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German Declensions of Adjectives

There are three types of declensions for adjectives: adjectives used with der words, adjectives used with ein words, and independent adjectives.  Predicate adjectives (Das brot ist frisch.  The bread is fresh.) are not declined and usually follow a form of sein.

Adjectives used after der words (Weak Endings)

	Masc.	Fem.	Neu.	Plural
Nom.	der gute Wein	die gute Milch	das gute Brot	die guten Freunde
Acc.	den guten Wein	die gute Milch	das gute Brot	die guten Freunde
Dat.	dem guten Wein	der guten Milch	dem guten Brot	den guten Freunden
Gen.	des guten Weines	der guten Milch	des guten Brotes	der guten Freunde

Adjectives used after ein words (Weak Endings)

	Masc.	Fem.	Neu.	Plural
Nom.	kein guter Wein	keine gute Milch	kein gutes Brot	keine guten Freunde
Acc.	keinen guten Wein	keine gute Milch	kein gutes Brot	keine guten Freunde
Dat.	keinem guten Wein	keiner guten Milch	keinem guten Brot	keinen guten Freunden
Gen.	keines guten Weines	keiner guten Milch	keines guten Brotes	keiner guten Freunde

 

The only difference between the adjectives used after der words and the adjectives used after ein words are the masculine and neuter nominative, and neuter accusative.  The rest of the endings are the same.  These types of attributive adjectives are the weak endings.  The strong endings (below) are used on adjectives that have no preceding article.  They are the same as the endings for the der words (with the exception of the masculine and neuter genitive.)

Independent Adjectives (Strong Endings)

	Masc.	Fem.	Neu.	Plural
Nom.	guter Wein	gute Milch	gutes Brot	gute Freunde
Acc.	guten Wein	gute Milch	gutes Brot	gute Freunde
Dat.	gutem Wein	guter Milch	gutem Brot	guten Freunden
Gen.	guten Weines	guter Milch	guten Brotes	guter Freunde

 

Viele (many), wenige (few), andere (other), einige (some), and mehrere (several) are all plural expressions that do not act as limiting words.  Adjectives that follow them take strong endings.  In the singular, mancher (many a) and solcher (such) also use strong endings (when used with another adjective in the singular, they turn into manch ein and so ein), but in the plural they function as normal limiting words.

 

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