MFLE
Adjectives
Introduction
Adjectives add some sort of description to nouns; in grammatical terms, they qualify nouns.
Adjectives agree with the noun they qualify in German. Adjectives used with a noun in German will add various endings according to whether the noun is masculine, feminine, neuter or plural.
Adjectives with the definite article
| Article + adjective | Noun | English translation |
| der kleine | Elefant (m) | The little elephant |
| die linke | Hand (f) | The left hand |
| das rechte | Bein (n) | The right leg |
| die neuen | Schuhe (plural, all genders) | The new shoes |
Adjectives with the indefinite article
| Article + noun | Noun | English translation |
| ein kurzer | Rock (m) | a short skirt |
| eine bunte | Jacke (f) | a brightly coloured jacket |
| ein graues | Hemd (n) | a grey shirt |
| neue | Schuhe (plural, all genders) | new shoes |
Adjectives without a noun
If adjectives are not followed by a noun, they have no endings.
| Adjective not followed by noun | Adjective followed by noun |
| Peter ist jung. (Peter is young.) | Er ist ein junger Mann. (He is a young man.) |
| Die Oma ist nett. (Granny is nice.) | Sie ist eine nette Oma. (She is a nice Granny.) |
| Das Baby ist schön. (The baby is beautiful.) | Das ist ein schönes Baby. (That is a beautiful baby.) |
| Ihre Schuhe sind neu. (Her shoes are new.) | Sie hat neue Schuhe. (She has new shoes.) |
Adjectives with verbs of different cases
Adjectives also change their endings depending on the case being used - see Verb cases.