German adjective endings, explained
A German adjective takes no ending after sein ("Der Kaffee ist heiß") but always takes one before a noun. Which one follows from a single idea: the gender and case of the noun must be signalled once. If the article already shows it, as der, dem or des do, the adjective takes a weak ending, -e or -en: "Das ist der neue Lehrer." If the article shows nothing, as ein does in the masculine nominative, or there is no article, the adjective carries the signal itself: "Das ist ein neuer Lehrer."
Updated 24 October 2026
Adjective endings in one table
Every row uses the same adjective, heiß (hot). What decides the ending is the word in front of the noun, or the lack of one.
| Where the adjective is | Ending | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| After sein, werden, bleiben | None | Der Tee ist heiß. | The tea is hot. |
| After der, dieser, jeder, welcher, alle | Weak: -e or -en | der heiße Tee, mit dem heißen Tee | the hot tea, with the hot tea |
| After ein, kein, mein, dein… | Mixed: strong where ein has no ending, otherwise -en | ein heißer Tee, mit einem heißen Tee | a hot tea, with a hot tea |
| No article | Strong: the ending der, die or das would have had | heißer Tee, mit heißem Tee | hot tea, with hot tea |
| Two adjectives in a row | Both take the same ending | mit gutem, heißem Tee | with good, hot tea |
No ending after sein, an ending before a noun
An adjective can stand in two places. After sein, werden or bleiben it describes the subject from the far side of the verb, and there it never changes: der Kaffee ist heiß, die Suppe ist heiß, die Getränke sind heiß. This is the dictionary form, and it is the same for every gender, case and number. The same bare form is used when an adjective describes a verb: sie singt schön, er fährt schnell.
Put the adjective in front of the noun and it must end in something: der heiße Kaffee, eine heiße Suppe, heiße Getränke. Standard German has no bare adjective before a noun. Everything else on this page is about which ending that is.
.
The coffee is hot.
Select a word to see why it is there.
heißPredicate“hot”
- Why this word
- Adjective, used as a predicate
- Heiß stands after ist, not in front of a noun, so it takes no ending at all. Before the noun it would need one: der heiße Kaffee, ein heißer Kaffee.
- Dictionary
- heiß · adjective — hot
- Alternatives
- warm (less hot); kalt (cold)
In this sentence
- heiß · Predicate:
- Heiß stands after ist, not in front of a noun, so it takes no ending at all. Before the noun it would need one: der heiße Kaffee, ein heißer Kaffee.
- Die Stadt ist sehr schön. Wien ist eine schöne Stadt.The city is very beautiful. Vienna is a beautiful city.
- Das Wasser ist kalt. Ich trinke kein kaltes Wasser.The water is cold. I don’t drink cold water.
- Die Kinder werden müde. Die müden Kinder schlafen schon.The children are getting tired. The tired children are already asleep.
The one idea behind all three tables
German marks gender, case and number on the small words in front of a noun rather than on the noun itself. Mann looks the same as subject and object; der Mann and den Mann do not. The rule behind every adjective ending is that this signal has to appear once in the noun phrase. If the article carries it, the adjective has nothing left to say and takes a plain weak ending, -e or -en. If the article cannot carry it, or there is no article, the adjective takes the signal over and gets a strong ending.
The signals are the last letters of der, die and das in each case: -r in der, -n in den, -s in das, -e in die, -m in dem. A strong adjective ending ends in that same letter: -er, -en, -es, -e, -em. Learn the article table and you already know most of the strong one.
Ein is where the difference shows. In the masculine nominative, der ends in -r but ein ends in nothing, so the -r moves onto the adjective: der neue Lehrer, but ein neuer Lehrer. Neuter works the same way in the nominative and the accusative: das neue Auto, but ein neues Auto. In every other case ein has an ending of its own (einen, einem, eines, einer, eine), and the adjective goes back to weak.
.
That is the new teacher.
Select a word to see why it is there.
neueAdjective“new”
- Why this word
- Adjective, weak ending -e
- A weak ending, -e, because der has already signalled masculine nominative. Neuer here would say the same thing twice, which German does not do.
- Dictionary
- neu · adjective — new
- Alternatives
- junge (young); alte (old, former)
In this sentence
- neue · Adjective:
- A weak ending, -e, because der has already signalled masculine nominative. Neuer here would say the same thing twice, which German does not do.
- der · Determiner:
- The -r of der is the signal: masculine, nominative. Because the article shows it, the adjective does not have to.
