German Phrases, declenation
and adjectives

Learn german grammar for free: Declenation of Adjectives

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The German language has three types of declensions for adjectives: those used with "der" words, those for "ein" words and independent adjectives. Predicate adjectives are not declined. They usually follow a form of "sein."



The difference between these declensions for "der" and "ein" words lie with those used for the masculine and neuter nominatives, as well as the neuter accusatives. The rest use the same endings. The feminine and plurals for "der" and "ein" words use –e for feminines and –en for plurals.



The masculine forms of "der" words use –e for nominative and –en for the rest of the cases. For "ein" words, the masculine uses –er for nominatives and –en for the rest. Neuter genders use –e for nominative and accusative "der" words and –en for dative and genitive. "Ein" neuter words use –es for nominative and accusative, and –en for the other two cases.

Plurals

There are twelve different ways in the German language to form a plural. Although many feminine nouns are similar in how they form a plural, many neuter and masculine forms use several different ways to create a plural. Some plurals use an umlaut, others are formed by adding an –n or –en, while others are made with an –er.

Nominal (or Noun) Phrases

A nominal german phrase must have the following parts in this exact order: article, number (ordinal or cardinal), adjective, noun, genitive attribute, position, relative clause reflexive pronoun. This is the most complex version of a nominal phrase. Adjectives, numbers, positions, relative clauses, genitive attributes and emphasizers are only used as needed to clarify the sentence.

Genitive Attribute

You may come across a nominal phrase with a genitive attribute. This happens when you need to express ownership or possession. This can be perceived as just another nominal phrase in the genitive case which can, at times, hang off another nominal phrase.

Position

Extended Attribute Phrase

The German language allows quite lengthy nominal modifiers. You find these extended attribute phrases in written German, especially that written in a highly educated manner. They are also heard frequently on news broadcasts or in formal speeches.

Relative Clause

Often, nominal german phrases will come with relative clauses. There are two varieties. The most common is based on the definite article der, die and das, but it takes very noticeable forms for the dative plural (denen) and for the genitive (deren, dessen).

You may find this is similar to using the word "that" in English. The second is more literary and used mostly for emphasis. It is the word welcher, welche, and welches, and is similar to the English word "which."

Like definite articles, relative clauses take their inflection according to gender, number and case. Gender and number are decided by the noun that is being modified, but case comes from the clause.