Adjectives in front of Nouns

THE FORMULA

* including ‘der’, any endings on determiners, and strong endings on adjectives

THE ENDINGS

Table 1 -- Determiners-strong Table 1 is the source of endings for the ‘dieser’-word determiners ‘der’, ‘dieser’, ‘jeder’, ‘jener’, ‘mancher’, ‘solcher’ and ‘welcher’. All have “STRONG ENDINGS”. Occasionally “NO ENDINGS” are found in certain written forms, and often found in speech.

	Masc. sing.	Fem. sing.	Neut. sing.	Plural
N	-er	(die) -e	(das) -es	(die) -e
A	-en	(die) -e	(das) -es	(die) -e
G	-es	-er	-es	-er
D	-em	-er	-em	-en

Table 2 -- Determiners like ‘kein’ Use this table for the ‘kein’-word determiners ‘ein’, ‘kein’, ‘mein’, ‘dein’, ‘sein’, ‘ihr’, ‘Ihr’, ‘unser’, ‘euer’. There is either a “STRONG ENDING”, as shown in the table, or there is “NO ENDING”, as shown in the list. Cut and dried!

	Masc. sing.	Fem. sing.	Neut. sing.	Plural
N	- -	-e	- -	-e
A	-en	-e	- -	-e
G	-es	-er	-es	-er
D	-em	-er	-em	-en

Table 3 -- Adjective-strong “STRONG ENDINGS” for adjectives can be found here. (Compare this table to the standard endings of Table 1.)

	Masc. sing.	Fem. sing.	Neut. sing.	Plural
N	-er	-e	-es	-e
A	-en	-e	-es	-e
G	-en	-er	-en	-er
D	-em	-er	-em	-en

Table 4 -- Adjective-weak Get “WEAK ENDINGS” from this table.

	Masc. sing.	Fem. sing.	Neut. sing.	Plural
N	-e	-e	-e	-en
A	-en	-e	-e	-en
G	-en	-en	-en	-en
D	-en	-en	-en	-en

Using Adjectives in front of Nouns -- The Noun Phrase

The Noun Phrase.

Here, leading up to a restatement of the formula, is a detailed explanation.

A complete noun phrase in German contains two intermixed threads of information. First are the word-stems used to convey the basic meaning. Second is the occurrence of grammatical endings used to mark gender, number and case (GNC). Gender and number are familiar to us in English, but in German it is the case, which tells us what the function of the noun phrase is in the sentence -- subject, object of a verb or preposition, possessive, etc. For example:

Ein sehr feiner, schwarzgekleideter Herr machte die Honneurs.

Looking at the first thread, where we concentrate on the meaning of the stems, we have the indefinite article, ‘ein’ which indicates that ‘a’ gentleman is being introduced into the mind of reader for the first time; that is, there has been no prior reference to him in the text. ‘Sehr’ is recognized as an adverb, and confirmed by its permanent lack of an ending. Adverbs do not take part in the formula. ‘Fein-’ and ‘schwarzgekleidet-’ are recognized as adjective-stems. Finally comes the noun, ‘Herr’. So we know that ‘a’ gentleman is very fine, and that he is dressed in black. Looking at the second thread, the endings, the ‘ein’ with no ending tells us that the noun may be masculine or neuter, and singular, and the strong endings –er in parallel nail the GNC as masculine. singular, and nominative. ‘Herr’ with no ending confirms this conclusion, because all other (oblique) GNC’s of this N-masculine noun end in –n or –en. Nominative is the case of the subject, and we note that the singular form of the verb ‘machte’ further agrees in number with the noun.

One can suggest a formula for such noun phrases as follows:

One can then generalize the formula to accommodate weak endings, specifying that any element of the formula may be <empty>.

So now it would work also for:

Der sehr feine, schwarzgekleidete Herr …

…and, when one recognizes that ‘alle’ (and others) belong in the list of ‘dieser’-words, and can have determiner endings in parallel, it works for:

Alle diese guten Kinder …

Thus, the formula for constructing a noun phrase. (Any element may be empty.)

<Determiners with NO ENDINGS> +
<Determiners or Adjectives with STRONG ENDINGS> +
<Adjectives with WEAK ENDINGS> +
<NOUN>

The Noun Phrase. Classification by Part of Speech.

Endings of Determiners. Determiners can have either strong endings or no endings, and can come from either the ‘dieser’ words, or the more predictable ‘kein’ words.

‘Dieser’ words, sometimes called ‘der’ words.

i. der.

ii. dieser, jeder, jener, mancher, solcher. welcher.
’Jeder’ is only used in the singular.
’Dies’ sometimes replaces ‘dieses’, and ‘welch’ is sometimes found.
Several of those below may be found with no ending in speech

iii. alle, beide (pl.)

iv. For a list of others, use the web-link below.

‘Kein’ words, sometimes called ‘ein’ words.

i. ein, kein

ii. mein, dein, sein, ihr, Ihr, unser, euer

Endings of Adjectives. Native German adjectives always have endings when used before nouns. These plural indefinite determiners -- ‘andere’, ‘verschiedene’, ‘viele’, and ‘wenige’ -- are usually treated like adjectives.

Strong endings, or
Weak endings
The city ‘-er’ ending. Adjectives from city names (Berliner, Frankfurter, Münchener) are invariant with the ending –er.
Undeclined. Foreign borrowings (rosa, lila, prima, orange) are often undeclined.

The Noun (Noun endings are explained under Special endings on nouns.)

A further example, as one might use in writing: Welche schlimmen Pfade schufen dir Pein?
Which bad paths created your torment?

<NO ENDING>	<STRONG ENDING>	<WEAK ENDING>	<NOUN>
	Welche	schlimmen	Pfade

Same example, as written by Wagner to be sung on-stage: Welch’ schlimme Pfade schufen dir Pein?

<NOUN>

Welch’

schlimme

Pfade

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

The definition of ‘determiner’.

A determiner is a type of noun-modifier that expresses the prior reference of a noun, including quantity. Determiners in English include articles (the, a, an), demonstratives (this, that, such), possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), interrogatives (what, which), quantifiers (few, several, many, all), etc.

Example (English)

all these houses

The German word used for determiners is ‘Artikelwörter’, and there are ‘der bestimmte Artikel’ (the definite article), and ‘der unbestimmte Artikel’ (the indefinite article). There are also Demonstrativartikel (demonstrative determiners), Possessivartikel (possessive determiners), Interrogativartikel (interrogative determiners), and Indefinitartikel (indefinite determiners).

A list of German determiners can be found at –

http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Artikel/Artikelwort/Liste.html

The definition of ‘in parallel’.

A series of adjectives preceding a noun will all carry the same weak (or strong) endings. The adjectives are then said to have endings in parallel.

The definition of ‘GNC’.

“Gender, number and case” are properties of nouns and pronouns when they appear in sentences and expressions. Gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) is a permanent property of the noun itself. Number (singular or plural) will vary according to the tally of the items being discussed. Case is the most fleeting property. The case of a noun or pronoun indicates its function in the sentence.

The definition of ‘oblique’ case.

The term oblique case refers to any case other than the nominative. It’s not a term that you see often.

Latest revision: May 9, 2013

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