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Lesson 1: ADJECTIVES
Descriptive
adjectives
Descriptive adjectives modify nouns directly in front
of the noun they describe. In
German, descriptive adjectives receive special endings!
Example: Guter
Michael geht nach Hause. (Good
Michael goes home.)
The adjective gut (good) is placed in
front of the noun it modifies, Michael.
Hence, gut is being used as a descriptive adjective.
As seen in the example sentence, the adjective itself is gut,
but when used as a descriptive adjective, an ending is applied.
The specific ending depends on the gender, the case of the noun
that it modifies, and if it follows an article.
In the example above, there was no article in front
of the adjective guter. When
no article precedes the adjective, the following chart dictates the ending
that the adjective receives:
Adjective
Chart 1
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Situation
of the noun |
| Case |
Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter |
Plural |
| Nominative |
er |
e |
es |
e |
| Accusative |
en |
e |
es |
e |
| Dative |
em |
er |
em |
en |
Keeping with the example, gut became guter
because it...
-
...is not preceded by any article
-
...the noun it modifies, Michael, is
masculine
-
Michael is used in the nominative case
Hence, the correct ending for the descriptive
adjective is er, as indicated in the chart!
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