A2–B1 · Adjectives
German adjective endings: tables and exercises
Learn German adjective endings after the definite article, the indefinite article and with no article. Tables by case and explained exercises.
Dilelang · Updated on
When the adjective ending changes
An adjective that comes before the noun takes an ending: ein gutes Buch (“a good book”). If it’s used after sein, it doesn’t change: Das Buch ist gut. (“The book is good”).
To choose the ending, you need to know the case, gender, number and type of article. Identify those four things first; trying to pick -e or -en directly usually leads to mistakes.
If you can’t tell the cases apart yet, start with Akkusativ and Dativ. The tables below show endings, not whole words.
After the definite article: weak endings
With der, die, das and their forms, the article already carries a lot of grammatical information. The adjective uses -e or -en.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | -e | -e | -e | -en |
| Akkusativ | -en | -e | -e | -en |
| Dativ | -en | -en | -en | -en |
| Genitiv | -en | -en | -en | -en |
Compare der kleine Hund with Ich sehe den kleinen Hund. In the second sentence, the masculine noun is in Akkusativ: both the article and the adjective change. In mit dem kleinen Hund, Dativ requires -en.
A handy shortcut is to remember the five -e positions: the three nominative singular ones, plus feminine and neuter in Akkusativ. Everything else in this table uses -en.
After ein: mixed endings
The indefinite article doesn’t always have a visible ending. In ein guter Tee and ein gutes Brot, the adjective helps show gender and case. After einem or einen, use -en.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | -er | -e | -es |
| Akkusativ | -en | -e | -es |
| Dativ | -en | -en | -en |
| Genitiv | -en | -en | -en |
Ein has no plural. For “good books” with no other determiner, you say gute Bücher, from the next table. Possessives and kein do have plural forms: meine guten Bücher and keine guten Bücher.
No article: strong endings
When there’s no article, the adjective carries more grammatical information. Look at frischer Tee, frisches Brot and mit frischem Brot.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | -er | -e | -es | -e |
| Akkusativ | -en | -e | -es | -e |
| Dativ | -em | -er | -em | -en |
| Genitiv | -en | -er | -en | -er |
Notice the masculine and neuter Genitiv: the adjective uses -en, not -es; for example, der Geschmack frischen Brotes (“the taste of fresh bread”). Here the noun carries the Genitiv marker.
A four-step method
- Identify the noun: Buch is neuter and singular.
- Work out the case: in Ich lese …, the book is the Akkusativ object.
- Look at the article: with ein you use the mixed table.
- Cross Akkusativ with neuter: -es. Result: Ich lese ein interessantes Buch.
Don’t forget the form of the article: learning only the adjective ending leaves the sentence incomplete. It also pays to learn the article with each noun.
Adjective ending exercises
Fill in the ending of klein, frisch or freundlich:
- Der klein___ Hund schläft.
- Ich sehe den klein___ Hund.
- Ein klein___ Kind spielt.
- Ich spiele mit einem klein___ Kind.
- Frisch___ Brot schmeckt gut.
- Wir sprechen mit freundlich___ Menschen.
Show answers and explanations
- kleine: definite article, masculine nominative.
- kleinen: definite article, masculine Akkusativ.
- kleines: ein has no visible ending; neuter nominative.
- kleinen: einem already shows Dativ; the mixed table uses -en.
- Frisches: no article, neuter nominative.
- freundlichen: no article, Dativ plural because of mit.
Further reading
The explanations and exercises in this guide are by Dilelang. You can consult these grammar references in German: