Adjectives and adverbsAdjective endings reference tables

When you want to use an adjective to describe a particular noun, the tables below will help you to work out the ending of the adjective, depending on the gender of the noun and the case you need to use.

Indefinite article - 'ein', 'eine' (a)

Definite article – 'der', 'die', 'das' (the)

No article

More on dative and genitive

¹You will need to add an -n to the end of the noun in the dative plural, eg the plural Kinder (children) > den kleinen Kindern.

²In the genitive case, with masculine and neuter nouns, you will need to add -s or -es to the end of the word. One syllable words and words ending in -s end in -es, so Hund > des alten Hundes (of the old dog). With all other words just add -s, so Mädchen > des schönen Mädchens (of the beautiful girl). Remember that das Mädchen is neuter.

³kein/e/n is being used in this table to show the plural because you can say 'no shoes' – keine alten Schuhe – but not 'an old shoes'.

By using the tables above, you can work out which ending you need to add to different adjectives. Remember, you must consider:

• the gender of the noun
• the role the noun plays in the sentence, and therefore the case needed

Look at the following sentence:

• Meine Mutter hat eine Schwester. – My mother has a sister.

In order to expand this sentence and describe your mother's sister as being small or little – klein – you must follow a specific process.

1. Find the correct table (definite article/indefinite/no article) – in this example we are using 'a sister', so we use the indefinite article table.
2. Find the correct column for the gender of your noun – sister is Schwester, which is feminine, so we use the indefinite article eine.
3. Schwester is the direct object of the sentence – literally, the sister is being had by my mother – so we need to use the accusative case. Follow the table down for feminine/accusative and you’ll see the word for 'a' is eine – so the accusative form will be: Meine Mutter hat eine __________ Schwester.
4. Complete your sentence using the adjective ending from the table. For an adjective to describe a feminine noun in the accusative case, the ending you must add to the adjective is -e – so klein > kleine.

The correct way to say 'my mother has a little sister' is therefore:

• Meine Mutter hat eine kleine Schwester.