German Adjective Endings

In German, adjectives placed before a noun require an ending that signals the gender, case, and number of the noun. Adjectives used after sein (to be) do not take endings: Der Mann ist groß. But before a noun: der große Mann.

Three Declension Patterns

Which ending an adjective gets depends on what comes before it:
1. After a definite article (der, die, das, etc.): weak endings — mostly -e or -en.
2. After an indefinite article (ein, eine, kein, mein, etc.): mixed endings — the adjective picks up stronger endings where the article fails to show gender.
3. Without any article: strong endings — the adjective itself must carry the full gender/case signal.

The Logic Behind It

The core principle is that gender and case must be signaled somewhere. If the article already shows it clearly (like der, die, das), the adjective takes a weak, unobtrusive ending (-e or -en). If the article is ambiguous (ein could be masculine or neuter) or absent, the adjective takes a strong ending to carry that information.

Practical Tips

The weak declension (after der/die/das) is the simplest: use -e in the five nominative/accusative positions (masculine nom., feminine nom./acc., neuter nom./acc.) and -en everywhere else. For the mixed declension, the adjective takes a strong ending only where ein lacks a distinctive ending (masculine nominative: ein großer Mann; neuter nominative/accusative: ein großes Kind). For the strong declension (no article), the adjective ending mirrors the definite article ending (minus the d): großer Wein ← der, große Milch ← die, großes Bier ← das.