Home

German grammar · A2

German Adjective Endings: The Three Patterns

Adjective endings are the part of German grammar with the worst reputation, and the reputation comes from how the tables are usually presented. The system is smaller than it looks: what decides the ending is what comes before the adjective.

No article before the noun, no ending on the adjective

First, the case that trips people up in the opposite direction. An adjective that comes after the noun, joined by a verb, takes no ending at all: Das Auto ist neu. Die Wohnung ist groß.

Endings only appear when the adjective sits in front of the noun: ein neues Auto. If you can produce that distinction reliably, you have already avoided a lot of unnecessary endings.

The three patterns

After a definite article (der, die, das, diese): the article has already shown the gender and case, so the adjective only needs -e or -en. It is -e in the nominative singular and the neuter and feminine accusative, and -en everywhere else. der neue Wagen, den neuen Wagen.

After ein, kein or a possessive: in the three places where ein shows no ending of its own — masculine nominative, neuter nominative and neuter accusative — the adjective has to supply the information instead: ein neuer Wagen, ein neues Auto. Elsewhere it behaves as above.

With no article at all: the adjective carries the full signal and takes the ending the definite article would have had: guter Wein, kaltes Wasser.

The shortcut worth knowing

Across the whole table, -en is by far the most common ending. Every plural with an article takes it, and so does every dative and genitive. If you are mid-sentence and genuinely cannot work it out, -en is the highest-probability guess — and it is right far more often than it is wrong.

That is a fallback, not a method. But it converts a total blank into a likely-correct answer, which matters more in speech than in writing.

Examples

• Der alte Mann liest die neue Zeitung.The old man is reading the new newspaper.
• Er sucht einen guten Job.He is looking for a good job.

Mistakes to avoid

The commonest errors are putting an ending on a predicate adjective that needs none, and using the definite-article pattern after ein, where the adjective has to carry the gender itself.

• ✗ Ich habe ein neu Auto gekauft.✓ Ich habe ein neues Auto gekauft.
• ✗ Ich helfe dem alter Mann.✓ Ich helfe dem alten Mann.
• ✗ Er trinkt heiß Kaffee.✓ Er trinkt heißen Kaffee.
• ✗ Ich spreche mit meinen guten Freund.✓ Ich spreche mit meinen guten Freunden.
• ✗ Das ist ein schöner Tag, das Wetter ist schönes.✓ Das ist ein schöner Tag, das Wetter ist schön.

How this is tested in the exam

Adjective endings are what separate a B1-looking text from an A2 one, and they are assessed directly in Schreiben. Describing a flat, a job or a holiday — standard A2 and B1 prompts — is impossible without them, and each description packs several endings into a short space.

Frequently asked questions

Why do German adjectives have endings?

Because the adjective helps signal the gender, number and case of the noun. When the article already does that job the ending is minimal; when there is no article the adjective carries the full signal.

When does a German adjective take no ending?

When it follows the noun rather than preceding it, joined by a verb such as sein: Das Auto ist neu. Endings appear only before the noun.

What is the most common German adjective ending?

-en. It covers every plural with an article and every dative and genitive, so it is the best fallback when you cannot work the ending out in real time.

Why is it ein neuer Wagen but der neue Wagen?

Because ein shows no ending in the masculine nominative, so the adjective supplies the -er instead. After der, the article has already signalled the case and the adjective needs only -e.