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Beyond the Horizon - the Musical |
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German puts endings on articles, adjectives that precede nouns, and, occasionally on the nouns themselves in order to mark gender, case, and number. (The four cases, the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive, are discussed elsewhere). Examples of the endings:
A strong back knows no pain. | |
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
nom. | der rote Stuhl | die neue Lampe | das alte Buch | die roten Stühle |
* kein roter Stuhl | keine neue Lampe | * kein altes Buch | keine neuen Lampen | |
roter Stuhl | neue Lampe | altes Buch | alte Bücher |
acc. | den roten Stuhl | die neue Lampe | das alte Buch | die roten Stühle |
keinen roten Stuhl | keine neue Lampe | * kein altes Buch | keine neuen Lampen | |
roten Stuhl | neue Lampe | altes Buch | alte Bücher |
dat. | dem roten Stuhl | der neuen Lampe | dem alten Buch | den roten Stühlen |
rotem Stuhl | neuer Lampe | altem Buch | alten Büchern |
gen. | des roten Stuhles | der neuen Lampe | des alten Buches | der roten Stühle |
roten Stuhles | neuer Lampe | alten Buches | alter Bücher |
The Palace. One of the first addresses for your exclusive rental desires. | |
There are also a number of "weak nouns" that take an "-n" (or "-en") in all cases but the nominative. Some examples:
nom.
acc. dat. gen. |
der Mensch
den Menschen dem Menschen des Menschen [human] |
der Nachbar
den Nachbarn dem Nachbarn des Nachbarn [neighbor] |
der Herr
den Herrn dem Herrn des Herrn [lord; gentleman] |
der Held
den Helden dem Helden des Helden [hero] |
nom.
acc. dat. gen. |
der Bote
den Boten dem Boten des Boten [messenger] |
der Kunde
den Kunden dem Kunden des Kunden [customer] |
der Junge
den Jungen dem Jungen des Jungen [boy] |
der Experte
den Experten dem Experten des Experten [expert] |
nom.
acc. dat. gen. |
der Jude
den Juden dem Juden des Juden [Jew] |
der Russe
den Russen dem Russen des Russen [Russian] |
der Kollege
den Kollegen dem Kollegen des Kollegen [colleague] |
der Riese
den Riesen dem Riesen des Riesen [giant] |
A number of weak nouns have the suffixes "-ant", "-arch", "-ege", "-ent", "-ist", "-oge", "-om", "-oph", and "-ot". Some examples:
der Buddist
[Buddhist] |
der Katholik
[Catholic] |
der Protestant
[Protestant] |
der Pilot
[pilot] |
der Student
[student] |
der Komödiant
[comedian] |
der Astronom
[astronomer] |
der Patriarch
[patriarch] |
der Philosoph
[philosopher] |
der Fotograf
[photographer] |
der Enthusiast
[enthusiast] |
der Anthropologe
[anthropologist] |
Note that all of these nouns are masculine. Furthermore, their plural forms are the same as their accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms: e.g., den Studenten, dem Studenten, des Studenten; [plural:] die Studenten, den Studenten, der Studenten. ("Herr" is an exception: den Herrn, dem Herrn, des Herrn; [plural:] die Herren, den Herren, der Herren).
A few weak nouns add "-ns" in the genitive, for example:
nom.
acc. dat. gen. |
der Glaube
den Glauben dem Glauben des Glaubens [belief] |
der Wille
den Willen dem Willen des Willens [will] |
der Gedanke
den Gedanken dem Gedanken des Gedankens [thought] |
der Name
den Namen dem Namen des Namens [name] |
One neuter noun is also weak in the dative and takes an "-ens" in the genitive:
nom.
acc. dat. gen. |
das Herz
das Herz dem Herzen des Herzens [heart] |
Uninflected adjectives:
Predicate adjectives, like adverbs, take no endings:
Das Haus ist schön. | The house is beautiful. |
Alles bleibt ruhig. | Everything remains quiet. |
With the exception of ein (one"), cardinal numbers take no endings:
Ich habe eine Schwester und einen Bruder. | I have one sister and one brother. |
Ich habe drei Schwestern. | I have three sisters. |
The best solution? Every second person has already found it. Berliner Sparkasse [Berlin Savings Bank]. Every second Berliner is already our customer. Demand more. | |
Ordinal numbers, on the other hand, act like normal adjectives:
Er ist der siebte Sohn eines siebten Sohnes. | He is the seventh son of a seventh son. |
Das erste Mal ist immer schwierig. | The first time is always hard. |
Der einunddreißigste Juni ist der letzte Tag des Finanzjahres. | The thirty-first of June is the last day of the financial year. |
Adjectives formed from city names always end in "-er", no matter what the number, gender, or case. They are also capitalized:
das Münchner Bier | Munich beer |
der Mainzer Dom | the Mainz Cathedral |
die Berliner Modeschöpfer | the Berlin fashion designers |
also: Schweizer Schokolade | Swiss chocolate |
Adjectives that designate decades also end in "-er":
Brecht schrieb es in den zwanziger Jahren. | Brecht wrote it in the 20's. |
Die fünfziger Jahre waren die Zeit des Wirtschaftswunders. | The 50's were the time of the "economic miracle." |
As famous as a brightly-colored dog. [colloquial phrase] | |
A few adjectives that end in "-a" take no endings:
Sie trägt ein lila Kleid. | She's wearing a purple dress. |
Sie trägt ein weißes Kleid mit rosa Schleifen. | She's wearing a white dress with pink bows. |
Das war eine prima Idee! | That was an excellent idea! |
"genug" (enough), "super", and "lauter" (unmixed, unalloyed) also take no endings:
Es gibt genug Plätze hier. | There are enough seats here. |
Du hast ein super Auto gekauft! | You've bought a fabulous car. |
Das sind lauter Lügen. | Those are nothing but lies. |
When preceding the name of a country or city and meaning "all of," "ganz" takes no endings:
In ganz Deutschland ist es so. | That's how it is in all of Germany. |
Ganz Berlin feiert. | All of Berlin is celebrating. |
When "voll" means "full," it takes the usual endings, but when it means "full of", it becomes "voller", with no further endings:
Ich übernehme die volle Verantwortung. | I'll take on the whole responsibility. |
Er hatte einen Sack voller Geld. | He had a bag full of money. |
Ich war voller Tatendrang. | I was full of a zest for action. |
Berlin is full of contrasts. That's one of our greatest strengths. | |
When "viel" and "wenig" are not preceded by articles, they take no endings in the singular.
Wir haben es mit viel Fleiß gemacht. | We did it with a lot of applied effort. |
Er ist mit vielen Freunden gekommen. | He came with a lot of friends. |
Du brauchst wenig Hilfe. | You don't need much help. |
Wenige Deutsche trinken gern amerikanischen Kaffee. | Few Germans like to drink American coffee. |
* The nominative masculine and neuter and the accusative neuter are different when the article is an "ein-word." The articles in this category are ein, kein, and the possessive pronouns: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr, ihr
The so-called "der-words" are the articles der, die, das, dies-, jed-, jen-, manch-, solch-, welch-.
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