German declension
The German declension describes a division of the formation of word forms ( inflection ) within the German grammar . Declination is generally the opposite of conjugation (the formation of verbs ). It describes the formation of forms in nominal parts of speech (in the broad sense of nouns ); these are: noun ( noun ), adjective ( adjective , epithet), pronoun (pronoun), numerals ( numeral ) and article (gender, companion).
The grammatical features that play the main role for the German declension are:
- Case (case): nominative (who-case), genitive (Wes [sen] case), dative (who-case), accusative (who-case)
- Number : Singular (singular) and plural (plural)
- Genus (sex): masculine (male sex), feminine (female sex), neuter (neuter gender).
In addition, there is the so-called strength flexion with adjectives .
The declension in German is mostly done with the help of endings ( suffixes ) (Haus, Haus-es, Haus-e, Häus-er, Häus-ern) ; With some of these endings, the stressed vowel has to be changed with certain German nouns (Haus - Häuser, Vater - Fäter) . Depending on the nature of the root of the word, endings can be completely omitted (one window - many windows) , any umlaut has been retained (the floor - the floors) .
Due to merging with the root of the word in earlier language epochs, the inflection of the nouns split into several classes with different endings. Adjectives and pronouns, on the other hand, have their own endings.
Nouns and personal pronouns
Nouns
Strong, weak, and mixed declension of nouns
In the grammar tradition according to Jacob Grimm , a distinction is made between strong, weak and mixed declension of nouns. The assignment of nouns to these classes is based on the ending in the genitive singular and in the nominative plural. However, the definitions and classification criteria differ in the various grammars (see notes).
Genitive singular | Nominative plural | class | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine and neuter (masculine and neuter nouns) | |||
- (e) s (= -es or -s) |
[a]: none - (e) n [b]: -e, -er, -s or -Ø [c]: -e, -er or -Ø |
strong | Day, advice, child, bike, teacher according to [a] and [b], not according to [c]: accumulator |
- (e) n | - (e) n | weak | Man, Prince, Rabbit ( Note: There are no neutrals here. ) |
-(it | - (e) n | mixed | Country; eye |
- (e) ns | - (e) n | unclassified | Letter |
Feminina (feminine nouns) | |||
- | - (e) n | [A]: weak or [B]: mixed |
woman |
- | [a]: none - (e) n or [b]: -e, -er, -s or -Ø or [c]: -e, -er or -Ø |
strong | Goose, hand; Mother * according to [a] and [b], not according to [c]: camera; Mom, grandma * |
Remarks:
- * The classification takes place regardless of the ending -s , which can occur in the genitive singular, as in mother's birthday ( Saxon genitive ). and grandma’s clothes box.
- Masculine and neuter with genitive singular -s and nominative plural -s (example: Akku) as well as feminine with genitive -Ø and plural -s (example: camera) belong after [a] (as with Hentschel & Weydt, Roeckel ) and [b ] (as with Pons: The great German grammar ) to the strong nouns, after [c] (as with Pons: Zweifelsfrei Deutsch Grammar and Pons: Perfect German ) they are not classified.
- Feminine with genitive singular -Ø and nominative plural - (e) n belong to the weak nouns after [A] (so with Pons: Zweifelsfrei Deutsch Grammar , Pons: Perfect German and Pons: The great German grammar ), after [B] ( so with Hennings ) to the mixed.
This distinction between strong, weak and mixed declensions of nouns is not without controversy, especially with regard to the feminine.
Strong declensions are denoted in this article with S for English strong 'stark' and weak and mixed with W for weak 'weak'.
Principles
In general, the following principles apply to the declension of all nouns:
- Feminines are usually immutable in the singular. Proper names and the words Mama, Mami, Mutti, Oma, Omi are excluded . In the latter words there genitive as the bag of Mama and Mama's pocket .
- In the plural, nominative, genitive and accusative are always identical: the days, the days, the days.
- In the case of feminine and neuter, in singular and plural, nominative and accusative are always identical.
- The dative singular ending -e in some classes is rarely used today.
- There are the following endings: - (e), - (e) n, - (e) r, - (e) s . With strong nouns, the dative plural and, with masculine and neuter, the genitive singular is most clearly recognizable.
