Plural in German

For English speakers, the plural in German is exasperating. We are happy to just add a simple “–s”. In German it’s much more complicated. Get into fighting mode; we think you’ll need to. Here’s our explanation:

Summary of the most common plurals

Because this subject is pretty complicated, we’ve made a small table with the most common suffixes for making the plural depending on the gender: Some nouns do not have a plural form in German:

Names of countries, rivers, cities:

Example Meaning

die Türkei Turkey

die Wolga the Volga

München Munich
Abstract concepts:

Example Meaning

die Zweisprachigkeit bilingualism

die Abgespanntheit exhaustion

die Zuvorkommenheit courtesy

die Wut rage

Example	Meaning
die Türkei	Turkey
die Wolga	the Volga
München	Munich

Example	Meaning
die Zweisprachigkeit	bilingualism
die Abgespanntheit	exhaustion
die Zuvorkommenheit	courtesy
die Wut	rage

General rules that are applicable to all genders

Constructing the plural with “-s”

Just like in English it’s normal to construct the plural with the ending “–s”. In German, however, only a few adopted foreign words have this plural.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Kamara	die Kamaras	camera
der Gorilla	die Gorillas	gorilla
das Auto	die Autos	car

The plural for feminine nouns

The construction of the plural for feminine nouns is the easiest in German: The possibilities are: The large majority of feminine nouns that do not end in “-e” make their plural with “-en”:Adding “-en”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Datei	die Dateien	file
die Wohnung	die Wohnungen	apartment
die Fabrik	die Fabriken	factory

The following endings which guarantee that the noun is feminine should be emphasized: “-ei”, “-ung”, “-heit”, “-keit”, “-ion”, “-schaft”, “-ik”, “-eur”, “-enz”, “-tät”, “-itis”, “-sis”.

Adding “-n”

If a feminine noun ends in “-e”, its plural is always constructed with “-n” (Note: Not all nouns ending with “-e” are feminine. For example: der Käse)

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Lampe	die Lampen	lamp
die Fantasie	die Fantasien	fantasy
die Narzisse	die Narzissen	narcissus

The following endings guarantee that the noun is feminine and their plural is with “-n” : -ie , -ade, -age, -ere, -ine, -isse, -ive, -se,

Adding “-nen”

The feminine nouns that end in “-in” make their plural with “-nen”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Chefin	die Chefinnen	boss

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

A few feminine nouns add [Umlaut] + “-e”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Kraft	die Kräfte	force
die Angst	die Ängste	fear

Plural: “-a” ➜ “-en”

Some words not from German origin ending in “-a” make their plural with “-en”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Firma	die Firmen	company
die Skala	die Skalen	scale

Plural: “-sis” ➜ “-sen”

Nouns ending in “-sis” construct their plural with “-sen”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Analysis	die Analysen	analysis

Plural: “-xis” ➜ “-xien”

The plural for nouns ending with “-xis” are constructed with “-xien”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Galaxis	die Galaxien	galaxy

Plural: “-itis”➜ “-iden”

The feminine nouns ending with “-itis” construct their plural with -den

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Cellulitis	die Cellulitiden	cellulitis

Plural: “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

Feminine nouns ending in “-nis” construct their plural by adding the ending “-se”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Befugnis	die Befugnisse	authorization

Plural: “-aus” ➜ “-äuse”

Feminine nouns ending with “-aus” add an Umlaut over the “a” and add the ending “e”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Maus	die Mäuse	mouse

Adding [Umlaut]

There are two feminine nouns that construct their plural with Umlaut: “Mutter” and “Tochter”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Mutter	die Mütter	mother
die Tochter	die Töchter	daughter

Adding [Umlaut] + “-en”

A plural form that is not very common is the [Umlaut] + “–en” that practically is used only with the word “Werkstatt”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Werkstatt	die Werkstätten	workshop

Plural for masculine nouns

Many masculine nouns form their plural with “-e”.

The endings that guarantee the use of this plural are:

“-ich”, “-ig”, “-ling”, “-är” (only those coming from French)

and “-eur”.Adding “-e”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Teppich	die Teppiche	carpet
der König	die Könige	king
der Schmetterling	die Schmetterlinge	butterfly
der Veterinär	die Veterinäre	veterinarian
der Friseur	die Friseure	barber

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

Some nouns form the plural with [Umlaut] + “-e”. We emphasize the following:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Platz	die Plätze	seat
der Kuss	die Küsse	kiss
der Hals	die Hälse	neck
der Arzt	die Ärzte	doctor
der Fluss	die Flüsse	river

Not adding any ending

Many masculine nouns ending with “-er” and “-el” do not add any ending.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Schüler	die Schüler	student
der Würfel	die Würfel	dice

Adding [Umlaut]

Many masculine nouns ending with “-er” and “-el” add just an Umlaut.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Vater	die Väter	father
der Mantel	die Mäntel	overcoat

Adding “-n” [according to the N-Deklination]

Many masculine nouns ending with “-e” are declined according the “N-Deklination”.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	der Kunde	die Kunden
Accusative	den Kunden	die Kunden
Dative	dem Kunden	den Kunden
Genitive	des Kunden	der Kunden

Examples of nouns that follow the “N-Deklination”:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Name	die Namen	name
der Buchstabe	die Buchstaben	letter

There are many exceptions that do not follow the “N-Deklination” such as:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Käse	die Käse	cheese
der See	die Seen	lake

Advice: If you have to take a German test, learn the gender and plural of “der Käse” as it’s one of professors’ favorite words.

Adding “-en” [according to the N-Deklination]

Words with a Greek or Latin ending in “-at”, “-ant”, “-ent” and “–ist” are declined according to the “N-Deklination”.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	der Pianist	die Pianisten
Accusative	den Pianisten	die Pianisten
Dative	dem Pianisten	den Pianisten
Genitive	des Pianisten	der Pianisten

Examples of nouns that follow the “N-Deklination”:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Student	die Studenten	student
der Soldat	die Soldaten	soldier
der Liferant	die Liferanten	supplier
der Violinist	die Violinisten	violinist

Adding “-en” [no “N-Deklination”]

Although it is not very common, there are also nouns that construct the plural with “-en” without “N-Deklination”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Staat	die Staaten	state
der Doktor	die Doktoren	doctor

Adding “-er”

Very few masculine nouns construct the plural with “-er”. It is a plural construction that is much more common with neuter nouns.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Leib	die Leiber	body

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

A few masculine nouns’ plural form is made with [Umlaut] + “-er”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Mann	die Männer	man
der Gott	die Götter	God

Adding “-ten”

One the rarest masculine nouns is constructed with the suffix “-ten”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Anbau	die Anbauten	annex

Plural: “-us” -> “-usse”

Most of the masculine nouns ending with “-us” add “-se”, meaning that an extra –s is added.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Zirkus	die Zirkusse	circus
der Bus	die Busse	bus

Plural: “-us” -> “-i”

There are a few masculine nouns that come from Latin and end with “us”, forming the plural with “i”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Modus	die Modi	mode
der Ficus	die Fici	ficus

The plural for neuter nouns

Adding “-e”

The most common plural form for neuter nouns is constructed with the ending “-e”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Alphabet	die Alphabete	alphabet
das Protokoll	die Protokolle	record

No ending added

Almost all of the neuter nouns ending with “-er” or “-el” or “-en”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Leder	die Leder	leather
das Kabel	die Kabel	cable
das Abkommen	die Abkommen	agreement

Adding “-er”

Many neuter nouns construct the plural with “-er”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bild	die Bilder	picture
das Lied	die Lieder	song

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

The plural [Umlaut] + “-er” is very common with neuter nouns.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Fahrrad	die Fahrräder	bicycle
das Blatt	die Blätter	leaf
das Haus	die Häuser	home

Adding “-en”

A few neuter nouns add “-en” to construct the plural.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bett	die Betten	bed
das Verb	die Verben	verb

Adding “-ien”

The plural formed with the suffix “-ien” is not very common.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Adverb	die Adverbien	the adverb
das Prinzip	die Prinzipien	the principle

Plural “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

For nouns ending with “-nis”, a suffix, “-se”, is added (another –s is added).

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Ergebnis	die Ergebnisse	result
das Geheimnis	die Geheimnisse	secret

Plural “-um” ➜ “-a”

A few nouns originating from Latin ending with “-um” construct their plural with “-a”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Antibiotikum	die Antibiotika	antibiotic
das Analgetikum	die Analgetika	analgesic

Plural “-um” ➜ “-en”

Most nouns originating from Latin ending with “-um” construct their plural with “-en”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Aquarium	die Aquarien	aquarium
das Ministerium	die Ministerien	ministry

Plural “-o” ➜ “-en”

Another rare plural form is that of the neuter nouns ending in “-o”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bankkonto	die Bankkonten	bank account

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Relative Clauses in German

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

Relative Clauses in German

The formation of “Relativsätze” explained in English, Relative pronouns “deren” and “dessen”. Relative clauses are for adding information about a noun.

Du bist der Mann, den ich liebe You are the man that I love

You should have the following in mind about relative clauses in German: – the conjugated verb is placed at the end of the relative clause. – sometimes a comma is placed in front of the relative pronoun.

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are shown in this table:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der	die	das	die
Accusative	den	die	das	die
Dative	dem	der	dem	denen
Genitive	dessen	deren	dessen	deren

This table is not very hard to learn because it is very similar to the one with the definite articles. The only thing that is different is the genitive and the dative plural. Surely you are asking yourself, why so many? And, how do I know which one to choose? We’ll explain that next.

Relative Pronoun Gender

The relative pronoun gender is defined by the gender of the noun that it complements. An example:

Die Frau, die das Auto hat, ist reich The woman that has the car is rich

As you see in the previous example, “Frau” is a feminine noun so the relative pronoun that follows it has to be feminine as well (die).

Types of Relative Clauses

Relative clauses can be nominative, accusative, dative or genitive. Let’s look at them all in detail because this is very important:

Nominative

The relative pronoun acts as a subject and the conjugated verb is placed at the end of the relative clause. Remember: the verb has to be conjugated in association with the relative pronoun (make sure if it is singular or plural).

Das Kind, das dort spielt, wohnt in der Schweiz The child that is playing there lives in Switzerland

Die Kinder, die dort spielen, wohnen in der Schweiz The children that are playing there live in Switzerland

Accusative

When the relative pronoun is accusative, the pronoun is placed in the first position and therefore the subject is moved to the second position and, as always, the conjugated verb goes to the end of the relative clause:

Der Roman, den ich lesen will, ist “El Quijote” The novel that I want to read is “El Quijote”

Das Buch, das ich lesen will, ist “El Quijote” The book that I want to read is “El Quijote”

Dative

The dative and accusative work the same with the exception of the relative pronoun. This time, however, we’ve provided you with an example that is a bit more difficult. Notice that the relative pronoun might be accompanied by a preposition as well:

Der Kunde, mit dem ich gerade gesprochen habe, ist Deutscher The client that I just spoke to is German (most likely a male customer but not definitively)

Die Kundin, mit der ich gerade gesprochen habe, ist Deutsche The (female) client that I just spoke to is German

Genitive

The relative pronouns “deren” and “dessen” are translated as “whose”, its or their:

Die Nachbarin, deren Kind in meiner Klasse war, ist krank The neighbor whose child was in my class is sick

Der Nachbar, dessen Kind in meiner Klasse war, ist krank The neighbor whose child was in my class is sick

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German Gender:Neutral

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

Gender of Neuter Nouns in German

The most important nouns endings that mark the neuter gender are: -chen, -lein, -ett , -ium ,-ment , -tum , -eau Keep in mind that there are exceptions.

