed towards an object, it is its object. In this case, the noun begins to change by case. There are four cases in German:

• Nominative(nominative case) – answers the questions: wer? (Who?) was? (What?);
• Genitiv(genitive or possessive case) – wessen? (whose? whose? whose?);
• Dativ(dative) - wem? (to whom?) wann? (When?) wo? (Where?) wie? (How?);
• Akkusativ(accusative) - wen? was? (who? what?) wohin? (Where?).

In the German language, declension occurs with the obligatory use of the article, and you need to memorize word variants along with it.

How to incline nouns with articles?

If in the Russian language it is possible to inflect nouns, adjectives and other parts of speech without an article, then in German the article, despite its “official” purpose, is mandatory in this process. The fact is that in Russian, when declension, the ending of the word changes, and in German, the ending of the article changes.

Declension of the definite article in the table

Tables showing how articles are declined need to be memorized well. This will help you avoid mistakes in constructing phrases and speak correctly on a particular topic. Declension of the definite article:

Declension of the indefinite article

Peculiarities

Conjugating nouns in German is not a difficult topic, because it is enough to learn the endings of articles in one case or another. In some cases, nouns are inflected with special features:

• in the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns acquire the ending -(e)s: (des Tisches, des Buches);
• in the plural of the dative case, the noun receives the ending -(e)n: den Kindern;
• There is no indefinite article in the plural: this is because the article ein comes from the numeral eins - one, and it is inappropriate in the plural. The negation of kein - none for the plural will look like keine - none.

Easy exercises on declension will help you quickly consolidate your knowledge on the topic of cases in the German language. To make it easier to carry them out, let’s look at this topic using the example of declension of specific nouns in two sentences:

• Die Kinder spielen in dem (=im) Wald. – Children play (where? – Dativ) in the forest, i.e. noun der Wald is in the dative case (hence the article DEM).
• Die Kinder gehen in den Wald. – The children are going (where? – Akk.) to the forest. In this case, der Wald is in Akk. – den Wald.

In order to fully master cases in German, be sure to practice composing sentences on different topics and with different articles.

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

Each noun in the German language has its own specific grammatical gender, which is often inherent in the noun without any apparent meaning or obvious logic to a Russian person. This makes it necessary to memorize nouns along with their accompanying articles, which, in particular, indicate this gender. In fact, there is no other way. For example, it is not easy for a Russian person to understand why the following nouns have exactly this grammatical gender: child (male) –dasKind (middle), baba (female) –dasWeib (medium), girl, girl (female) –dasMädchen (middle), rabbit (male) –dasKaninchen (medium), milk (medium) -dieMilch (female), Little Red Riding Hood (female) –dasRotkäppchen (middle), Snegurochka (female) –dasSchneewittchen (middle), Cinderella (female) –dasAschenputtel (middle), etc.

See also materials:

However, such complexity is not at all a serious obstacle to learning German. A table of the German articles themselves can be compiled to summarize the patterns of use of articles, but it does not provide any explanation for assigning the corresponding articles to certain nouns. However, there are certain endings for nouns that indicate a specific gender, for example: — heit (always female):dieEntschlossenheit; —keit (always female):dieGerechtigkeit - justice; —ung (always female):dieVereinigung - unification; — or (always male):derStator – stator; — chen (always average):dasBrötchen – bun. Let's first try to summarize in the form of a table the endings of nouns, consistently, in the vast majority of cases, and some of them always, having indications of a specific gender of the noun:

In addition to the table, it is necessary to mention that all animate nouns that name male persons and animals are also classified as masculine. (entrepreneur -derGeschäftsmann, violinist –derGeiger, wolf –derWolf, wrestler –derRinger, Abkhazian –derAnhase), names of precipitation (frost -derRaureif, blizzard –derSchneesturm), names of minerals (quartz -derQuarz; mica –derGlimmer), cars (derSuzukiderRangeRover,derLincoln), mountain peaks (derArarat,derBroken), calendar dates (Thursday -derDonnerstag, winter –derWinter, February –derFebruary). The feminine gender includes all animate nouns denoting female persons and animals ( female hairdresserdieFriseuse, poetess –dieDichterin, rat -dieRatte, cow -dieKuh), substantivized numerals ( a hundred -dieHundert, four –dieVier), names of river and sea vessels ( dieAurora,dieKrasin,dieJermak). Nouns with the prefix are considered neuter. ge- (gearbox –dasGetriebe, building –dasGehause, noise –dasGeräusch), substantivized verbs in the infinitive form (fried pork -dasSchweinebraten, dancing -dasTanzen, swimming –dasBaden), baby animals (bear cub, bear cub -dasBärenjunge), letter names (dasD,dasOmega). But we are not talking about the unconditionality of all the above-mentioned cases; in most cases there are still some exceptions.

