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German Adjectives

This page contains a table including the following: German Adjectives and adverbs. Try to memorize the way they're used because they're very important in communication, and might be very helpful to convey your most important expressions. Make sure to check our Learn German page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.

In German, an adjective is a word whose main role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition. Some examples are: That is a green tree. I met a very old man. In German adjectives come before the noun they describe (like in English).

English Adjectives German Adjectives
 
That is a tall buildingDas ist ein hohes Gebäude
I met a very old manIch habe einen sehr alten Mann getroffen
The old red building is hereDas alte rote Gebäude ist hier
That's a very nice dressDas ist ein sehr schönes Kleid

German Adjectives (Genders/Number)

In German the use of adjective for the masculine is different than the feminine, also the use of singular is different than the plural, here are some examples in the table below:

Adjective (gender/ number) German Adjectives
 
She is a tall womanSie ist eine grosse Frau
He is a tall manEr ist ein grosser Mann
They are tall womenSie sind grosse Frauen
They are tall menSie sind grosse Männer

The difficulty arises from the fact that when declining an adjective, three things must be taken into account: case, gender, and the type of declension ("strong", "mixed" or "weak").

Strong inflection is used:

  • When no article is used
  • After etwas (some; somewhat), mehr (more)
  • After wenig- (few), viel- (much; many), mehrer- (several; many), all- (all), which also have strong adjective inflection.
  • After personal pronouns other than mir, dir, ihm
  • After number adjectives with no endings

Strong Inflection
 
Nominativeneuerneueneuesneue
Accusativeneuenneueneuesneue
Dativeneuemneuerneuemneuen
Genitiveneuenneuerneuenneuer

The mixed inflection is used after the indefinite article ein-, kein-, and the possessive determiners.

Mixed Inflection
 
Nominativeneuerneueneuesneuen
Accusativeneuenneueneuesneuen
Dativeneuenneuenneuenneuen
Genitiveneuenneuenneuenneuen

Weak inflection is used:

  • After the definite article
  • After derselb- (the same), derjenig- (the one)
  • After dies- (this), jen- (that), jeglich- (any), jed- (every), which decline like the definite article.
  • After manch- (some), solch- (such), welch- (which), which decline like definite article.
  • After mir, dir, ihm
  • After arm (meagre), alt (old), all (all)

Weak Inflection
 
Nominativeneueneueneueneuen
Accusativeneuenneueneueneuen
Dativeneuenneuenneuenneuen
Genitiveneuenneuenneuenneuen


No Ending

Several adjectives take no ending at all:

  • Singular limiting adjectives: wenig, etwas, genug, and viel
  • The plural limiting phrase 'ein Paar'

Below is some vocabulary training for adjectives in German or Deutsch, try to memorize the adjectives below, because they’re very important.

German Adjectives List
 
Angrywütend
Badschlecht
Beautifulschön
Cheapbillig
Cleansauber
Coldkalt
Differentanders
Difficultschwierig
Earlyfrüh
Easyeinfach
Friendlyfreundlich
Goodgut
Heavyschwer
Importantwichtig
Marriedverheiratet
Naturalnatürlich
Nicenett
Openoffen
Politehöflich
Poorarm
Richreich
Sadtraurig
Simpleeinfach
Slowlangsam
Smallklein
Sweetsüß
Tallgroß
Warmwarm
Wellgut
Worseschlechter
Worstam Schlechtesten
Wrongfalsch


I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some German Adjectives (Deutsch). Make sure to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. Also, remember to check out our Learn German page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.


German Lessons