Gender of nouns ending with “-chen” (diminutives)

– How often this ending is seen: Often – All diminutives ending with “-chen” are neuter. – No ending is added to make the plural (das Mädchen ➜ die Mädchen) Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Mädchen	girl
das Pfännchen	small frying pan
das Maskottchen	mascot
das Märchen	fairytale
das Päckchen	small package

Nouns that are not diminutive do not necessarily have to be neuter: der Drachen (dragon), der Kuchen(cake), der Knochen (bone), der Rochen (ray [zoo.]), der Rachen (throat)

Gender of nouns ending with “-lein”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – No ending is added to make the plural (das Häuslein ➜ die Häuslein) -All diminutives ending with “-lein” are neuter

Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Häuslein	ittle house
das Vöglein	little bird
das Bächlein	brooklet
das Büchlein	booklet

Gender of nouns ending with “-ett”

– How often this ending is seen: Often – The plural can be formed with “-en” (das Bett ➜ die Betten) or with “-er” (das Brett ➜ die Bretter”) or with “-e” (das Amulett ➜ die Amulette)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Bett	bed
das Ballett	the ballet
das Büfett	the buffet
das Omelett	the omelet
das Brett	the board
das Bankett	the banquet

Gender of nouns ending with “-ium”

– Many come from Latin – How often this ending is seen: Often – The plural is formed with the structure: “-ium” ➜ “-ien” (das Ministerium ➜ die Ministerien)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Observatorium	the observatory
das Ministerium	the ministry
das Laboratorium	the laboratory
das Bakterium	the bacteria
das Aquarium	the aquarium
das Aluminium	the aluminum
das Silicium	the silicon

Gender of nouns ending with “-ment”

– How often this ending is seen: average – The plural is formed with “-e” for words that are from German “-e” (das Medikament ➜ die Medikamente) but with “-s” for foreign words (das Apartment ➜ die Apartments)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Medikament	the medication
das Testament	the will
das Element	the element
das Instrument	the instrument
das Fragment	the fragment

Exceptions: der Moment (the moment), der Konsument (the consumer)

Gender of nouns ending with “-tum”

– Words coming from Latin – The u’s pronunciation is short – How often this ending is seen: Average – The plural is almost always made with the structure: “-tum” ➜ “-ten” (das Datum ➜ die Daten)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
das Datum	date
das Wachstum	growth
das Ultimatum	ultimatum
das Heiligtum	relic [plural: die Heiligtümer]
das Votum	vote

Exceptions (For German words, the u’s pronunciation is long): der Irrtum (the error), der Reichtum (the wealth)

Gender of nouns ending with “-eau”

– Words coming from French – How often this ending is seen: Seldom – The plural is formed with “-s” (das Niveau ➜ die Niveaus) Examples:

das Niveau (level)
das Plateau (plateau)

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German Gender:Feminine

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

German Feminine Noun Gender

There are three genders in German: Masculine, feminine and neuter. Usually, the gender of a noun is determined by its ending. The endings for the most important feminine nouns are:

Frequency	Ending
Very common	-ei	-ung	-in
Very common	-heit	-keit	-ion
Common	-ie	-schaft	-elle
Common	-ik	-ur	-ade
Rare	-age,	-ette	-enz
	-ere	-ine	-isse
	-tät	-itis	-ive
	-se	-sis

Keep in mind that there are exceptions. Unfortunately, there are many other feminine nouns that have different endings than these and whose gender is not easy to identify.

Gender of nouns ending with “-ei”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-en” Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Polizei	police
die Abtei	abbey
die Konditorei	confectionery
die Leckerei	delicacy
die Datei	file

Exceptions:

Exception	Meaning
der Brei	mash
der Schrei	scream
der Papagei	parrot
das Ei	egg
das Einerlei	monotony
das Blei	lead

Gender of nouns ending with “-ung”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-en” Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Zeitung	newspaper
die Dichtung	poetry
die Empfehlung	recommendation
die Erfahrung	experience

Exceptions:

Exception	Meaning
der Schwung	momentum
der Sprung	jump

Gender of nouns ending with “-in”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-nen”

NOTE: Nouns ending with “-in” only are feminine if they refer to a woman. Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Lehrerin	female professor
die Darstellerin	actress
die Eignerin	female owner
die Australierin	Australian woman
die Chefin	female boss

Exceptions: All diminutives ending with “-lein” are neuter: das Madlein (the maiden)

Gender of nouns ending with -heit

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-en”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Freiheit	freedom
die Neuheit	novelty
die Sicherheit	safety
die Trägheit	laziness

Gender of nouns ending with “-keit”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-en” Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Gefährlichkeit	dangerousness
die Höflichkeit	politeness
die Langsamkeit	slowness
die Häufigkeit	frequency

Gender of nouns ending with “-ion”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-en” Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Produktion	production
die Funktion	function
die Kanalisation	drainage
die Nation	nation

Gender of nouns ending with “-ie”

– How often this ending is seen: Very often – Plural with “-n” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Geografie	geography
die Garantie	guarantee
die Fantasie	fantasy
die Galerie	gallery
die Astronomie	astronomy

Exceptions: der Zombie (zombie), der Yuppie (yuppie), der Unfreie (slave), der Laie (layman)

Gender of nouns ending with -schaft

– How often this ending is seen: Media – Plural with “-en”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Freundschaft	friendship
die Gemeinschaft	community
die Wirtschaft	economy
die Wissenschaft	science

Words ending with “-elle”

– How often this ending is seen: Media – Plural with “-n” – From Italian or French

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Welle	wave
die Zelle	cell
die Zitadelle	citadel
die Quelle	source
die Tabelle	table

Exceptions: der Junggeselle (single), der Geselle (journeyman)

Gender of nouns ending with “-ik”

– How often this ending is seen: Media – Plural with “-en” – Many are from Greek or Latin

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Fabrik	factory
die Musik	music
die Technik	technique
die Statistik	statistics
die Politik	politics

Exceptions: der Atlantik (Atlantic), der Streik (strike)

Gender of nouns ending with “-ur”

– How often this ending is seen: Media – Plural with “-en” – Many of them are from Latin Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Kultur	culture
die Natur	nature
die Diktatur	dictatorship
die Agentur	agency

Exceptions:

Professions: der Chauffeur (driver), der Ingenieur (engineer), der Regisseur (director), etc.
References to male people: der Amateur (amateur), der Voyeur (voyeur), etc.
In addition: das Futur (future), das Abitur (exam at end of high school)

Gender of nouns ending with “-ade”

– How often this ending is seen: seldom – Plural with “-n”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Marmelade	marmalade
die Limonade	lemonade
die Schokolade	chocolate
die Schublade	drawer

Gender of nouns ending with “-age”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Eremitage	hermitage
die Etage	floor
die Frage	question
die Bandage	bandage

Gender of nouns ending with “-ette”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n” – Many are from French

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Diskette	disk
die Etikette	label
die Zigarette	cigarette
die Marionette	marionette
die Kassette	cassette

Gender of nouns ending with “-enz”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-en” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Konferenz	conference
die Frequenz	frequency
die Transparenz	transparency
die Turbulenz	turbulence
die Tendenz	tendency

Gender of nouns ending with “-ere”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n” – Many of them are from Italian or French.

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Schere	scissors
die Portiere	curtain
die Niere	kidney
die Misere	misery

Exceptions: der Karabiniere (carbineer), der Gondoliere (gondolier), das Ampere (ampere)

Nouns ending with “-ine”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Violine	violin
die Vakzine	vaccination
die Maschine	machine
die Ruine	ruin
die Leine	rope

Exceptions: der Beduine (bedouin)

Nouns ending with “-isse”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n” – Many of them are from Latin or Greek

Examples: – How often this ending is seen: Seldom

Example	Meaning
die Narzisse	narcissus
die Prämisse	premise
die Kulisse	frame
die Abzisse	abscissa

Gender of nouns ending with “-tät”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-en” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Universität	university
die Pubertät	puberty
die Naivität	naivety
die Parität	parity
die Priorität	priority

Gender of nouns ending with “-itis”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural “-itis ➜ -iden ” – They come from Greek and are diseases (-itis means inflammation)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Bronchitis	bronchitis
die Cellulitis	cellulitis
die Rachitis	rickets
die Hepatitis	hepatitis

Nouns ending with -ive

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Lokomotive	locomotive
die Olive	olive
die Perspektive	perspective
die Alternative	alternative

Gender of nouns ending with “-se”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-n”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Rose	rose
die Zuckerdose	sugar bowl
die Osmose	osmosis
die Badehose	swimming trunks

Gender of nouns ending with “-sis”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural “-sis ➜ -sen ” Examples:

Example	Meaning
die Basis	basis
die Dosis	dose
die Genesis	genesis

Exception: das Chassis (chassis)]]>

German Gender:Masculine

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

Endings that mark the masculine gender

Usually, the noun gender is determined by the noun’s ending. The endings that mark the masculine gender in order of most importance are: -ich, -ist, -or, -ig, -ling, -ismus, -ant, -är, -eur, -iker and -ps

Words ending with “-ich”

– How often this ending is seen: Average – Plural with “-e”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Teppich	carpet
der Sittich	parakeet
der Abgleich	adjustment
der Bereich	range
der Teich	pond

Exception: das Reich (kingdom)

Words ending with “-ist”

– How often this ending is seen: Average – Plural with “-en” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Artist	artist
der Egoist	egoist
der Feminist	feminist
der Herzspezialist	cardiologist
der Komponist	composer

Words ending with “-or”

– How often this ending is seen: Average – Plural: The majority end with “-en” and some with “-e” – Many come from Latin Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Ventilator	fan
der Motor	motor
der Faktor	factor
der Marmor	marble

Exceptions: das Fluor (Fluorine), das Chlor (chlorine), das Tor (gate), das Labor (laboratory), das Dekor(decoration)

Words ending with “-ig”

– How often this ending is seen: Less often – Plural with “-e”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der König	king
der Honig	honey
der Essig	vinegar
der Käfig	cage

Exception: das Reisig (brushwood)

Words ending with “-ling”

– How often this ending is seen: Less often – Plural with “-e”

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Schmetterling	butterfly
der Frühling	spring
der Lehrling	apprentice
der Zwilling	twin

Exceptions: das Bowling, die Reling (railing)

Words ending with “-ismus”

– How often this ending is seen: Less often – The plural follows this construction even though many nouns lack a plural form: “-ismus” ➜ “-ismen” – Many come from Latin or Greek

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Optimismus	optimism
der Magnetismus	magnetism
der Expressionismus	expressionism
der Feudalismus	feudalism
der Kapitalismus	capitalism

Words ending with “-ant”

– How often this ending is seen: Less often -Plural with “-en” – Most words ending with “-ant”, especially if they come from Latin Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Diamant	diamond
der Fabrikant	manufacturer
der Elefant	elephant
der Lieferant	supplier

Exceptions: das Restaurant, die Want (shroud)

Words ending with “-är”

– How often this ending is seen: Not often – Most words ending with “-är” are masculine, especially if they are from French – The plural can be formed with “-e” (for words from French such as der Veterinär ➜ die Veterinäre) or with “-en” (der Bär ➜ die Bären)

Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Bär	bear
der Veterinär	veterinarian
der Aktionär	stockholder
der Sekretär	secretary

Exceptions: das Militär (military), das Quartär (quartenary)

Words ending with “-eur”

– How often this ending is seen: Not often – Plural with “-e” [der Friseur ➜ die Friseure] – Many of them come from French Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Friseur	hairdresser
der Amateur	amateur
der Ingenieur	engineer

Words ending with “-iker”

– How often this ending is seen: Not often – No ending is added to form the plural [der Physiker ➜ die Physiker] – They come from Latin or Greek Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Alkoholiker	alcoholic
der Informatiker	computer scientist
der Physiker	physicist
der Politiker	politician

Words ending with “-ps”

– How often this ending is seen: Seldom – Plural with “-e” (der Schlips ➜ die Schlipse) but sometimes an “Umlaut” is added to the last vowel of the world to make the plural (der Schnaps ➜ die Schnäpse) Examples:

Example	Meaning
der Schlips	tie
der Gips	cast
der Schnaps	schnaps
der Klaps	slap

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German declension

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

German declension

Nominative

The nominative is used if

The word is isolated:

Name* name

*(“Name” is nominative)

If the word makes up part of the subject:

Mein Name hat 5 Buchstaben* My name has five letters

*(“Mein Name” has the function of a subject and is declined in the nominative)

If the word forms part of the object of the predicate and the sentence is formed with the copulative verb (sein, werden or bleiben)*

María ist mein Name* Maria is my name

*(“Ist” is part the verb “sein” (copulative) and therefore the object is declined in nominative)

Accusative

Accusative is used if:

If the word is a direct object in English, it will be accusative in 90% of the cases in German.

