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Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that add detail and color to your language. Adjectives describe nouns, while adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. In this chapter, we’ll learn how to use adjectives and adverbs effectively in German.

Adjectives (Adjektive)

Adjectives describe nouns, providing information about their qualities, characteristics, or attributes. In German, adjectives usually come before the noun they modify.

Adjective Agreement

One of the key features of German adjectives is that they must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. This means the adjective endings change depending on the gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) of the noun.

Adjective Endings: A Simplified Overview

Adjective endings depend on whether a definite article (der, die, das) or an indefinite article (ein, eine) precedes the noun. If there is no article, a strong declension is used.

With Definite Articles (Der-Words): If a definite article (der, die, das, or their case-modified forms like den, dem, des) precedes the noun, the adjective takes «weak» endings. Generally, these endings are “-e» or “-en.»

With Indefinite Articles (Ein-Words): If an indefinite article (ein, eine, or their case-modified forms like einen, einem) precedes the noun, the adjective takes «mixed» endings, which are a combination of strong and weak endings.

Without Articles (Strong Declension): If there is no article before the noun, the adjective takes «strong» endings. In this case, the adjective endings indicate the gender, number and case of the noun.

Because it is complex, we will focus on adjective endings after definite articles in the Nominative, Accusative, and Dative cases in this chapter.

Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Nominative)

Masculine: -e (Der kleine Mann – The small man)

Feminine: -e (Die kleine Frau – The small woman)

Neuter: -e (Das kleine Kind – The small child)

Plural: -en (Die kleinen Kinder – The small children)

Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Accusative)

Masculine: -en (Ich sehe den kleinen Mann – I see the small man)

Feminine: -e (Ich sehe die kleine Frau – I see the small woman)

Neuter: -e (Ich sehe das kleine Kind – I see the small child)

Plural: -en (Ich sehe die kleinen Kinder – I see the small children)

Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Dative)

Masculine: -en (Ich helfe dem kleinen Mann – I help the small man)

Feminine: -en (Ich helfe der kleinen Frau – I help the small woman)

Neuter: -en (Ich helfe dem kleinen Kind – I help the small child)

Plural: -en (Ich helfe den kleinen Kindern – I help the small children)

Common Adjectives

Here are some common German adjectives:

gut (goot) – good

schön (shön) – beautiful

groß (grohs) – big

klein (klain) – small

alt (ahlt) – old

neu (noi) – new

jung (yoong) – young

freundlich (froint-lihh) – friendly

interessant (in-te-res-sant) – interesting

wichtig (vihh-tihh) – important

billig (billig) – cheap

teuer (toi-er) – expensive

Examples Using Adjectives

Der kleine Hund ist süß. (dare klai-ne hoont ist züss) – The small dog is cute. (Nominative)

Ich sehe den kleinen Hund. (ihh zay-e den klai-nen hoont) – I see the small dog. (Accusative)

Ich gebe dem kleinen Kind einen Apfel. (ihh gay-be dem klai-nen kint ai-nen ahp-fel) – I give the small child an apple. (Dative)

Das ist ein schönes Bild. (das ist ain shö-nes bilt) – That is a beautiful picture. (Note: Here we used an indefinite article. This creates slightly different endings that will be covered in future lessons.)

Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives

Adjectives can be used to compare things. The comparative form compares two things, while the superlative form compares three or more things or indicates the highest degree of a quality.

Comparative: To form the comparative, add “-er» to the adjective stem. Sometimes, if a vowel is present it will become an umlaut.

schnell (fast) -> schneller (faster)

alt (old) -> älter (older)

groß (big) -> größer (bigger)

«als» (as/than) is used to compare the two items: Mein Auto ist schneller als dein Auto. (My car is faster than your car)

Superlative: To form the superlative, add “-ste» to the adjective stem, and use the form am… -sten if used before a noun. Often, there will be an umlaut if a vowel is present.

schnell (fast) -> am schnellsten (the fastest)

alt (old) -> am ältesten (the oldest)

groß (big) -> am größten (the biggest)

Mein Auto ist am schnellsten. (My car is the fastest.)

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms

Some adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms. Here are some of the most common:

gut (good) -> besser (better) -> am besten (the best)

viel (much/many) -> mehr (more) -> am meisten (the most)

gern (gladly) -> lieber (more gladly) -> am liebsten (most gladly)

Adverbs (Adverbien)

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They provide information about how, when, where, or to what extent something is done. Many adverbs are formed by taking the adjective and dropping the adjective ending.

Common Adverbs

Here are some common German adverbs:

sehr (zair) – very

schnell (shnel) – quickly, fast

langsam (lang-zahm) – slowly

oft (oft) – often

selten (zel-ten) – rarely

immer (im-mer) – always

nie (nee) – never

gern (gern) – gladly

hier (heer) – here

dort (dort) – there

Examples Using Adverbs

Er fährt sehr schnell. (air fairt zair shnel) – He drives very fast.

Sie spricht langsam. (zee shpriht lang-zahm) – She speaks slowly.

Ich gehe oft ins Kino. (ihh gay-e oft ins kee-no) – I often go to the cinema.

Wir lernen gern Deutsch. (veer ler-nen gern doitch) – We learn German gladly.

Das Haus ist dort. (das haus ist dort) – The house is there.

Word Order with Adverbs

Adverbs can often be placed in different positions in a sentence, depending on the emphasis you want to convey. However, adverbs of time often come before adverbs of place.

Word Bank

Adjektiv (at-yek-teef) – Adjective

Adverb (at-verp) – Adverb

gut (goot) – good

schön (shön) – beautiful

groß (grohs) – big

klein (klain) – small

schnell (shnel) – fast/quickly

langsam (lang-zahm) – slowly

sehr (zair) – very

Comparative (kom-pa-ra-teef) – Comparative

Superlative (zoo-per-la-teef) – Superlative

Exercises

Provide the comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives: jung, interessant, teuer.

Fill in the blanks with the correct adjective ending (after the definite article) in the nominative case:

Der ______ (alt) Mann liest.

Die ______ (schön) Frau singt.

Das ______ (klein) Kind spielt.

Translate the following sentences into German, using adjectives and adverbs:

The big house is very expensive.

She speaks German well. (gut)

The old man walks slowly.

He is the fastest runner.

Rewrite the sentences in exercise 3 using the comparative form of the adjectives or adverbs, making a new comparative sentence.

Ex: «My house is bigger than yours»

Create five original sentences in German, using a variety of adjectives and adverbs, paying attention to adjective endings.

That completes Chapter 12! You now have a solid understanding of adjectives, their agreement with nouns, how to use them in comparative and superlative forms, and how to use adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.