German grammar › A2
Adjective endings — 3 patterns
Level A2 · der nette, ein netter, guter: who carries the signal
Why do adjectives get endings?
When an adjective stands before a noun, it gets an ending: ein neues Auto. The ending helps show the noun’s gender, number and case — the article and the adjective share this job.
Why it matters
- You need it whenever you describe something: ein großes Haus.
- The article already shows some information — the adjective adds what is missing.
- Three patterns are enough; you don’t need to memorise 48 separate forms.
Pattern
article + adjective-ending + noun
What changes
the ending — depending on how much the article already shows
Examples
- der neu**e** Tisch — der already shows masculine → just -e
- ein neu**er** Tisch — ein doesn’t show masculine → the adjective adds -er
- kalt**es** Wasser — no article → the adjective shows everything
Watch out: Only adjectives before a noun get endings. After sein the adjective stays plain: Der Tisch ist neu.
Builds on: Definite article declension and Indefinite article.
Article gives strong information? Adjective does less. Article gives little or no information? Adjective does more.
Think of article + adjective as a team showing gender, number and case.
First question — before or after the noun?
- Das Auto ist neu.
- Die Blumen sind schön.
No adjective ending.
- das neue Auto
- die schönen Blumen
Now the adjective needs an ending.
The 3 patterns
- Definite article · der · die · das · dieser …
The article already shows a lot → the adjective is mostly -e / -en. - Indefinite article · ein · kein · mein …
The article sometimes hides gender or case → the adjective fills in the missing information. - No article · the adjective stands alone
No article to help → the adjective carries the strongest ending.
- der nette Mann — der clearly shows masculine nominative → the adjective only needs -e
- ein netter Mann — ein doesn’t show the masculine ending → the adjective supplies -er
- guter Wein — no article → the adjective carries -er itself
Pattern 1 — after der / die / das
- der nette Mann — the nice man
- die nette Frau — the nice woman
- das nette Kind — the nice child
- die netten Kinder — the nice children
Weak endings — the full picture
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der nette | die nette | das nette | die netten |
| Accusative | den netten | die nette | das nette | die netten |
| Dative | dem netten | der netten | dem netten | den netten |
| Genitive | des netten | der netten | des netten | der netten |
- Mostly -en — This is the default weak ending.
- Use -e — Nominative singular + accusative feminine / neuter
- Plural — after the definite article → always -en
Pattern 2 — ein / kein / possessives
In the nominative, watch where ein doesn’t show the gender
- masculine: ein netter Mann
- feminine: eine nette Frau
- neuter: ein nettes Kind
- plural (possessive): meine netten Freunde
Think: “What information is missing?”
ein + + + nett**er** + Mann
“ein” alone doesn’t show the masculine -er signal, so the adjective carries it.
Pattern 3 — no article
No article → the adjective does the heavy work
- masculine: guter Wein
- neuter: gutes Bier
- feminine: gute Milch
Fast decision tree
Before choosing the ending, ask one question:
- der / die / das? → weak
- ein / mein / kein? → mixed
- no article? → strong
Final full picture
Summary
- After the noun / sein — No ending (Das Auto ist neu.)
- der-word — The article carries most information (der nette Mann)
- ein-word — The adjective fills in missing information (ein netter Mann)
- No article — The adjective carries the strong ending (guter Wein)
The adjective carries whatever grammatical signal the article doesn’t clearly carry.
This works better than memorising dozens of endings one by one.
Practise this lesson — Practice rounds, a score and your progress are in the free app.
Practise this lesson · Start learning — it’s free