Ich sagte meinen Namen* I said my name

*(“sagte” is from the verb “sagen”, which is a verb that is not copulative. For that reason, it is accusative) Depending on the verb, the objects can be accusative, dative or with a preposition. Fortunately, most cases coincide with English ones all of the time. Be careful!

If it follows a preposition that is accusative (bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um, wider) or comes after aWechselpräposition that indicates movement.

Ich gehe in die Schule* I am going to school

*(“die Schule” is declined in accusative because it follows the preposition “in” and going which indicates movement)

Dative

If the word is part of an Indirect Object in English, it will be dative in German in some 90% of the cases.

Ich schenke dir ein Heft* I give you a notebook

*(“ein Heft” (the thing that is given) is accusative and whom it is given to is dative)

If it follows a preposition that is dative: “ab”, “aus”, “außer”, “bei”, “entgegen”, “entsprechend”, “mit”, “nach”, “seit”, von, zu or a Wechselpräposition if it does not indicate movement.

Genitive

If the word is after the word “of” in English

Die Zukunft des Buches ist schwer* The future of the book is difficult

*(In English genitive’s expressed with “of” or by adding an apostrophe to show possession. “Des Buches” is translated as “of the book” or “the book’s”)

If it follows a preposition that is Genitive (anstatt, aufgrund, außerhalb, dank, statt, während, wegen)

The genitive is not used as often by Germans as the three other previous cases. Often, a noun object is made with the preposition “von” + Dative and the genitive preposition are sometimes used incorrectly as if they were dative. You have to keep in mind that one word can fit the rules of different cases simultaneously. For example, it can be a subject while being a part of a noun object and follow a preposition that is dative. Which case would it be then? Nominative because it’s the subject, Genitive, because it’s the noun object or dative because it is after a preposition? The answer is that the priorities are in this order:

Following a preposition (governing with Accusative, Dative or Genitive)
Being part of a genitive object (Genitive)
The rest of the rules

Complete Declension Tables

The “hard” case endings are highlighted in yellow in these tables, and the “soft” adjective endings are underlined.

TYPE 1: Definite Articles		“The nice man / woman / child / children”
	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
NOM	der nette Mann	die nette Frau	das nette Kind	die netten Kinder
ACC	den netten Mann	die nette Frau	das nette Kind	die netten Kinder
DAT	dem netten Mann	der nettenFrau	dem netten Kind	den nettenKindern
GEN	des netten Mannes	der nettenFrau	des nettenKindes	der netten Kinder

TYPE 2: Indefinite & Possessive Articles			“My little dog / cat / bunny / birds”
	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
NOM	mein kleiner Hund	meine kleine Katze	mein kleines Kaninchen	meine kleinen Vögel
ACC	meinen kleinen Hund	meine kleine Katze	mein kleines Kaninchen	meine kleinen Vögel
DAT	meinem kleinen Hund	meiner kleinen Katze	meinem kleinen Kaninchen	meinen kleinen Vögeln
GEN	meines kleinen Hundes	meiner kleinen Katze	meines kleinen Kaninchens	meiner kleinen Vögel

TYPE 3: No Article		“hot coffee / cold milk / fresh bread / warm rolls”
	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
NOM	heißer Kaffee	kalte Milch	frisches Brot	warme Brötchen
ACC	heißen Kaffee	kalte Milch	frisches Brot	warme Brötchen
DAT	heißem Kaffee	kalter Milch	frischem Brot	warmen Brötchen
GEN	heißen Kaffees	kalter Milch	frischen Brotes	warmer Brötchen

Noun Declension

There are 2 types of noun declension: Regular and N-declension.

Regular declension

Applicable to most nouns. Example: das Gas (the gas)

	Singular		Plural
	Article	Noun	Article	Noun
Nominative	das	Gas	die	Gase
Accusative	das	Gas	die	Gase
Dative	dem	Gas	den	Gasen
Genitive	des	Gases	der	Gase

N-declension Applicable to some masculine nouns and a few neuter ones. Example: der Name (the name)

	Singular		Plural
	Article	Noun	Article	Noun
Nominative	der	Name	die	Namen
Accusative	den	Namen	die	Namen
Dative	dem	Namen	den	Namen
Genitive	des	Namens	der	Namen

Weak Nouns (the “N-Declension”)

Just to make things more complicated, certain masculine nouns are “weak” and take an “n” ending in all cases except the nominative. For example, most of the words for “boy” in German (Junge, Bursche, Knabe, Bube) fall into this group:

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	der Junge	die Jungen
Accusative	den Jungen	die Jungen
Dative	dem Jungen	den Jungen
Genitive	des Jungen	der Jungen

There are at least a few hundred weak nouns and it’s impractical to memorize them all, but once you know some of the most common ones, you can start to recognize them. They fall into two basic groups. The first, which you just saw, end in e and usually refer to people or animals:

der Kunde (customer) der Neffe (nephew) der Russe (Russian) der Schwede (Swede)

der Soziologe (sociologist) der Löwe (lion) der Rabe (raven) der Schimpanse (chimpanzee)

These aren’t hard to remember, because there are very few masculine nouns in German that end in a single e and are not weak. Der Käse (cheese) is the only common one we can think of. The only wrinkle with this group is that a few of them keep the genitive s after the n. These are often the ones that don’t refer to a person or animal, like der Wille (will, volition) or der Friede(peace). So the genitive of those would be des Willens and des Friedens respectively. And the only non-masculine weak noun also works this way: das Herz (heart) –> des Herzens. The second group is a little fuzzier, but it’s basically nouns with certain Latin and Greek endings. Most of them are so close to their English equivalents that we don’t even have to translate:

der Elefant der Emigrant der Präsident

der Kapitalist der Kommunist der Diplomat

der Astronaut der Kandidat der Kamerad(comrade)

Finally, there are a few weak nouns that don’t fit into either group. The most common are:

der Bauer (farmer) der Bär (bear) der Held (hero) der Mensch (person)

der Nachbar (neighbor) der Pilot der Idiot der Architekt

You can find long lists of weak nouns, but you shouldn’t try to memorize them all. If you remember the basic types above, you’ll get most of them right, and if you don’t, it’s not a real barrier to comprehension anyway.

Declension of Adjectives

There are three types of declension for adjectives: Weak, mixed and strong.

Weak declension of Adjectives

The most common case for weak declension is the construction: (definite article) + (adjective with weak declension) + (Noun)

Das schöne Sofa The beautiful sofa

Mixed declension of Adjectives

The most common mixed declension is the structure: (indefinite article) + (adjective with mixed declension) + (Noun)

Ein schönes Sofa A beautiful sofa

Strong declension of adjectives

The most common case of strong declension is: (strong declension of adjective without article) + (Noun)

Schönes Sofa Beautiful sofa

Adjective Functions

Adjectives can have 3 functions in a sentence and only the attributive function is declined. Let’s see the three functions to distinguish them from one another:

Attributive (adjective accompanying a noun).
Der gute Mann arbeitet viel
[DECLINED]Often, it is understood which noun is being referred to so the adjective appears without the noun but it is still declined
Er mag den roten Apfel, ich mag den gelben
(apple is omitted in the second clause)
Predicative (the adjective is in a sentence with the copulative verbs [ sein, bleiben and werden] and is not accompanied by a noun)
Der Mann ist gut[NOT DECLINED]
Adverbial (the adjective behaves like an adverb)
Sie singt gut[NOT DECLINED]

Adjective declension

As we have stated, there are 3 types of declension, depending on the the particle that comes before the adjective:

Weak declension (the definite article + adjective).
Das schöne Sofa The beautiful sofa
Mixed declension(indefinite article + adjective).
Ein schönes Sofa A beautiful sofa
Strong declination (no article + adjective).➜
Schönes Sofa Beautiful sofa

Weak declension

The weak declension is used when:

the definite articles (der, die, das)

or the pronouns:

dieser (this)
jener (that)
derjenige (that one)
derselbe (the same)
welcher (which)

or declined indicators of quantity:

jeder (every)
mancher (some)
alle (all)

come before the adjective and the adjective before the noun.

This is called weak declension because the case marker is not carried by the adjective but rather particle before it.

Weak declension	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der gute Mann	die gute Frau	das gute Kind	die guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Accusative	den guten Mann	die gute Frau	das gute Kind	die guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Dative	dem guten Mann(e)	der guten Frau	dem guten Kind(e)	den guten Männern/Frauen/Kindern
Genitive	des guten Mannes	der guten Frau	des guten Kindes	der guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder

If we look closely, we see that you just add “-e” or “-en”.

Mixed declension

Mixed declension is used when:

the indefinite articles (ein,…)
the possessive pronouns (mein, …)
kein, … (none)

come before the adjective and the adjective before the noun.

Mixed declension	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein guter Mann	eine gute Frau	ein gutes Kind	keine guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Accusative	einen guten Mann	eine gute Frau	ein gutes Kind	keine guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Dative	einem guten Mann(e)	einer guten Frau	einem guten Kind(e)	keinen guten Männern/Frauen/Kindern
Genitive	eines guten Mannes	einer guten Frau	eines guten Kindes	keiner guten Männer/Frauen/Kinder

Declension Tables

Now that we’ve covered gender, plurals and case, here’s how they all fit together:

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
Nominative (subject)	der Mann	die Frau	das Kind	die Kinder
Accusative (direct object)	den Mann	die Frau	das Kind	die Kinder
Dative (indirect object)	dem Mann	der Frau	dem Kind	den Kindern
Genitive (possession)	des Mannes	der Frau	des Kindes	der Kinder

Again, notice that the noun itself rarely changes – it only picks up an ending in three places. Most of the changes take place in the article. The highlighted letters are the signal or “hard” endings; in addition to der/die/das, they apply as above to the following definite articles:

dieser / diese / dieses (“this/that, these/those”)
solcher / solche / solches (“such”)
welcher / welche / welches (“which”)

And here are two more, but they sound poetic or fancy in modern German and are not used as often:

jener / jene / jedes (“that, those”)
mancher / manche / manches (“many a”)

You may be wondering how “that” and “those” can be rare words in any language. The short answer is that you can use “dies-“ for both this/these and that/those, as we’ve indicated above. The full answer is a little more complicated. Our this/that distinction in English – what linguists call the proximal/distal distinction – is not handled the same way in all languages, and German just doesn’t have it to the same degree. Even “dies-” is less common than “this” in English; it’s most often used when distinguishing among a group of similar items, not just in referring to anything nearby. For example, if you’re helping someone pick out a dress, you’d say Ich mag dieses Kleid (“I like this one [as opposed to the others]”) but “this beer [in my hand] is too warm” would often just be das Bier ist zu warm. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, but it’s way too much to get into here. If you’re really struggling to get across a this/that distinction in German, remember that you can always use extra words to help (“this building here,” “the guy over there,” etc.) The other two categories are the indefinite articles (like a/an in English) and possessives (my, your, his, etc). These words have the same hard endings as the definite articles above, except that they drop them in three places. Here’s how to say: “my dog/cat/bunny/birds”:

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
Nominative (subject)	mein— Hund	meine Katze	mein—Kaninchen	meine Vögel
Accusative (direct object)	meinen Hund	meine Katze	mein—Kaninchen	meine Vögel
Dative (indirect object)	meinem Hund	meiner Katze	meinemKaninchen	meinenVögeln
Genitive (possession)	meinesHundes	meiner Katze	meinesKaninchens	meiner Vögel

We will fully review the possessives in Section 6 (Pronouns), but here are the two indefinite articles:

ein / eine / ein (“a/an ___”)
kein / keine / kein (“no/not a ___“)

Ein Hund folgte mir nach Hause. A dog followed me home.

Ich spreche kein Deutsch. I speak no German.

Das ist keine Lösung. That’s not a solution.

In learning these declensions, as well as the adjective forms in the next section, it’s better to focus on those 16 hard endings and the few exceptions to them than to memorize every table by rote.

