Declension

EA3

 

Adjectives are inflected only when they function as an attribute to a noun.

 

 

Adjective declension depends on the following factors :

 

the gender of the noun

 

  Examples
gender masculine ein junger Mann
feminine eine junge Frau
neuter ein junges Kind

 

 

the number of the noun

 

  Examples
number singular die junge Frau
plural die jungen Frauen

 

 

 

and the case of the noun.

 

  Examples
case nominative das helle Haus
genitive des hellen Hauses
dative dem hellen Haus
accusative das helle Haus

 

The adjective agrees with the noun it qualifies in gender, number and case.

 

 

Furthermore, the inflection of an adjective depends on whether the adjective is accompanied by an article or not. Two factors are important :

 

1. Which article precedes the adjective and

 

article Examples
definite article der junge Mann
indefinite article ein junger Mann

 

2. Whether there is an article preceding the adjective.

 

article Examples
with article die jungen Männer
without an article junge Männer