.
That is a new teacher.
Select a word to see why it is there.
neuerAdjective“new”
- Why this word
- Adjective, strong ending -er
- The -er is the -r of der, moved onto the adjective because ein did not show it. Neue after ein would leave the phrase with no sign that Lehrer is masculine nominative.
- Dictionary
- neu · adjective — new
- Alternatives
- junger (young); netter (nice)
In this sentence
- neuer · Adjective:
- The -er is the -r of der, moved onto the adjective because ein did not show it. Neue after ein would leave the phrase with no sign that Lehrer is masculine nominative.
- ein · Determiner:
- Ein has no ending in the masculine nominative, so it could just as well be neuter. It leaves the signal unsaid, and the adjective has to supply it.
The two sentences differ in meaning only as "the" and "a" differ in English. The ending is not a choice of style or emphasis: once you have picked the article, the ending is fixed.
Weak endings: after der, dieser, jeder
The der-words are der, die, das and the words that end like them in every case: dieser (this), jener (that), jeder (each, every), welcher (which), mancher (many a), solcher (such) and, in the plural, alle (all). Each of them always shows the signal, so an adjective after any of them is always weak.
Weak endings come in only two forms, -e and -en. The table shows the nouns Mann (masculine), Stadt (feminine), Haus (neuter) and Freunde (plural) with the adjective alt.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der alte Mann | die alte Stadt | das alte Haus | die alten Freunde |
| Accusative | den alten Mann | die alte Stadt | das alte Haus | die alten Freunde |
| Dative | dem alten Mann | der alten Stadt | dem alten Haus | den alten Freunden |
| Genitive | des alten Mannes | der alten Stadt | des alten Hauses | der alten Freunde |
The -en shortcut: every plural after a der-word ends in -en, every dative and every genitive ends in -en, and so does the masculine accusative. That leaves -e for just five places: the nominative singular of all three genders, and the feminine and neuter accusative, which look the same as their nominative. If you are unsure, -en is right far more often than -e.
.
I’m helping the old man.
Select a word to see why it is there.
altenAdjective“old”
- Why this word
- Adjective, weak ending -en
- After a der-word, every dative ending is -en. "Dem alte Mann" is a common slip: -e belongs only to the nominative and to the feminine and neuter accusative.
- Dictionary
- alt · adjective — old
- Alternatives
- kranken (sick); netten (nice)
In this sentence
- alten · Adjective:
- After a der-word, every dative ending is -en. "Dem alte Mann" is a common slip: -e belongs only to the nominative and to the feminine and neuter accusative.
- dem · Determiner:
- The -m of dem is the dative signal for a masculine noun. With it in place, the adjective needs no signal of its own.
- Wie findest du dieses blaue Kleid?What do you think of this blue dress?
- Welcher neue Kollege fängt am Montag an?Which new colleague starts on Monday?
- Wir wohnen in der kleinen Straße hinter dem Bahnhof.We live in the little street behind the station.
- Alle neuen Kollegen bekommen einen Laptop.All new colleagues get a laptop.
Mixed endings: after ein, kein, mein
The ein-words are ein, kein and the possessives: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer and Ihr. They all take the endings ein takes. Ein has no plural, but kein and the possessives do: keine Freunde, meine Freunde.
An ein-word shows the signal everywhere except in three places: the masculine nominative (ein Mann) and the neuter nominative and accusative (ein Haus). In those three cells the adjective takes the strong ending, -er for masculine and -es for neuter. Everywhere else the mixed table is the weak table, -en shortcut included.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein alter Mann | eine alte Stadt | ein altes Haus | meine alten Freunde |
| Accusative | einen alten Mann | eine alte Stadt | ein altes Haus | meine alten Freunde |
| Dative | einem alten Mann | einer alten Stadt | einem alten Haus | meinen alten Freunden |
| Genitive | eines alten Mannes | einer alten Stadt | eines alten Hauses | meiner alten Freunde |
.
My brother has a new car.
Select a word to see why it is there.
neuesAdjective“new”
- Why this word
- Adjective, strong ending -es
- The -es is the -s of das, carried by the adjective because ein left it out. With the definite article it would be weak: das neue Auto.
- Dictionary
- neu · adjective — new
- Alternatives
- altes (old); teures (expensive)
In this sentence
- neues · Adjective:
- The -es is the -s of das, carried by the adjective because ein left it out. With the definite article it would be weak: das neue Auto.