Strong declension

The strong declension is used when nothing comes before the adjective. But there are also other cases such as when the adjective is preceded by any of the following pronouns:

dergleichen, … (the same)
derlei, … (such)
dessen, deren (whose)
wessen (whose)
manch (some)
etliche mehrere (a few more)
etwas (something)
ein bisschen (a bit)
ein wenig (a little)
ein paar (a couple)

or by:

wie viel (how much)
viel (a lot)
wenig (little)

or declined indicators of quantity that are only used in the plural:

viele (many)
wenige (few)
einige (some)

Strong declension	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	guter Mann	gute Frau	gutes Kind	gute Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Accusative	guten Mann	gute Frau	gutes Kind	gute Männer/Frauen/Kinder
Dative	gutem Mann(e)	guter Frau	gutem Kind(e)	guten Männern/ Frauen/Kindern
Genitive	guten Mannes	guter Frau	guten Kindes	guter Männer/ Frauen/Kinder

Declension of 2 or more consecutive adjectives

If two or more consecutive adjectives are in a sentence, they will be declined with the same type of declension:

Wir möchten in einem guten japanischen Restaurant essen We would like to eat in a good Japanese Restaurant

In this example, “gut” and “japanisch” are declined with the mixed declension because the adjectives are preceded by the indefinite article (ein). “ein” is declined in dative (einem) because it is preceded by the preposition “in” (with a situational concept).

Pronoun declension

There are 3 types of declensions for pronouns: weak, mixed and strong but not all pronouns have the three declensions. If you’d like more in-depth info, we suggest that you visit: Declension of personal pronouns:

Nominative		Accusative		Dative		Genitive
ich	I	mich	me	mir	me, to me	meiner	mine
du	you	dich	you	dir	you, to you	deiner	yours
er	he	ihn	him	ihm	him, to him	seiner	his
sie	she	sie	her	ihr	her, to her	ihrer	hers
es	it	es	it	ihm	it, to it	seiner	its
wir	we	uns	us	uns	us, to us	unser	ours
ihr	you (speaking to a group)	euch	you	euch	you, to you	euer	yours
sie Sie	they you (formal)	sie Sie	them you (formal)	ihnen Ihnen	to them to you	ihrer Ihrer	theirs yours

Article declension

Definite Articles:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der (the)	die (the)	das (the)	die (the)
Accusative	den	die	das	die
Dative	dem	der	dem	den
Genitive	des	der	des	der

Indefinite Articles:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein (a/an)	eine (a/an)	ein (a/an)	—
Accusative	einen	eine	ein	—
Dative	einem	einer	einem	—
Genitive	eines	einer	eines	—

Declension of cardinal numbers

The cardinal numbers are not declined with the exception of 1, 2 and 3.

Declension of 1 (eins)

If the 1 is not followed by a noun, it is not declined and eins is always used:

Formel eins Formula one

If the “1” is followed by a noun, usually the weak declension is used, being equivalent to the indefinite article:

Ich habe eine Lampe I have a lamp

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein	eine	ein	—
Accusative	einen	eine	ein	—
Dative	einem	einer	einem	—
Genitive	eines	einer	eines	—

Declension of 2 and 3

If the 2 or 3 are not followed by a noun, they are not declined and simply zwei and drei are used:
If the 2 or 3 are followed by a noun, they are declined only in the genitive in the case of them not being preceded by an article:

Abstand zweier Punkte Distance of two points

	Plural
Nominative Accusative Dative	zwei / drei
Genitive	zweier / dreier

Declension of ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers follow the adjective declension rules. An example of weak declension (given that the article “der” comes before the ordinal number in the genitive):

Die Kosten der zweiten Wohnung The expenses of the second home

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Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

Introduction

We use comparative forms when we are comparing things with each other. There are three comparative forms: positive, comparative, and superlative.

Maria läuft so schnell wie Susanne. Friederike läuft schneller als Maria. Friederike läuft am schnellsten. Sie ist die schnellste Läuferin.

Positive

The positive form is the basic form of the adjective, which we use with the comparison words so … wie.

Example:: Maria läuft so schnell wie Susanne.

Further expressions which use positive comparisons are:

genauso … wie
nicht so … wie
fast so … wie
doppelt so … wie
halb so … wie

Comparative

The comparative is the first form of comparison. We construct the comparative with als and add the ending er to the adjective.

Example:: Friederike läuft schneller als Maria.

Superlative

The superlative is the highest form of comparison. We put am or the definite article in front of the adjective, and add ste(n) to the end.

Example:: Friederike läuft am schnellsten.; Sie ist die schnellste Läuferin.

Exceptions for the Comparatives

General Exceptions

Adjectives that end with d/t or s/ß/x/z usually form the superlative with est.

Example:

laut – lauter – am lautesten

heiß – heißer – am heißesten
Monosyllabic adjectives often form the comparative with an umlaut.

Example:

jung – jünger – am jüngsten
Some adjectives have irregular comparative forms (see table).

Example:

gut – besser – am besten

irregular comparative forms
positive	comparative	superlative
gut	besser	best-
viel	mehr	meist-
nah	näher	nächst-
hoch	höher	höchst-
groß	größer	größt-

Attributive Adjectives

Attributive adjectives have to be declined in all comparative forms. To do this, first we add the ending for the comparative form, then the ending for the declension. Attributive adjectives always form the superlative with the definite article.

Example:

der kleine Junge/der kleinere Junge/der kleinste Junge

ein kleiner Junge/ein kleinerer Junge/der kleinste Junge

Adverbial/Predicative Adjectives

Adverbial adjectives always form the superlative with am, and we add the ending sten to the adjective.

Example:

wichtig – wichtiger – am wichtigsten
Predicative adjectives can form the superlative not only with am but also with the definite article. If we’re using the definite article, we add the ending ste to the adjective.

Example:

Diese Aufgabe ist am wichtigsten.

Diese Aufgabe ist die wichtigste.

Positive degree

This is the unmodified adjective.

Ich bin müde I am tired

The comparative of equality and inferiority is formed with the positive degree:

Comparative of equality

Clauses of equality are formed with this construction: so + POSITIVE ADJECTIVE + wie

Peter ist so dünn wie Tomas Peter is as thin as Tomas

or with the construction: gleich + POSITIVE ADJECTIVE + wie

Peter ist gleich ungelenk wie Tomas Peter is as clumsy as Tomas

A very common usage is for comparing quantities of something. The structure is: so + viel + NON-COUNT NOUN + wie / so + viele + COUNT NOUN + wie

Ich habe so viel Geld wie du I have as much money as you

Ich habe so viele Autos wie du I have as many cars as you

Comparative of inferiority

The comparative of inferiority’s structure is: nicht so + POSITIVE ADJECTIVE + wie

Du bist nicht so intelligent wie ich You’re not as intelligent as me

Comparative degree

The comparative degree is for constructing the comparative of superiority. The comparative grade is formed generally by adding “er” to the adjective:

intelligent ➜ intelligenter intelligent ➜ more intelligent

Comparative of superiority

The comparative of superiority is formed with the construction: ADJECTIVE IN COMPARATIVE DEGREE + als

Er ist stärker als ich He is stronger than me

Peter ist dünner als Tomas Peter is thinner than Tomas

Forming the comparative degree (special cases)

If the adjective ends with “-e”, one “-r” is added (the “-e” is not doubled)

müde ➜ müder tired ➜ more tired

feige ➜ feiger cowardly ➜ more cowardly

de + “-er”.

teuer ➜ teurer expensive ➜ more expensive

dunkel ➜ dunkler dark ➜ darker

If the adjective ends with “-er”, it can be formed regularly with + “-er” or, like the previous case, by losing the last “-e” + “-er”.
lecker ➜ leckerer / leckrer delicious➜ more delicious

sauber ➜ sauberer / saubrer clean ➜ cleaner

If an adjective is a monosyllable, an “Umlaut” ( ¨ ) + “er” is added (usually with vowels a, o, y and u). This also happens with the superlative degree.

krank ➜ kränker sick ➜ sicker

Comparative of inferiority

The comparative of inferiority is formed with the construction: weniger + ADJECTIVE + als

Er ist weniger intelligent als ich He is less intelligent than me

Superlative degree

The superlative with the structure:am + Adjective in positive degree + -sten Whenever the adjective does not accompany a noun:

Welches Auto ist am billigsten? Which car is the cheapest?

If an adjective is monosyllabic (just one syllable), with vowels a, o, y and u, an “Umlaut” ( ¨ ) + “-sten” is added.This also happens in the comparative degree.

krank ➜ am kränksten sick ➜ sickest

When the adjective ends with one of the consonants: “-d”, “-t”, “-s”, “-ß”, “-sch”, “-x” or “-z” an “-e-” is added between the adjective in the positive degree and the ending “-sten.”

seriös ➜ am seriösesten serious ➜ the most serious

süß ➜ am süßesten sweet ➜ the sweetest

There are some exceptions as in:

dringend ➜ am dringendsten urgent ➜ the most urgent

neidisch ➜ am neidischsten jealous ➜ the most jealous

groß ➜ am größten tall ➜ the tallest

Attributive Adjective. Superlative without ‘am’

A frequent concern is about when to use am in the superlative and when not to. If the adjective is accompanied by a noun (the attributive form) am is not used. Example:

Tata Nano ist das billigste Auto der Welt Tata Nano is the cheapest car in the world

Irregular adjectives

The following adjectives form the comparative and superlative irregularly:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative	Meaning
gut	besser	am besten	good, better, the best
viel	mehr	am meisten	much, more, the most
gern	lieber	am liebsten	gladly, preferably, most preferably
hoch	höher	am höchsten	high, higher, highest
nahe	näher	am nächsten	near, nearer, nearest

Comparisons in German generally work in a way that is similar to English. An Austrian brewery advertises its Gösser beer brand with the slogan: “gut, besser, Gösser” (“good, better, Gösser”). The German edition of Reader’s Digest is known as Das Beste (…aus Reader’s Digest). To form the comparative for most adjectives or adverbs in German you simply add -er, as inneu/neuer (new/newer) or klein/kleiner (small/smaller). For the superlative, English uses the -est ending, the same as in German except that German often drops the e and usually adds an adjective ending: (der) neueste (the newest) or (das) kleinste (the smallest). Unlike English, however, German never uses “more” (mehr) with another modifier to form the comparative. In English something may be “more beautiful” or someone could be “more intelligent.” But in German these are both expressed with the -er ending: schöner andintelligenter. So far, so good. But unfortunately German also has some irregular comparisons, just as English does.

Sometimes these irregular forms are quite similar to those in English. Compare, for instance, the English good/better/best with the German gut/besser/am besten. On the other hand, high/higher/highest is hoch/höher/am höchsten in German. But there are only a few of these irregular forms, and they are easy to learn, as you can see below.

Irregular Adjective/Adverb Comparison
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
bald (soon)	eher (sooner)	am ehesten (soonest)
gern (gladly)	lieber (more gladly)	am liebsten (most gladly)
groß (big)	größer (bigger)	am größten (biggest) der/die/das größte
gut (good)	besser (better)	am besten (best) der/die/das beste
hoch (high)	höher (higher)	am höchsten (highest) der/die/das höchste
nah (near)	näher (nearer)	am nächsten (nearest) der/die/das nächste
viel (much)	mehr (more)	am meisten (most) die meisten

There is one more irregularity that affects both the comparative and superlative of many German adjectives and adverbs: the added umlaut ( ¨ ) over a, o, or u in most one-syllable adjectives/adverbs. Below are some examples of this kind of comparison. Exceptions (do not add an umlaut) include bunt (colorful), falsch (wrong), froh (merry), klar (clear), laut (loud), and wahr(true).

Irregular Comparison – Umlaut Added Examples
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
dumm (dumb)	dümmer (dumber)	am dümmsten (dumbest) der/die/das dümmste
kalt (cold)	kälter (colder)	am kältesten* (coldest) der/die/das kälteste*
Note the “connecting” e in the superlative: kälteste*
klug (smart)	klüger (smarter)	am klügsten (smartest) der/die/das klügste
lang (long)	länger (longer)	am längsten (longest) der/die/das längste
stark (strong)	stärker (stronger)	am stärksten (strongest) der/die/das stärkste
warm (warm)	wärmer (warmer)	am wärmsten (warmest) der/die/das wärmste

In order to use the comparative forms above and to express relative comparisons or equality/inequality (“as good as” or “not as tall as”) in German, you also need to know the following phrases and formulations using als, so-wie, or je-desto:

mehr/größer/besser als = more/bigger/better than
(nicht) so viel/groß/gut wie = (not) as much/big/good as
je größer desto besser = the bigger/taller the better

Below are a few sample sentences to show how the positive, comparative, and superlative forms are used in German.

