Descriptive Adjectives

Adjectives usually come before the noun they describe, and they can appear after certain verbs when describing a property of the subject. Adjective endings change based on whether the adjective is used attributively (before the noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb).

Every noun in German has a gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and adjectives must match the noun's gender and number through endings. Learn the endings for each gender in singular and plural to make descriptions agree.

Adjective endings also depend on the noun's case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) which shows the noun's grammatical role in the sentence. Pay attention to the article type (definite, indefinite, or none) because it affects the adjective endings.

There are three main adjective ending patterns: strong, weak, and mixed, which depend on whether the adjective follows a definite article, an indefinite article, or no article at all. Practice each pattern to apply adjectives correctly in different contexts.

Learn a set of common descriptive adjectives for size, color, shape, and character to use in everyday speech and writing. Adjectives like groß (big), klein (small), rot (red), and alt (old) appear frequently in descriptions.

When multiple adjectives describe a noun, they usually follow a typical order based on category (e.g. opinion, size, age, color). Keeping adjectives in natural order makes descriptions sound fluent and clear.

German descriptive adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun and follow predictable endings based on the article type. Adjectives normally come before the noun and follow a typical order when several appear together.