Thus, every noun has an article, or, as it is also called, an accompanying or generic word. Sometimes a noun itself has characteristics of a certain gender (as the table above demonstrates), and sometimes it (its ending, suffix) does not show any gender characteristics. In this case, the gender of the name is conveyed by its article. There are three definite articles in German (indicating a specific object) and three indefinite articles (indicating an object being mentioned for the first time) and one article for all names in the plural. Indefinite articles in the plural correspond to the zero article - that is, the noun stands without an article.

Table of articles of the German language - declension of definite articles

German article table - declension of indefinite articles

From the table of articles of the German language it is clear that the declension of the indefinite article occurs in the same way as the definite; in this case, only the nominative case of the masculine and neuter gender and the accusative of the neuter are rejected, in which the indefinite articles do not have case endings of the corresponding genders.

Lack of article in nouns

The following are used without the article:

Proper names, names of cities, countries and continents:

Schiller ist der bekannte deutsche Dichter. Schiller is a famous German poet. Moscow ist eine große Stadt. Moscow is a big city. Russland liegt in Norden. Russia lies (is located) in the north. Ural ist die Grenze zwischen Europa und Asia. The Urals are the border between Europe and Asia.

The exceptions are the following country names, which are used with an article:

In the names of countries that include their political designation, the article of political designation is used:

Die Gemeinschaft Unabhängiger Staaten. - CIS. Die EU (Europäische Union) - European Union.

Note: If proper names, names of cities, countries and continents are preceded by an adjective or followed by a definition in the genitive case, then these nouns are used with the definite article:

das alte Moskau, das Moskau der Sovjetzeit.

If a noun is preceded by a modifier expressed by a pronoun or cardinal number:

Ich habe deinen Brief bekommen. - I received your letter. Die Reisegruppe besteht aus vierzehn Menschen. - The group of tourists consists of fourteen people.

1. Uncountable concepts without definition, for example: Brot, Geld, Wärme, Luft:

Hast du Geld? - Do you have money? Die Pflanzen fühlen sich bei Wärme wohl. - Plants do well in warm conditions. Die Pflanzen fühlen sich auf derfrischen Luft wohl. - Plants do well in the fresh air.

The definition used here is frisch, therefore, the noun is used with an article.

Names of substances, liquids, objects without definition, for example: Wasser, Benzin, Alkohol, Holz, Glas, Beton:

Ich trinke Kaffee. - I'm drinking coffee. But: Ich trinke den schwarzen Kaffee. - I drink black coffee.

Names of character qualities or feelings without definition:

Ich habe Angst. But: Die grösste Angst habe ich vor Spinnen.

If designations of profession, rank, party affiliation, nation, season, part of the day, etc. are used without definition:

Diese Frau ist Arztin. - This woman is a doctor. Es ist Nacht. - Night. Er studiert Chemie. - He studies chemistry. Sie ist eine gute Verkauferin. - She's a good saleswoman.

Nouns that come after the designation of measure, weight, quantity:

Er kauft ein Kilo Wurst. - He buys a kilogram of sausage. Wir haben 20 Grad Kä lte. – It’s 20 degrees below zero here.

If the adjective in the genitive case is used before a noun:

Wessen Buch liegt auf dem Tisch? - Whose book is on the table? Brigittes Schwester backt leckere Kuchen. - Brigid's sister bakes delicious pies. But, Die Schwester von Brigitte backt leckere Kuchen.

In some stable expressions, proverbs and sayings:

Schach spielen - play chess. Fußball spielen - play football. zu Hause - at home. nach Hause - home. Frieden schlissen. - make peace. Ende gut, alles gut.

Often there is no article after prepositions ohne, ab, auß , bei, nach, vor:

Zu Weihnachten - for Christmas, ohne Hilfe - without help, vor Beginn - before the beginning, nach Ende - after the end.