ENGLISH	DEUTSCH
My sister is not as tall as I am.	Meine Schwester ist nicht so groß wie ich.
His Audi is much more expensive than my VW.	Sein Audi ist viel teurer als mein VW.
We prefer to travel by train.	Wir fahren lieber mit der Bahn.
Karl is the oldest. Karl is oldest.	Karl ist der Älteste. Karl ist am ältesten.
The more people, the better.	Je mehr Leute, desto besser.
He likes to play basketball, but most of all he likes to play soccer.	Er spielt gern Basketball, aber am liebsten spielt er Fußball.
The ICE [train] travels/goes the fastest.	Der ICE fährt am schnellsten.
Most people don’t drive as fast as he does.	Die meisten Leute fahren nicht so schnell wie er.

Difference between “wie” and “als” (wie vs als)

An additional explanation. “Wie” will be used for the comparative of equality, while “als” will be used for the comparative of superiority. The comparison of adjectives in English: To form the comparative of an adjective, English adds -er to shorter words (“prettier”) or places more in front of more complicated ones (“more beautiful”). To form the superlative of an adjective, English adds -est (“prettiest”) or uses most (“most beautiful”). To form the comparative of an adverb, English adds -er to those that do not end in -ly (“faster”) and places more in front of those that do end in -ly (“more quickly”). To form the superlative of an adverb, English adds -est to those that do not end in -ly (“fastest”) and places most in front of those that do (“most quickly”).

The comparison of adjectives and adverbs in German: No matter how long the adjective or adverb, German always adds -er (“schöner”, “interessanter”). Never use mehr for this purpose. Adjective endings follow the -er. Of course, adverbs and predicate adjectives take no endings.

Wir haben den süßeren Wein bestellt.

We ordered the sweeter wine.

Die schlankere Frau ist nicht unbedingt die attraktivere.

The slimmer woman isn’t necessarily the more attractive one.

Er fährt schneller, wenn es nicht regnet.

He drives faster when it isn’t raining.

Sie steht ziemlich links, aber ihr Mann ist konservativer.

She’s pretty left-wing, but her husband’s more conservative.

To form the superlative, German always adds -st or -est. Other than the few exceptions mentioned below, superlative adjectives always require a further ending:

Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?

Wir haben den trockensten Wein bestellt.

We ordered the driest wine.

Die schlankste Frau ist nicht unbedingt die attraktivste.

The slimmest woman isn’t necessarily the most attractive one.

The superlative forms of adverbs or predicate adjectives take the form of “am -sten:”

Er singt am lautesten.	He sings the loudest.
Ich bin am glücklichsten, wenn ich allein bin.	I’m happiest when I’m alone.

Some superlative forms of adverbs can end in “-stens” (without “am”):

Wir essen meistens in der Küche.	We mostly eat in the kitchen.
Ich bin bestens versorgt.	I’m very well provided for.
Hunde sind hier strengstens verboten.	Dogs are strictly forbidden here.
Ihr Wagen wird frühestens Mittwoch fertig sein.	Your car will be ready on Wednesday at the earliest.

The basic forms:

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

klein	kleiner	am kleinsten	der/die/das kleinste
intelligent	intelligenter	am intelligentesten	der/die/das intelligenteste

Some adjectives, almost always monosyllabic, add an umlaut. Here are some of the more common ones:

alt	älter	am ältesten	old
arm	ärmer	am ärmsten	poor
dumm	dümmer	am dümmsten	stupid
gesund	gesünder	am gesündesten	healthy
grob	gröber	am gröbsten	coarse
groß	größer	am größten	large
hart	härter	am härtesten	hard
jung	jünger	am jüngsten	young
kalt	kälter	am kältesten	cold
klug	klüger	am klügsten	smart
kurz	kürzer	am kürzesten	short
lang	länger	am längsten	long
oft	öfter	am öftesten	often
scharf	schärfer	am schärfsten	sharp; spicy
schwach	schwächer	am schwächsten	weak
schwarz	schwärzer	am schwärzesten	black
stark	stärker	am stärksten	strong
warm	wärmer	am wärmsten	warm

Several other adjectives may or may not take an umlaut (It’s up to the speaker, but in most cases the umlaut is unusual):

blaß	pale	fromm	pious	glatt	slick	krank	sick
naß	wet	rot	red	schmal	narrow



	Dining Hall Orientation. Our gastronomic traffic light: [red] Preferably infrequently! Best combined with green. [yellow] A good choice! Take repeatedly! [green] The best choice! The more often, the better!

Some adjectives or adverbs change their stems in other ways, as well:

bald	eher	am ehesten	soon
gern	lieber	am liebsten	“gladly”
gut	besser	am besten	good
hoch	höher	am höchsten	high
nah	näher	am nächsten	near
viel	mehr	am meisten	much



	Already today we’re looking forward to your next visit



	Mr. 1000 Parts – Berlin’s best-known spare parts store for electric household appliances

Adjectives ending in -el or -er normally drop the -e- before the comparartive -er:

dunkler	darker
teurer	more expensive

Adjectives ending in -d, -t, -s, -ß, -sch, or -z usually add -est:

am breitesten	the widest
am kürzesten	the shortest
am weißesten	the whitest

Exceptions: “am größten” (the biggest) and adjectives formed from present participles: “am entgenkommendsten” (the most accommodating).



	Unsliced cheese simply tastes better. Our tip! for it has a fresher and fuller taste, can be used in more ways, and doesn’t dry out as fast

Using “als” and “wie” in making comparisons:

Ich bin so gut wie du.	I’m as good as you.
Es ist nicht so warm wie gestern.	It’s not as warm as yesterday.
Das ist genauso dumm wie dein letzter Vorschlag.	That’s just as stupid as your last suggestion.
Du bist ebenso laut wie ich.	You’re just as loud as I am.
Sie ist älter als ihr Bruder.	She is older than her brother.
Ein Pferd kann schneller laufen als ein Mensch.	A horse can run faster than a human.

Note: Many Germans use “wie” instead of “als” (“Ich bin besser wie du”), but this construction is considered to be bad grammar. Even speakers who do it themselves will correct a foreigner who makes this mistake. Intensifiers: to indicate a progressive development, English repeats the comparative (“Things are getting better and better”). German can do that (“Es wird kälter und kälter”) or, more usually, use “immer”: “Es wird immer besser.”



	The world is moving faster and faster

Similar to English’s “The more the merrier,” German employs “Je mehr, desto besser.”



	The faster you’re on the information highway, the better wired you are to your customers

To prefer / like best:

Ich gehe gern ins Theater	I like to go to the theater.	Ich habe Weißwein gern.	I like white wine.
Ich gehe lieber ins Kino.	I prefer to go to the movies.	Ich habe Rotwein lieber.	I prefer red wine.
Ich gehe am liebsten ins Konzert.	I most like to go to concerts.	Ich habe Sekt am liebsten.	I like champagne best.

mehr or eher can be used to compare two qualities of the same person or thing:

Der Film ist mehr interessant als unterhaltend.	The film is more interesting than entertaining.
Deine Witze sind eher traurig als witzig.	Your jokes are more sad than funny.
Das ist eher möglich.	That’s more likely.
Eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr, als dass ein Reicher in den Himmel kommt.	It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.

eher can also mean “rather; preferably”:

Ich gehe eher ins Theater.	I prefer to go to the theater.
Eher hungere ich.	I’d rather starve.

To express the notion of “favorite,” use the prefix Lieblings-:

Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist blau.	My favorite color is blue.
Wenn mein Vater spazieren geht, ist sein Lieblingsziel die Kneipe an der Ecke.	When my father goes for a walk, the pub on the corner is his favorite destination.

aller- intensifies a superlative:

Das habe ich am allerliebsten.	I like that best of all.
Er arbeitet am allerschwersten.	He works the hardest of all.

The comparative and superlative forms of adjectives have all the possibilities of the positive forms. They can modify nouns or form the basis of adjectival nouns. Logically, however, a superlative cannot of course follow an indefinite article (“ein höchster Berg” [a highest mountain]). Some examples:

“Ich bin der Größte!”	“I am the greatest!”
Der teuerste Wagen gehört meinem älteren Bruder.	The most expensive car belongs to my older brother.
Sie hat einen noch besseren Freund gefunden.	She found an even better boyfriend.
Eine bessere Gelegenheit findest du nie.	You’ll never find a better opportunity.
Von ihren Kindern ist das Jüngste am intelligentesten.	Of her children, the youngest is the most intelligent.



	Driving School… Also for “older people,” beginners, and “scaredy-cats” Training for licenses B, BE (passenger cars), also automatic shift

Similarly, the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs act like the positive forms. Some examples:

Ich würde das lieber früher als später hören.	I’d rather hear that earlier than later.
Wir arbeiten hier seit längerer Zeit.	We’ve been working here for some time.
Wie komme ich am besten in die Stadt?	What’s the best way into town?
Ein älterer Herr hat mir geholfen.	An older gentleman helped me.



	For Mother’s Day give a piece of love! Selected praline-creations from the finest chocol



	Cool story. Cool music. Cool thing. Beyond the Horizon – the Musical

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, thenominative, 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 neueLampe	das alte Buch	die roten Stühle
	* kein roterStuhl	keine neueLampe	* kein altesBuch	keine neuenLampen
	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 Büche



	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



	(From Der Spiegel) A survey of 25,000 university graduates: why so many study the wrong thing.

Adjectival Nouns in English:

Because English adjectives are uninflected, it is more difficult to make nouns out of them. One can talk about certain abstract concepts like the True or the Good, but in most cases, at least “one,” “thing,” or something like “man,” “woman,” or “guy” is required to create a noun phrase: “He’s an odd one.” “Let’s drink a cold one” [a beer]. “Have a good one” [a nice day]. “I did the wrong thing.” “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” “I’m talking about the fat guy.” It can be a little easier in the plural: “The rich are different.” “For ye have the poor always with you.” Adjectival Nouns in German: Because German adjective endings carry considerable information about case, gender, and number, the noun that they modify can sometimes seem redundant. When Germans refer to Ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl as der Dicke, they don’t need a further noun, since the der, followed by the -e ending on dick tells us that we are dealing with a single masculine subject (in the nominative case). So long as the context is clear, all that’s needed to make the noun is to capitalize the first letter. A number of such nouns constructed in this fashion have become conventional enough to be listed as dictionary entries in their own right. Some adjectives that become such nouns are “bekannt” [= acquainted], “angestellt” [= employed, hired], “verwandt” [=related], “erwachsen” [= grown-up], “heilig” [= holy], and “deutsch” [= German]:



	der Dicke

Sie ist eine gute Bekannte von mir.	She is a good acquaintance of mine.
Er ist ein Angestellter dieser Firma.	He is an employee of this company.
Meine Verwandten sind alle verrückt.	My relatives are all crazy.
Nur Erwachsene dürfen diesen Film sehen.	Only adults [grownups] are allowed to see this film.
Der Papst hat sie zur Heiligen erklärt.	The Pope declared her a saint.
Die Deutschen sind gern pünktlich.	Germans like to be punctual.

(Note that “German” is the only nationality designated by an adjectival noun.) Frequent usage has produced other conventions:

Ich möchte ein Helles.	I’d like a light beer [a pils].
Und ich nehme ein Dunkles.	And I’ll have a dark beer.
Heute fahren wir ins Blaue.	Today we’re driving into the wild, blue yonder.
Er traf ins Schwarze.	He hit the bull’s-eye.
Mein Alter geht mir auf den Wecker.	My old man [my father] gets on my nerves.
Meine Alte versteht gar nichts.	My old lady [my mother] doesn’t understand anything.



	Your parents will puke!