- ein · Determiner:
- Neuter accusative: das has -s, but ein has no ending. The signal is missing from the article, so the adjective must carry it.
- Das ist kein schlechter Preis.That’s not a bad price.
- Hast du keinen warmen Pullover?Haven’t you got a warm jumper?
- Sie fährt mit ihrem neuen Fahrrad zur Arbeit.She cycles to work on her new bike.
- Wir haben keine frischen Brötchen mehr.We’ve got no fresh rolls left.
Strong endings: no article at all
When nothing stands in front of the adjective, it carries the full signal itself. That happens with mass nouns such as Wasser, Milch and Kaffee, with plurals that have no article, after numbers (zwei, drei…) and after viele, einige, wenige and mehrere, which behave like no article at all. The strong ending is the ending der, die or das would have had: kalter Kaffee like der Kaffee, kaltem Wasser like dem Wasser.
There is one place where the adjective does not copy the article: the masculine and neuter genitive. Des would give -es, but the noun already ends in -s there, so the adjective relaxes to -en: trotz starken Regens (despite heavy rain). Note too that the masculine accusative is -en either way, because the article’s own signal there, in den, is an n.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | kalter Kaffee | frische Milch | kaltes Wasser | frische Eier |
| Accusative | kalten Kaffee | frische Milch | kaltes Wasser | frische Eier |
| Dative | kaltem Kaffee | frischer Milch | kaltem Wasser | frischen Eiern |
| Genitive | kalten Kaffees | frischer Milch | kalten Wassers | frischer Eier |
.
When the weather is nice, we eat in the garden.
Select a word to see why it is there.
schönemAdjective“nice”
- Why this word
- Adjective, strong ending -em
- There is no article to show neuter dative, so the adjective takes the -m of dem itself. With an article it would relax to weak: bei dem schönen Wetter.
- Dictionary
- schön · adjective — beautiful, nice
- Alternatives
- gutem (good); schlechtem (bad: bei schlechtem Wetter)
In this sentence
- schönem · Adjective:
- There is no article to show neuter dative, so the adjective takes the -m of dem itself. With an article it would relax to weak: bei dem schönen Wetter.
Two or more adjectives before the same noun all take the same ending. The second one does not relax because the first has already signalled: both stand in the same place relative to the article, so both get what the table gives that place. Mit gutem, heißem Kaffee; ein großer, schwerer Koffer; die alten, grauen Häuser. Use a comma between them when you could put und in its place.
- Kalte Milch schmeckt mir nicht.I don’t like cold milk.
- Sie hat lange, dunkle Haare.She has long dark hair.
- Wir sprechen mit vielen netten Leuten.We talk to lots of nice people.
- Die Kirche ist aus rotem Stein.The church is made of red stone.
Common mistakes
NotDie Suppe ist kalte.
ButDie Suppe ist kalt.
After sein the adjective is a predicate and takes no ending. Endings only go on adjectives in front of a noun: die kalte Suppe.
NotIch habe ein kleine Haus.
ButIch habe ein kleines Haus.
Haus is neuter and ein has no ending, so nothing yet says neuter. The adjective takes the -es of das.
NotWo ist das rotes Auto?
ButWo ist das rote Auto?
Das already carries the neuter signal. Repeating it on the adjective says it twice; after a der-word the adjective is weak.
NotIch gehe mit dem alte Freund essen.
ButIch gehe mit dem alten Freund essen.
Every dative after an article ends in -en. The -e ending belongs only to the nominative and to the feminine and neuter accusative.
NotDie neue Schuhe sind bequem.
ButDie neuen Schuhe sind bequem.
Die is plural here, and every plural after a der-word or an ein-word ends in -en. Die neue is feminine singular.
NotIch trinke Tee mit warmer, frische Milch.
ButIch trinke Tee mit warmer, frischer Milch.
Adjectives in a row take the same ending. With no article, both carry the strong dative feminine -er.
Practise these with the tutorwith Pro
Check yourself
1 / 10
Choose the right form of klein after sein.
Das Zimmer ist leider sehr ___.
Answer
kleines: This would only be right before a noun, as in ein kleines Zimmer. After ist there is no ending.
kleine: An ending like -e belongs before a noun (das kleine Zimmer), never after sein.
klein ✓: Right. After sein the adjective describes the subject from across the verb and takes no ending.
2 / 10
Choose the right form of groß after ein.
Wir haben ein ___ Problem.
