Day 59 - Adjective Endings Part 1

Question 1

In German, every adjective must have an appropriate ending corresponding to the CASE and GENDER of the noun it is modifying.

As far as being understood, these endings don’t mater at all. A German speaker will understand you even if you get every adjective ending completely wrong.

There are three types of adjective endings:
for the definite article (the),
indefinite article (a),
and nouns with no article.

Definite article endings are the easiest.
—Simply add -e or -en to an adjective.

Study the following table: Adjective Endings (Definite Article)

Masculine / Feminine / Neutral / Plural
Nominative: -e / -e / -e / -en
Accusative: -en / -e / -e / -en
Dative: -en / -en / -en / -en
Genitive: -en / -en / -en / -en

You can either memorize this table or use a trick:
-If the is plural or changes form, add -en.
-Otherwise add -e.

When adding an ending to adjectives that end with -ig, the G sound becomes voiced. For example, traurig becomes traurige (trau-ri-geh).

Study the following examples:

The blue angel. Der blaue Engel.
The fat man eats. Der dicke Mann isst.
The funny child laughs. Das lustige Kind lacht.
I bought the old apple. Ich kaufte den ALTEN Apfel.
He knows the young woman. Er kennt die junge Frau.
He knows the young women. Er kennt die JUNGEN Frauen.

Question 2

1. DICK…fat dick
2. DÜNN…thin dünn
3. NEW…new neu
4. ALT…old alt
5. JUNG…young jung
6. GROß…tall / big groß
7. KURZ…short kurz
8. LANG…long lang
9. KLEIN…small klein
10. FREUNDLICH…friendly freundlich

Question 3

1. The fat man eats.

Answer 3

Der dicke Mann isst.

Question 4

2. The thin woman doesn’t eat.

Answer 4

Die dünne Frau isst nicht.

Question 5

3. The child drinks the new juice.

Answer 5

Das Kind trinkt den neuen Saft.

Question 6

4. He ate the old cheese.

Answer 6

Er hat den alten Käse gegessen.

Question 7

5. He knows the young women.

Answer 7

Er kennt die jungen Frauen.

Question 8

6. The tall man was sleeping.

Answer 8

Der große Mann hat geschlafen.

Question 9

7. The short pencil is broken.

Answer 9

Der kurze Stift ist kaputt.

Question 10

8. The long table is old.

Answer 10

Der lange Tisch ist alt.

Question 11

9. The small chair is new.

Answer 11

Der kleine Stuhl ist neu.

Question 12

10. The friendly people are traveling.

Answer 12

Die freundlichen Leute reisen.