Plural adjectives of color represent members of particular political parties: e.g., “die Grünen” = the Greens; “die Roten” = SPD orPDS. The examples above are all in the nominative case, but the adjectival inflections hold true in the accusative, dative, and genitive, as well. Here are examples of “the old man,” “the rich woman,” “the Good”, “the poor [poor people]”:

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Plural

nom.	der Alte	die Reiche	das Gute	die Armen
	* ein Alter	eine Reiche	* kein Gutes	keine Armen
	Alter	Reiche	Gutes	Arme

acc.	den Alten	die Reiche	das Gute	die Armen
	einen Alten	eine Reiche	* ein Gutes	keine Armen
	Alten	Reiche	Gutes	Arme

dat.	dem Alten	der Reichen	dem Guten	den Armen
	Altem	Reicher	Gutem	Armen

gen.	des Alten	der Reichen	des Guten	der Armen
	Alten	Reicher	Guten	Armer

Some of the forms in the above chart may seem hard to work into the conversation, but they do exist. Note the following:

Es hat keinen Zweck, Altes mit Altem zu ersetzen.

There’s no point in replacing old with old.



	Something light can be so delicious …

They are more apt to show up in the vocative:

Du Armer!

You poor fellow!

In the plural, however, there are some surprises, especially in the vocative:

Wir Grünen sind nicht so unrealistisch.	We Greens are not so unrealistic.
Ihr beiden seid echte Profis.	You both are real pros.

Germans also frequently say or write “ihr beide”, however. And, although “wir Grünen” and “ihr Grünen” are used more consistently, both “Sie Grünen” and “Sie Grüne” are possible. Go figure. Note that “beide” is not capitalized. The same is true for “andere”:

Wir beiden sind da, aber wo bleiben die anderen?	We’re both here, but where are the others?
Hast du etwas anderes zu sagen?	Do you have something else to say?
Ich komme mit den anderen.	I’ll come with the others.
Diese Tasse ist schmutzig. Ich hole eine andere.	This cup is dirty. I’ll fetch a different one.

The adjective may also be in lowercase when the impression is less of an adjective used as a noun than of a noun having been omitted:

Sie hat einen Weißwein bestellt, aber ich nehme einen roten.

She ordered a white wine, but I’ll take a red.

Es gibt wenig gute Schriftsteller, aber er gehört zu den besten.

There are few good writers, but he belongs to the best.

Compare this last example to the following:


	Only the best stay calm in difficult situations



	Friedrich der Große





	August der Starke

Certain forms appear in apposition:

Friedrich der Große war König von Preußen.

Frederick the Great was the King of Prussia.

Kennst du August den Starken?

Do you know August the Strong?

Der Kaiser gab August dem Starken den Oberbefehl über die österreichischen Truppen.

The Emperor gave August the Strong command of the Austrian troops.

Sanssouci war das Sommerschloss Friedrichs des Großen.

Sanssouci was Frederick the Great’s summer palace.

A more common appositional structure is formed with the pronouns “etwas” or “nichts”

Ich will dir etwas Schönes zeigen.	I want to show you something beautiful.
Er führt nichts Gutes im Schilde.	He’s up to no good.
Wir reden von etwas Einmaligem.	We’re talking about something unique.

The adjectives “viel” and “wenig” sometimes look like pronouns, because they normally take no endings in the singular:

Wir haben wenig Interessantes zu berichten.	We have little of interest to report.
Ihr Boss hat viel Gutes über Sie gesagt.	Your boss said a lot of good things about you.
Seine Rede enthält wenig Wahres.	His speech contains little that is true.

Ordinal numbers act the same way as other adjectives:


	The best solution? Every second (person) has already found it. Berliner Sparkasse [Berlin Savings Bank]. Every second Berliner is already our customer. Demand more.

The possessive adjectives form nouns in the same way, except that they are not capitalized:

Ich sehe dein Fahrad, aber wo ist meins? Naja, ich fahre mit ihrem.

I see your bike, but where is mine? Oh well, I’ll take hers.

Er ist Deutscher, und ich bin auch einer.

He’s a German, and I’m one, too.

Sie ist eine Verwandte von mir, also bin ich eine von ihren.

She’s a relative of mine; thus I’m one of hers.

Es gibt mehrere reiche Länder in der Welt, und Deutschland ist eins von den reichsten.

There are several rich countries in the world, and Germany is one of the richest.

Especially when using adjectives that have been derived from present or past participles, it is possible to pack a great deal of information into the adjectival noun:

das Gefundene	that which has been found
die Gestorbene	the (female) deceased
ein Studierender	someone (male) who is studying
ein Studierter	someone (male) who has studied
die Betende	the praying woman
der Alternde	the aging man
das Werdende	that which is in the process of becoming
der Auserwählte	the chosen (male) one
das Unverhoffte	the unexpected
die Leidtragende	the (female) mourner


	Extravagance is the one true thing

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-. ]]>

French Greetings and Basic Phrases

Classroom - French, Learn French / By Vaikundamoni

Greetings

Bienvenue! Welcome!Bonjour! Hello!Salut! Hi!Je m’appelle Pierre. My name is Pierre. appeler to call J’appelle… I call… Je m’appelle… I call myself… Je m’appelle… My name is… Je m’appelle Pierre. My name is Pierre. Enchanté! Nice to meet you! Comment allez-vous? How are you?

aller to goJe vais bien. I am doing (going) well.Vous allez bien. You are doing well.Comment allez-vous? How are you? Je vais bien. Merci. I am doing well.Thank you. Et vous? And you? Je vais très bien. I am doing very well. Très bien. Merci. Very well. Thank you. A bientôt! See you soon! Au revoir! Goodbye! Adieu! Goodbye!

Basic French Lessons – Casual Greetings

Lesson Transcript

FORMALBonjour! Hello!Comment allez-vous? How are you?Je vais bien. Et vous? I am doing well. And you? Ca va bien. Merci. I am doing well. Thank you. Comment vous appelez-vous? What is your name? Je m’appelle Jean. My name is Jean. Au revoir! Goodbye! A bientôt! See you soon!

CASUALSalut! Hi!Comment vas-tu? How are you?Très bien! Et toi? Very well! And you? Ca va. I am doing well. I’m alright. Comment t’appelles-tu? What’s your name? Je m’appelle Jean. My name is Jean. Salut! Bye! A plus! See you!

FRENCH LESSON – BASIC FRENCH WORDS / PHRASES Useful everyday words and phrases in French

Yes	Oui. (WEE)
No	Non. (NOHNG)
Please	S’il vous plaît. (seell voo PLEH)
Thank you	Merci. (mehr-SEE)
You’re welcome	De rien. (duh RYANG)
Excuse me (getting attention)	S’il vous plaît (seell voo PLEH)
Excuse me (you’re in my way)	Pardon. (pahr-DOHNG)
Excuse me (begging pardon)	Excusez-moi. (ehks-kuu-zay MWAH)
I’m sorry	Désolé(e). (day-zoh-LAY)
I don’t understand	Je ne comprends pas. (ZHUH nuh kohm-PRAHNG pah)
I can’t speak French [well].	Je ne parle pas [bien] français. (zhuh nuh PAHRL pah [byahng] frahng-SEH)
Do you speak English?	Parlez-vous anglais? (PAHR-lay VOOZ ahng-LEH?)
Is there someone here who speaks English?	Est-ce qu’il y a quelqu’un ici qui parle anglais? (ess keel-ee-AH kel-KUHNG ee-SEE kee PAHRL ahng-LEH?)
Where’s the toilet?	Où sont les toilettes ? (OOH sohng lay twa-LEHT?)
Help!	Au secours ! (os-KOOR!)
Look out!	Attention! (ah-TAHNG-see-ohng)

Saying Hello in French / Introducing Yourself / Saying Goodbye in French

Hello (informal / to friends)	Salut. (sah-LUU)
Good morning	Bonjour. (bohng-ZHOOR)
Good evening	Bonsoir. (bohng SWAHR)
How are you?	Comment allez-vous? (kuh-mahng tah-lay VOO?)
Fine thank you.	Bien, merci. (byahng, mehr-SEE)
What is your name?	Comment vous appelez-vous? (kuh-MAWNG vooz ah-puhll-ay VOO?)
My name is…	Je m’appelle ….. (zhuh mah-PEHLL……)
Nice to meet you	Enchanté(e). (ahng-chahng-TAY) (takes the extra ‘e’ at the end if you are female)
Goodbye	Au revoir. (oh RVWAHR)
Goodbye (informal / to friends)	Salut. (sah-LUU) (yes, the same word as hello!)
Good night (to sleep)	Bonne nuit. (buhn NWEE)

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Monday	lundi (luhn-DEE)
Tuesday	mardi (mahr-DEE)
Wednesday	mercredi (mehr-kruh-DEE)
Thursday	jeudi (juh-DEE)
Friday	vendredi (vahn-druh-DEE)
Saturday	samedi (sahm-DEE)
Sunday	dimanche (dee-MAHNSH)

today	aujourd’hui (aw-zhoor-DWEE)
yesterday	hier (YEHR)
tomorrow	demain (duh-MANG)
this week	cette semaine (set SMEN)
last week	la semaine dernière (lah SMEN dehr-NYEHR)
next week	la semaine prochaine (lah SMEN proh-SHEN)

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

January	janvier (zhahng-VYAY)
February	février (fay-VRYAY)
March	mars (mahrs)
April	avril (ah-VREEL)
May	mai (meh)
June	juin (zhwang)
July	juillet (zhwee-YAY)
August	août (oot)
September	septembre (set-TAHMBR)
October	octobre (ock-TOHBR)
November	novembre (noh-VAHMBR)
December	décembre (day-SAHMBR)

FRENCH LESSON – THE WEATHER IN FRENCH

What’s the weather like?	Quel temps fait-il?
*It’s cold (It’s very* cold)**	Il fait froid (Il fait très froid)
*It’s hot (It’s very* hot)**	Il fait chaud (Il fait très chaud)
It’s cool	Il fait frais
It’s sunny	Il fait du soleil
It’s cloudy	Il fait des nuages
It’s windy	Il fait du vent
It’s foggy	Il fait du brouillard
It’s stormy	Il fait des orages
The temperature is 20 degrees	La température est 20 degrés

AT THE RESTAURANT – USEFUL FRENCH PHRASES

A table for one person/two people, please.

Une table pour une personne/deux personnes, je vous prie. (uun TAHBL poor uun/deu pehr-SOHN zhuh voo PREE)

Can I look at the menu, please?

Puis-je avoir le menu? (PWEEZH ah-VWAHR luh muh-NUU?)

Is there a house speciality?

Quelle est la spécialité de la maison ? (KELL eh lah spay-see-ah-lee-TAY duh lah meh-ZOHNG?)

Is there a local speciality?

Y a-t-il une spécialité locale ? (yah-TEEL uun spay-see-ah-lee-TAY loh-KAHL?)

I’m a vegetarian.

Je suis végétarien. (zhuh SWEE vay-zhay-tah-RYAHNG)

I don’t eat pork.

Je ne mange pas de porc. (zhuh nuh mahnzh PAH duh POHR)

I only eat kosher food.

Je ne mange que de la viande cachère. (zhuh nuh MAHNZH kuh duh lah VYAHND kah-SHEHR)

breakfast

petit-déjeuner (ptee-day-zheu-NAY)

lunch

déjeuner (day-zheu-NAY)

dinner

dîner (dee-NAY)

supper

souper (soo-PAY)

I want _____.

Je voudrais _____. (zhuh voo-DREH _____)

I want a dish containing _____.

Je voudrais un plat avec _____. (zhuh voo-DREH ung plah ah-VEK _____)

beans	des haricots (dez ah-ree-KOH)
beef	du boeuf (duu BUFF)
bread	du pain (duu pang)
chicken	du poulet (duu poo-LEH)
clams	des palourdes (deh pah-LOORD)
cheese	du fromage (duu froh-MAHZH)
cod	de la morue (duh lah moh-RUU)
eggs / one egg	des oeufs (dehz UH) / un oeuf (un UF)
fish	du poisson (duu pwa-SONG)
frogs	des grenouilles (deh gruh-NOOEY)
(fresh) fruit	des fruits (frais) (frwee (freh))
ham	du jambon (duu zhahng-BONG)
lobster	du homard (duu oh-MAR)
mussels	des moules (deh MOOL)
noodles	des pâtes (deh PAHT), des nouilles (deh NOOEY)
oysters	des huîtres (dez WEETR)
pork	du porc (duu POHR/)
rice	du riz (duu REE)
salad	une salade (uun sah-LAHD)
salmon	du saumon (duu saw-MONG)
sausage	des saucisses (deh saw-SEESS)
seafood	des fruits de mer (deh frwee duh MEHR)
snails	des escargots (dez es-car-GOH)
toast	toast (said the same as English!)
tuna	du thon (duu TONG)
(fresh) vegetables	des légumes (frais) (deh lay-guum FREH)
whiting	du merlan (duu mehr-LANG)

May I have a glass of _____?

