German Grammar - Adjectives

Adjectives

German adjectives normally go before the noun which they are changing. German adjectives have endings which depend on the case, number and (in the singular) gender of the nominal phrase, but there are in fact two sets of endings, called the strong endings and the weak endings. Which set is used depends on what kind of word the adjective comes after, and sometimes also on the gender and case.

Like articles, adjectives use the same plural endings for all three genders.

"Ein lauter Krach"

"Der laute Krach"

"Der große, schöne Mond"

Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.

In contrast to Romance languages, adjectives are only declined in the attributive position (that is, when used in nominal phrases to describe a noun directly). Predicative adjectives, separated from the noun by "to be", for example, are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverbs.

NOT: "Die Musik ist laute" BUT "Die Musik ist laut" or, less frequently, "Die Musik ist eine laute"

There are three degrees of comparison: positive form, comparative form and superlative form. In contrast to Latin or Italian, there is no grammatical feature for the absolute superlative (elative).