German adjectives

German adjectives come before the noun, as in English and (usually) are not capitalised. However, as in French and other Indo-European languages (but not English), they are generally inflected when they come before a noun: they take an ending that depends on the gender and case of the noun phrase.

• Ein kleiner Mann (a short man; masculine gender)
• Eine kleine Frau (a short woman; feminine gender)
• Ein kleines Mädchen (a short girl; neuter gender)

The type of article or determiner preceding the noun also affects the inflection: in German, 'a red book' (indefinite article) and 'the red book' (definite article) = have different adjective endings:

• Neuter nouns:
  • Ein rotes Buch (a red book; Buch is "neuter")
  • Das rote Buch (the red book)

• Masculine nouns:
  • Ein großer Hund (a big dog; Hund is "masculine")
  • Der große Hund (the big dog)

• Feminine nouns:
  • Eine schöne Frau (a beautiful woman; Frau is "feminine")
  • Die schöne Frau (the beautiful woman)

Like articles, adjectives use the same plural endings for all three genders, though this does vary with the article or determiner as described above.

• Eine lustige Frau (a funny woman, feminine gender)
• Ein lustiger Mann (a funny man, masculine gender)

• Die lustigen Frauen (the funny women, plural)
• Die lustigen Männer (the funny men, plural)

Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.

• Ein wieder eröffneter Bahnhof (a re-opened railway station; masculine)
• Eine wieder eröffnete Bibliothek (a re-opened library; feminine)

German adjectives are declined only when they come before the noun which they describe. This is called the attributive position of a nominal phrase. Predicative adjectives, those in English separated from the noun by is or are, are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverbs, unlike in Romance and North Germanic languages.

• Die laute Musik. ("The loud music.")
• Die Musik ist laut. ("The music is loud.") Not Die Musik ist laute.

There are some words that can be used as adjectives but are not inflected, such as Schweizer ("Swiss") and Jerusalemer ("pertaining to Jerusalem", for example Jerusalemer Kreuz).

There are three degrees of comparison: positive form, comparative form and superlative form: these correspond to (and have the same endings as) English equivalents such as 'large', 'larger' and 'largest'. 'Very loud' is said as sehr laut; as in English but unlike Italian and Latin, no ending exists to express this absolute superlative form as a single word.

Weak and strong inflection

Strong inflection

Strong inflection is used:

• When no article is used
• When a quantity is indicated by
  • etwas (some; somewhat), mehr (more)
  • wenig- (few), viel- (much; many), mehrer- (several; many), einig- (some)
  • a number (greater than one, i.e. with no endings), without a definite article before it
  • non-inflectable phrases: ein paar (a couple; a few), ein bisschen (a bit; a little bit)

The adjective endings are similar to the definite article endings, apart from the adjectival ending "-en" in the masculine and neuter genitive singular.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	neuer	neues	neue	neue
Accusative	neuen	neues	neue	neue
Dative	neuem	neuem	neuer	neuen
Genitive	neuen	neuen	neuer	neuer

Mixed inflection

Mixed inflection is used after:

• indefinite article ein-, kein-, eine, keine
• possessive determiners "mein-", "dein-", "sein-", "ihr-" etc.

Nominative and accusative singular endings are similar to the definite article; all other forms end with "-en".

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	neuer	neues	neue	neuen
Accusative	neuen	neues	neue	neuen
Dative	neuen	neuen	neuen	neuen
Genitive	neuen	neuen	neuen	neuen

Weak inflection

Weak inflection is used after:

• definite article (der, die, das, etc.)
• derselb- (the same), derjenig- (the one)
• dies- (this), jen- (that), jeglich- (any), jed- (every), which decline similarly to the definite article
• manch- (some), solch- (such), welch- (which), which decline similarly to the definite article
• alle (all)
• beide (both)

Five endings in the nominative and accusative cases end with -e, all others with -en.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	neue	neue	neue	neuen
Accusative	neuen	neue	neue	neuen
Dative	neuen	neuen	neuen	neuen
Genitive	neuen	neuen	neuen	neuen

No inflection

Several quantifying words are not (always) inflected:

• nichts, wenig, etwas, viel, and genug

"wenig" and "viel" can be put in the plural, where they take endings as normal: viele/wenige Kinder

Criteria for Inflection

German adjectives take different sets of endings in different circumstances. Essentially, the adjectives must provide case, gender and number information only if the articles do not. This is among the more confusing aspects of German grammar for those learning the language. However, the adjective endings nearly always adhere to the following rules:

Strong inflection

The strong inflection is used when there is no article at all, or if the noun is preceded by a non-inflectable word or phrase such as ein bisschen, etwas or viel ("a little, some, a lot of/much"). It is also used when the adjective is preceded merely by another regular (i.e. non-article) adjective.

Mixed inflection

The mixed inflection is used when the adjective is preceded by an indefinite article (ein-, kein-) or a possessive determiner.

Note: The prevailing view is that the mixed inflection is not a true inflection in its own right, but merely the weak inflection with a few additions to compensate for the lack of the masculine nominative and neuter nominative and accusative endings.

Weak inflection

The weak inflection is used when there is a definite word in place (der [die, das, des, den, dem], jed-, jen-, manch-, dies-, solch- and welch-). The definite word has provided most of the necessary information, so the adjective endings are simpler.

The endings are applicable to every degree of comparison (positive, comparative, and superlative).

Adjective comparison

Positive form

The basic form of the adjective is the positive form: the adjective stem with the appropriate ending.

schön (basic positive form)

das schöne Lied ("the beautiful song")

Comparative form

The basic comparative form consists of the stem and the suffix -er. Inflected, the corresponding adjective ending is attached.

schöner (basic comparative form)

das schönere Lied ("the more beautiful song")

Superlative form

A predicate form of the superlative is actually a prepositional phrase. One attaches the suffixes -st and the adjective ending -en to the root, and the word am is put before it.

am schönsten ("the most beautiful")

Ich finde dieses Haus am schönsten. ("I find this house (to be) the most beautiful.")

The attributive superlative form adds the "st" to the comparative root and then the conventional adjective ending.

das schönste Lied

This form can also be placed in a predicate position with the appropriate adjective ending:

Dieses Haus ist das schönste. ("This house is the most beautiful.")