Puis-je avoir un verre de _____? (pweezh ah-VWAHR ung VEHR duh _____?)

May I have a cup of _____?

Puis-je avoir une tasse de _____? (pweezh ah-VWAHR uun TAHSS duh _____?)

May I have a bottle of _____?

Puis-je avoir une bouteille de _____? (pweezh ah-VWAHR uun boo-TEYY duh _____?)

beer	bière (byehr)
coffee	café (kah-FAY)
juice	jus (zhuu)
red wine	vin rouge (vang roozh)
sparkling water / still water	eau gazeuse (oh gah-ZUHZ) / eau (oh)
tea	thé (tay)
white wine	vin blanc (vang blahng)

May I have some _____?

Puis-je avoir du _____? (pweezh ah-VWAHR duu)

black pepper	poivre
butter	buerre
salt	sel
sugar	sucre

Excuse me, waiter? (getting attention of server)

S’il vous plait ?

I’m finished.

J’ai fini.

It was delicious.

C’était délicieux.

Please clear the plates.

Vous pouvez débarasser la table.

The check, please.

L’addition, s’il vous plaît FRENCH LESSON – ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS

Where is the _____ ?

Où se trouve _____ ? (oo stroov _____)

the train station?	la gare ? (lah gahr?)
the bus station?	la gare routière ? (lah gahr roo-TYEHR?)
the airport?	l’aéroport ? (lah-ay-roh-POR?
the town centre / downtown?	le centre-ville ? (luh sahng-truh-VEEL?)
the suburbs?	la banlieue ? (lah bahng-LYEU?)
the youth hostel?	l’auberge de jeunesse ? (law-BEHRZH duh zhuh-NESS)
the _____ hotel?	l’hôtel _____ ? (loh-TEL)

Where are there a lot of…

Où y’a-t-il des… (oo yah-TEEL day)

hotels?	hôtels? (z oh-TELL)
restaurants?	restaurants? (res-taw-RAHNG)
bars?	bars? (bahr)
sights to see?	sites à visiter ? (seets ah vee-zee-TAY)

Can you show me on the map?

Pouvez-vous me montrer sur la carte ? (poo-vay-VOO muh mohn-TRAY suur lah KAHRT?)

street	rue (ruu)
left / turn left	gauche (GAWSH) / tournez à gauche. (toor-nay ah GAWSH)
right / turn right	droite (DRWAHT) / tournez à droite. (toor-nay ah DRWAHT)
straight ahead	en face (ahng fahs)
towards the _____	vers le/la _____ (vehr luh/lah)
past the _____	après le/la _____ (ah-PREH luh/lah)
before the _____	avant le/la _____ (ah-VAHNG luh/lah)
watch for the _____	repérez le/la _____. (ruh-pay-RAY luh/lah)
intersection	intersection (ang-tehr-seck-SYOHNG)
north	nord (nohr)
south	sud (suud)
east	est (est)
west	ouest (west)
uphill	en haut (ahng OH)
downhill	en bas (ahng BAH)

FRENCH LESSON – BOOKING A HOTEL ROOM IN FRENCH / STAYING AT THE HOTEL

Do you have any rooms available?

Avez-vous des chambres libres ? (ah-vay-VOO dey shahmbr LEEBR?)

How much is a room for one person/two people?

Combien coûte une chambre pour une personne/deux personnes ? (kohm-byahng KOOT uun shahmbr poor uun/duh pehr-SON?)

Is breakfast/supper included?

Le petit-déjeuner/souper est-il inclus ? (luh ptee day-zhuh-NAY / soo-PAY eht-eel ang-KLUU?)

Does the room come with…

Est-ce que dans la chambre il y a… (ESK dahng lah SHAHMBR eel yah …)

a bathroom	une salle de bain ? (uun sahl ah BANG?)
a telephone	un téléphone ? (ung tay-lay-FOHN?)
a TV	une télé ? (uun tay-LAY?)

May I see the room first?

Puis-je visiter la chambre ? (pweezh vee-zee-TAY lah SHAHMBR?)

Can you suggest another hotel?

Pouvez-vous me suggérer un autre hôtel? (poo-vay VOO muh suu-zhay-RAY ung ohtr oh-TEL?)

Do you have anything…..

Vous n’avez pas de chambre….(voo nah-vay PAH duh shahmbr..)

quieter?	plus tranquille ? ( pluu trahng-KEEL?)
cheaper?	moins chère? (… mwang SHEHR?)
bigger?	plus grande ? (… pluu GRAHND?)
cleaner?	plus propre ? (… pluu PROHPR?)

OK, I’ll take it.

OK, je la prends. (oh-KAY, zhuh lah PRAHNG)

I will stay for _____ night(s). (see the section on numbers)

Je compte rester _____ nuit(s). (zhuh KOMT res-TAY _____ nwee)

Do you have a safe?

Avez-vous un coffre-fort ? (ah-vay VOO ung kofr FOR?)

What time is breakfast/supper?

À quelle heure est le petit-déjeuner/souper ? (ah kel UR eh luh ptee day-zhuh-NAY / soo-PAY?)

Please clean my room.

Veuillez nettoyer ma chambre. (vuh-YAY net-wah-YAY ma SHAHMBR)

Can you wake me at _____?

Pouvez-vous me réveiller à _____? (poo-vay VOO muh ray-vay-YAY ah _____)

I want to check out.

Je veux vous signaler mon départ. (zhuh vuh voo see-nyah-LAY mong day-PAR)

FRENCH LESSON – SHOPPING IN FRANCE

How much is this?

Combien ça coûte ?

expensive

cher

cheap

bon marché

That’s too expensive.

C’est trop cher.

Would you take _____?

Pourriez-vous accepter _____?

I can’t afford it.

Je n’ai pas les moyens.

I don’t want it.

Je ne le veux pas.

I’m not interested.

Je ne suis pas intéressé.

OK, I’ll take it.

OK, je vais le/la prendre.

Do you have this in my size?

Avez-vous ceci dans ma taille ?

Can I have a bag?

Je pourrais avoir un sac ?

Do you ship (overseas)?

Livrez-vous (outre-mer/à l’étranger) ?

Useful phrases at a French pharmacy / chemists / drugstore:

I need…. J’ai besoin…

toothpaste de dentifrice.

toothbrush d’une brosse à dents

tampons de tampons

soap de savon

shampoo de shampooing

pain reliever. (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen) d’un analgésique (aspirine, ibuprofen)

medicine for a cold d’un médicament pour le rhume

stomach medicine d’un remède pour l’estomac

a razor d’un rasoir.

sunblock cream d’écran solaire

Useful phrases at the post office / newsagents in France:

How much is it to send a letter to the United States / to England? C’est combien pour envoyer une lettre aux Etats-Unis / en Angleterre?

Airmail poste aérienne

Registered recommandé

A parcel un colis

I need…. J’ai besoin…

a postcard d’une carte postale

stamps de timbres

writing paper de papier à lettres

a pen d’un stylo

English language books de livres en anglais

English language magazines de magazines en anglais

English language newspaper d’un journal en anglais

French-English dictionary d’un dictionnaire français-anglais

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German Nouns

Classroom - German, Learn German / By Vaikundamoni

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="851"] German Languages Classes[/caption]

German Nouns

First of all, in case you are wondering ‘What is a noun?’ Quite simply, a noun is the name of a place, person, animal, idea or thing. For example, the ‘house’, a ‘cow’, the ‘garden’, a ‘table’. As you see, nouns normally appear after such words as ‘the’ and ‘a’. Unlike in English, all nouns in German have a gender – yep, just like you and I! That is, German nouns are either masculine, feminine or – and this may be a new word for you – neuter. Neuter nouns are generally – but not exclusively – related to inanimate objects (i.e. neither female nor male). This concept of nouns having genders is not actually too difficult to understand. It does, however, sound odd to our English ears as there is hardly any notion of this anymore in modern English. You will not be able to avoid this ‘gender’ issue if you are serious about learning German, so, my tip, get used to learning nouns together with their ‘definite articles’ – the equivalent of ‘the’ in English – straight away. Why? Because the ‘definite article’ will indicate the noun’s gender. And, yes, you might have already guessed it, this means there is more than one word for ‘the’ in German.

Here are the German ‘definite articles’ – the different ways to say ‘the’ in German – in the ‘nominative case’ with some noun examples: (You will find a link to German cases at the end of this lesson, but don’t worry too much about ‘cases’ at the moment particularly if you are a complete beginner.) 1.) Masculine German nouns take the definite article: ‘der’. For example, der Tisch (the table) 2.) Feminine German nouns take the definite article: ‘die’. For example, die Musik (the music) 3.) Neuter German nouns take the definite article: ‘das’. For example, das Kind (the child) Therefore, do not just learn the word for ‘table’ (Tisch) in German, learn its ‘definite article’ as well, for example ‘the table’ (der Tisch). Need some more examples? Listed below you will find a sample of German nouns listed according to gender. Make sure you learn these useful German nouns together with their respective ‘definite article’.

Masculine Nouns	Feminine Nouns	Neuter Nouns
der Tag (day)	die Zeit (time)	das Wasser (water)
der Mensch (person)	die Liebe (love)	das Kind (child)
der Stadtplan (map)	die Welt (world)	das Buch (book)
der Computer (computer)	die Bank (bank)	das Jahr (year)
der Geruch (smell)	die Regierung (government)	das Leben (life)
der Anzug (suit)	die Musik (music)	das Geld (money)
der Berg (mountain)	die Sonne (sun)	das Tier (animal)
der Wind (wind)	die Stadt (city)	das Land (country)
der Stoff (material)	die Zahl (number)	das Handy (mobile phone)
der Mann (man)	die Frau (woman)	das Unternehmen (company)

Gender Guidelines You will be glad to hear there are some guidelines as to which gender a noun will take. But never forget there are always exceptions to the rules, particularly when it comes to the gender of a German noun!

German nouns are likely to be… 1.) …masculine and take ‘der’ if:- – referring to male human beings and the male of an animal species.* – referring to the days of the week, months, seasons as well as directions. – the noun ends with ‘ling’. 2.) …feminine and take ‘die’ if:- – the noun ends with any of the following: ‘ei’, ‘heit’, ‘keit’, ‘ung’, ‘schaft’. For example: die Freundschaft – friendship. – the noun denotes a female being – and sometimes female animal. For example: die Frau – the woman.* 3.) …neuter and take ‘das’ if:- – the noun ends in ‘chen’, ‘lein’, ‘icht’, ‘tum’, ‘ett’, ‘ium’, ‘ment’. – referring to the names of towns, cities, countries as well as continents. *Be aware: Many German nouns are classified, however, as being masculine, feminine or neuter even though they are not referring to males, females or inanimate objects. For example: das Mädchen. This means girl in German and takes ‘neuter’, but a girl is clearly a female being. Slightly confusing, I know! Plural This lesson so far has focused on nouns and their respective definite articles in the singular form (i.e. one unit: the house), rather than the plural form (i.e. several units: the houses). The ‘definite article’ for all plural nouns in German is ‘die’. In English, it is of course still ‘the’. Easy to remember, huh? In English, the noun itself becomes plural in the majority of cases by adding an ‘s’ at the end (houses for example). In German, however, here is where it gets a little more complicated. While a few plural nouns will end in ‘s’ (e.g. die Hotels), the majority form plurals in a variety of different ways. The only way to be sure of the noun in the plural is to check in a dictionary. (By the way, a really great free online English-German dictionary is Leo.org.) Over time you will remember the plural forms and just start to get a feeling for them. But if you are curious as to some of these patterns and you feel ready to digest more information, I have listed a few just below (if you’re not ready, jump straight to ‘Wrap-up’ below): Masculine nouns: Nouns ending in ‘en’, ‘el or ‘er’ may not have an ending at all. Therefore, the word will remain exactly the same. You will only be ableto tell the noun is referring to several teachers for example, rather than one, purely by the plural definite article: der Lehrer (singular), die Lehrer (plural).