Answer
große: The weak -e would only work after das (das große Problem), where the article already shows neuter.
großer: The -er would make Problem masculine. It is das Problem, so the strong ending is -es.
großes ✓: Right. Problem is neuter, ein shows no ending, so the adjective takes the -s of das.
3 / 10
Choose the right form of alt after dieses.
Dieses ___ Fahrrad gehört meiner Schwester.
Answer
alten: The -en would fit a dative or a plural. This is the nominative singular, where the weak ending is -e.
alte ✓: Right. Dieses already shows neuter nominative, so the adjective is weak: -e.
altes: That repeats the -es that dieses already carries. Altes is right only when the article shows nothing: ein altes Fahrrad.
4 / 10
Choose the right form of klein in the dative.
Sie wohnt in einer ___ Wohnung.
Answer
kleine: The -e ending belongs to the feminine nominative and accusative (eine kleine Wohnung). In the dative it becomes -en.
kleinen ✓: Right. In with a place takes the dative, einer shows it, and every dative after an article ends in -en.
kleiner: Kleiner is the strong ending, for when no article shows the signal. Einer already carries it.
5 / 10
Choose the right form of neu with a plural noun.
Die ___ Nachbarn sind sehr nett.
Answer
neuer: The -er would be a strong ending, used only when nothing in front shows the signal. Die already shows it.
neuen ✓: Right. Nachbarn is plural, and every plural after a der-word ends in -en.
neue: Neue after die is feminine singular (die neue Nachbarin). With a plural noun the ending is -en.
6 / 10
Choose the right form of gesalzen, the second of two adjectives.
Nudeln kocht man in heißem, ___ Wasser.
Answer
gesalzenes: The -es is nominative or accusative neuter. In here takes the dative, which needs the -em of dem.
gesalzenem ✓: Right. Both adjectives share the strong neuter dative ending -em, because there is no article.
gesalzenen: The second adjective does not go weak after the first. Both stand in the same place, so both take -em.
7 / 10
Type gut with the right ending after einen.
Ich suche einen ___ Zahnarzt.
Answer
guten
Einen already shows masculine accusative, so the adjective is weak: guten.
8 / 10
Type frisch with the right ending, with no article.
Er trinkt jeden Morgen ___ Orangensaft.
Answer
frischen
No article, masculine accusative: the strong ending copies the -n of den, so frischen.
9 / 10
Build the sentence: one adjective before the noun, one after the verb.
“This green jacket is too expensive.”
Answer
Diese grüne Jacke ist zu teuer
The same kind of word takes an ending before the noun (grüne) and none after the verb (teuer).
10 / 10
Build the sentence with ein and a strong ending.
“We are looking for a cheap hotel.”
Answer
Wir suchen ein günstiges Hotel
After ein in the neuter, the adjective carries the gender signal: ein günstiges Hotel, but das günstige Hotel.
Adjective endings in Epsylo
Every German sentence you translate or break down in Epsylo shows each adjective as a word of its own, with the article it follows and the noun it agrees with. Select the adjective to see which ending it took and why: weak after an article that already signals, strong where the article is silent or missing.
Questions
- Why is it "einen alten Mann" with -en, the same as "den alten Mann"?
- Because einen, unlike ein, has an ending. It already shows masculine accusative, so the adjective is weak, and the weak masculine accusative is -en. The mixed table only differs from the weak one where the ein-word has no ending: ein in the masculine nominative and in the neuter nominative and accusative.
- Do adjectives after sein ever take an ending?
- No. After sein, werden and bleiben the adjective stays in its dictionary form: die Suppe ist kalt. The -er in "der Tee ist heißer als der Kaffee" is the comparative, hotter, not a case ending.
- What ending comes after viele, einige or zwei?
- The strong one, as if there were no article: viele gute Ideen, mit zwei kleinen Kindern. Alle is different: it is a der-word, so alle guten Ideen.
- Is there a trick for learning German adjective endings?
- Learn the article table first, then ask one question: has the article already shown gender and case? If yes, the adjective takes -e or -en. If no, it takes the article’s own ending. When in doubt, -en is the most common ending by far.
- Why is it "der Deutsche" but "ein Deutscher"?
- Nouns made from adjectives keep the adjective endings: der Deutsche, ein Deutscher, die Deutschen. The same goes for der Bekannte, ein Bekannter (an acquaintance) and der Erwachsene, ein Erwachsener (an adult).
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