Other masculine nouns may add an ‘umlaut’ to the vowel in the word. For example: der Mantel, die Mäntel (the coat, the coats) and others will have an additional ‘e’ or umlaut plus an ‘e’. For example: der Weg, die Wege (the path, the paths) and der Busbahnhof, die Busbahnhöfe (the bus station, the bus stations). Feminine nouns: The majority of feminine plural nouns will end in ‘(e)n’. For example, die Rose, die Rosen (the rose, the roses) and die Zahl, die Zahlen (the number, the numbers). Nouns ending in ‘in’ will have an added ‘nen’ in the plural. For example: die Lehrerin, die Lehrerinnen (the teacher, the teachers – female). Neuter nouns: Nouns ending in ‘lein’ or ‘chen’ do not change. Once again, only the definite article will indicate if the noun is referring to several girls for example, or just one girl: das Mädchen (singular), die Mädchen (plural).

Some Rules of Noun Formation

Nouns that describe an occupation or a type of person are usually masculine. Many of them are formed by attaching an er ending to a verb or noun. These er nouns have no change in the plural:

die Musik music	der Musiker (male) musician	die Musiker multiple (male) musicians
lehren to teach	der Lehrer (male) teacher	die Lehrer multiple (male) teachers

Even the ones that don’t fit the er pattern tend to be masculine. But their plural forms can vary:

der Arzt (male) doctor	die Ärzte multiple (male) doctors
der Matrose sailor	die Matrosen multiple (male) sailors

The feminine version is formed by adding an in, and it always has the same plural. With the non-“er” forms, they often add an umlaut:

die Musikerin female musician	die Musikerinnen multiple female musicians
die Lehrerin female teacher	die Lehrerinnen multiple female teachers
die Ärztin female doctor	die Ärztinnen multiple female doctors
die Matrosin female sailor	die Matrosinnen multiple female sailors

Like many other languages, German is struggling a little to create modern gender-neutral noun forms; a construction like “Lehrer/in” is a common approach, but it doesn’t always work: you can’t say “Arzt/in,” because you’d be leaving out the umlaut on the feminine form. Sometimes you’ll also see the present participle, Lehrende: “[those who are] teaching.” Another particular problem in German is that there’s no single form for a mixed-gender group: for example, speeches in East Germany often began with the awkward Liebe Genossen und Genossinnen (“Dear male comrades and female comrades”). There are many other standard noun formations, but for now we’ll just cover two of the most common. The first is the ung ending, which converts a verb to a noun. These nouns are always feminine, they all have the same en plural, and they include some of the most common words in German:

wohnen to live	die Wohnung home, apartment/flat	die Wohnungen homes, apartments
zahlen to pay	die Zahlung payment	die Zahlungen payments
regieren to rule, govern	die Regierung government	die Regierungen governments
impfen to vaccinate	die Impfung vaccination	die Impfungen vaccinations

This looks like the English “ing” ending, but as you can see above, it rarely translates that way. And in the other direction, “-ing” verb forms in English (walking, talking) generally do not translate to “ung” nouns in German. Finally, there are the endings heit and keit, which convert an adjective into a noun and roughly correspond to the English “ness.” As with ung, these endings always make the noun feminine and always take an en plural:

krank sick, ill	die Krankheit sickness, illness	die Krankheiten illnesses
möglich possible	die Möglichkeit possibility	die Möglichkeiten possibilities
schwierig difficult	die Schwierigkeit difficulty	die Schwierigkeiten difficulties

Diminutive Endings

Diminutive noun endings in German are used for a smaller version of something, or just to communicate cuteness, informality or affection. We don’t have many diminutive endings in English, and the ones we do have are usually just a matter of size, without the other connotations: for example, let as in “piglet” or “booklet.” There are many different diminutive endings in regional German dialects, some of which you’ve already heard — like the li in muesli cereal or the el in Hansel & Gretel. But there are only two in standard German: chen and lein. You need to remember three main things about chen and lein:

they always make the noun neuter;
they never change in the plural; and
they usually add an umlaut to the base word when they can

Here are a few examples:

der Tisch table	das Tischlein small table	die Tischleinsmall tables
die Mausmouse	das Mäuschen (cute) little mouse	die Mäuschen(cute) little mice
das Brot bread	das Brötchen bread roll	die Brötchenbread rolls

There are a few common diminutives in German where the base word has fallen out of use, but they still follow the above rules. Two examples are das Märchen (fairy tale, “little story”) anddas Mädchen (girl, “little maid”). It’s possible to take things too far: even some native speakers find expressions like Hallöchen (for Hallo) or Alles Klärchen (for Alles Klar, “understood”) to be overly cute or ditzy. Some nouns can take either chen or lein, but for others, one is more standard than the other. There’s no clear rule for this, but you shouldn’t be making up your own diminutives anyway. It’s more a matter of recognizing them when you see or hear them.

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German Cases

Classroom - German / By Vaikundamoni

German Cases

First of all, what is a case? No, it’s not a suitcase, or any other kind of ‘case’ as you know it! A grammatical case is simply a way to show which role each noun (a person, thing or object) plays in a sentence. German nouns appear in four cases, depending on their function in a sentence. The four German cases are called the: nominative case, accusative case, genitive case and dative case. Are you wondering: ‘Do I really have to learn all about these pesky German cases?’ Or maybe: ‘Why are they so important?’ Quite simply you must find time to learn the German cases if you are serious about learning German properly, because certain German words change their form – the official word is ‘decline’ – depending on which case is being used, an example in English would be ‘she’ to ‘her’. In German there are a whole host of different forms for ‘the’ and ‘a’, for example, depending on which case is being used and, of course, the gender of the noun. Even adjectives (descriptive words such as ‘beautiful’ for example) are declined differently in German depending on the case, but let’s look at that in another lesson. Enough chat. Let’s take a look at the four German cases and find out how to work out which case is which. Nominative case The subject of a sentence is always in the nominative case. The subject is normally the person or thing performing the action of a verb. For example: Thomas fährt das Auto. (Thomas drives the car) Thomas is the subject as he is driving the car. He is performing the action of the verb: the driving and is thusin the nominative case. Accusative case The direct object is always in the accusative case. A direct object is the person or thing which directly receives the action of the verb. Tip: You can ask: ‘what?’ or ‘whom?’ of the verb to identify the direct object. A couple of examples: 1.) Thomas fährt ein Auto. (Thomas drives a car) ‘A car’ is the direct object as that is ‘what’ is being driven and thus ‘a car’ takes the accusative case. 2.) Wir wissen die Antwort. (We know the answer) ‘The answer’ is the direct object as that is ‘what’ is known. So why is it important to know what the direct object of a sentence is? Because in German, the article (definite article = the / indefinite article = a/an) of a masculine noun in the accusative case changes, for example, from ‘der’ to ‘den’ and ‘ein’ to ‘einen’. This change will be demonstrated towards the end of this lesson in a German case table.

Dative case The dative case identifies the indirect object of a sentence. The indirect object is the thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb. A good way to identify the indirect object if you are not sure is by asking ‘to whom’ or ‘for whom’ with the subject and verb of a particular sentence. A couple of examples: 1.) Ich habe dem Mann ein Geschenk gekauft. (I bought the man a present) For whom did I buy the present? ‘The man’ is the indirect object. 2.) Ich habe dem Baby die Rassel gegeben. (I gave the baby a rattle) To whom did I give the rattle? ‘The baby’ is the indirect object. So why is it important to know what the indirect object of a sentence is? Because in German, the articles (definite article = the / indefinite article = a/an) of all nouns (feminine / masculine / neuter / plural) change. These changes will be demonstrated in a table towards the end of this lesson.

Genitive case The primary function of the genitive case is to demonstrate possession. The person or thing that possesses, i.e. the ‘possessor’, is in the genitive case. It is very similar to the ‘s’ or ‘of’ in English. Let’s look at some examples: 1.) Das ist die Tasche des Lehrers. (That is the teacher’s bag) The bag is possessed by ‘the teacher’, therefore, ‘the teacher’ is in the genitive case. 2.) Das ist das Auto des Nachbarns. (That is the neighbour’s car) The car is possessed by ‘the neighbour’, therefore, ‘the neighbour’ is in the genitive case. You will notice that the possessed person or object comes first followed by the possessor. Why is the genitive case important to learn? Because the definite and the indefinite articles of all nouns will change form in the genitive case, as demonstrated in the tables below.

Grammatical Tables – The German Cases Some of the most important aspects of German grammar are detailed in the three tables right below and can be seen as a summary of this lesson so far. Tip of the entire lesson: make it a priority to learn the content of these three tables off by heart – it will help you so much in so many ways and is core to many other elements of German grammar. The first table will list the various words for ‘the’ in all four German cases. The second table will detail the words for ‘a’ / ‘an’ in German and the third table will detail personal pronouns in German in the various cases, such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’ and ‘she’. By the way, personal pronouns are simply small words which replace nouns i.e. ‘it’, instead of ‘the car’. Table 1 – Definite articles by case (i.e. the various ways of saying ‘the’ in German depending on the case / gender of noun)

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der	die	das	die
Accusative	den	die	das	die
Dative	dem	der	dem	den
Genitive	des	der	des	der

Table 2 – Indefinite articles by case (i.e. the various ways of saying ‘a’ and ‘an’ in German depending on the case / gender of noun)

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ein	eine	ein
Accusative	einen	eine	ein
Dative	einem	einer	einem
Genitive	eines	einer	eines

Table 3 – Personal pronouns by case (The small words which replace nouns i.e. ‘it’, ‘she’, ‘he’ depending on the case)

Nominative	Accusative	Dative	English translation
ich	mich	mir	I / me / to me
du	dich	dir	you / you / to you (informal singular*)
er	ihn	ihm	he / him / to him
sie	sie	ihr	she / her / to her
es	es	ihm	it / it / to it
wir	uns	uns	we / us / to us
ihr	euch	euch	you / you / to you (informal plural**)
Sie	Sie	Ihnen	you / you / to you (formal singular or plural***)
sie	sie	ihnen	they / them / to them

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September 2016

Plural in German

Summary of the most common plurals

General rules that are applicable to all genders

Constructing the plural with “-s”

The plural for feminine nouns

Adding “-n”

Adding “-nen”

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

Plural: “-a” ➜ “-en”

Plural: “-sis” ➜ “-sen”

Plural: “-xis” ➜ “-xien”

Plural: “-itis”➜ “-iden”

Plural: “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

Plural: “-aus” ➜ “-äuse”

Adding [Umlaut]

Adding [Umlaut] + “-en”

Plural for masculine nouns

Many masculine nouns form their plural with “-e”.

The endings that guarantee the use of this plural are:

“-ich”, “-ig”, “-ling”, “-är” (only those coming from French)

and “-eur”.Adding “-e”

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

Not adding any ending

Adding [Umlaut]

Adding “-n” [according to the N-Deklination]

Adding “-en” [according to the N-Deklination]

Adding “-en” [no “N-Deklination”]

Adding “-er”

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

Adding “-ten”

Plural: “-us” -> “-usse”

Plural: “-us” -> “-i”

The plural for neuter nouns

Adding “-e”

No ending added

Adding “-er”

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

Adding “-en”

Adding “-ien”

Plural “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

Plural “-um” ➜ “-a”

Plural “-um” ➜ “-en”

Plural “-o” ➜ “-en”

Relative Clauses in German

Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronoun Gender

Types of Relative Clauses

Nominative

Accusative

Dative

Genitive

Gender of Neuter Nouns in German

Gender of nouns ending with “-chen” (diminutives)

Gender of nouns ending with “-lein”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ett”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ium”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ment”

Gender of nouns ending with “-tum”

Gender of nouns ending with “-eau”

German Feminine Noun Gender

Gender of nouns ending with “-ei”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ung”

Gender of nouns ending with “-in”

Gender of nouns ending with -heit

Gender of nouns ending with “-keit”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ion”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ie”

Gender of nouns ending with -schaft

Words ending with “-elle”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ik”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ur”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ade”

Gender of nouns ending with “-age”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ette”

Gender of nouns ending with “-enz”

Gender of nouns ending with “-ere”

Nouns ending with “-ine”

Nouns ending with “-isse”

Gender of nouns ending with “-tät”