The following applies to nouns whose root ends in unstressed -e, -el, -en, -er :
- These nouns are never declined after S2, so they never have the ending -er .
- All appended endings lose their "e", so the endings are: -, -n, -s .
Due to the small number of endings, the case of a noun can often only be determined by additional articles or other attributes (for example: the base, the base, the base, the base ).
Some words have several different plural forms, and some of these words have different meanings associated with the different plural forms.
- Word : Words are vocabulary from a dictionary, words are a careful sequence of individual words (“he didn't make many words”, “the poet's words”).
- Bank : Benches are seating, banks are financial institutions.
Affiliation and overview
A noun itself does not give any information about belonging to a class of inflection. In general, however, it can be stated that
- Nouns with unstressed -e as well as most feminines are usually declined after W1 / W2;
- Nouns on unstressed -en are usually declined after S5 / S6;
- Nouns with unstressed -el, -er are usually declined after S5 / S6 if they are masculine / neutral, or after W2 if they are feminine;
- Feminine can only be inflected after S3 or W2 (exceptions: mother and daughter after S5).
The declination classes can be summarized as
- e-class , the plural ends in -e , umlaut for S1 / S3 / S5, no umlaut for S4 / S6
- er class , the plural ends in -er , always with umlaut, class S2
- en class , the plural ends in - (e) n , without umlaut, classes W1 / W2
- Mixed class, W3 and W4
case | e class | e-class without "e" |
he class | en class | en class without "e" |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Day (mask.) | Base (mask.) | House (neutr.) | Man (mask.) | Grape (fem.) | |
Nominative singular | the day | the base | the House | the human being | the grape |
Genitive singular | of the day | of the base | of the House | of the human | the grape |
Dative singular | the day (s) | the base | the house | man | the grape |
Accusative singular | the day | the base | the House | the people | the grape |
Nominative plural | the days | the socket | H ä user | the people | the grapes |
Genitive plural | the day | the base | H ä user | the human | of grapes |
Dative plural | the days | the pedestals | H ä usern | the people | the grapes |
Accusative plural | the days | the socket | H ä user | the people | the grapes |
Strong declination
- Nominative and accusative are always identical.
- The genitive singular masculine / neuter ends in - (e) s .
- The dative singular masculine / neuter can end in -e .
- In the plural, many nouns of all three genders have an umlaut (a> ä, aa> ä, au> äu, o> ö, u> ü). Umlauted double vowels are written in abbreviated form (e.g. hall - halls ). Nouns that do not have a, o, u as a stem vowel cannot be umlauted (e.g. Brett - Bretter ; the plural ending -er always has umlaut).
Historically speaking, strong declension classes are based on the ancient Germanic classes with a stem-forming theme vowel . A distinction was made between a-, i-, o- and u-strains . Only feminine belonged to the o-stems , only masculine and neuter belonged to the a-stems . Since the Middle High German period, all former u-stems have been treated like nouns from some other class.
Since all final vowels in Middle High German were weakened to a weak e , there is no longer any difference between these two classes - except for the umlaut in the plural. For example, in the singular day - day - days - day and guest - guest - guests - guest (the endings are the same), in the plural, but days - days compared to "G ä ste - G like most" (identical endings, but umlaut in guest ). Tag was an old a-stem (Gothic dative plural dagam , German: days), while Gast was an old i-stem (Gothic dative plural gastim , German: guests). So you have to learn the plural form with every noun, because it is no longer clear from the root of the word whether it was formerly an a- or an i-stem .
The formation according to the o-stems was lost in early New High German times, most of the nouns concerned are now weakly declined. The ending -er (with umlaut) appears for the first time in Old High German with a few sporadic neutrals to form the plural. It was later extended to a large part of all neuter and some masculine nouns.
The classes S1, S2 and S4 are reserved for the masculine and neuter, the class S3 for the feminine.
S1: Umlaut + e (m./n.)
Many masculine and some neuter belong to this class.
case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | the tree | the B ä to e |
Genitive | of the tree (s) s | the B ä to e |
dative | the tree ( s ) | the B ä to s |
accusative | the tree | the B ä to e |
- Examples of masculine characters: Bach, Napf, Zahn, Hof ...
- Example for Neutra: Raft ...
S2: Umlaut + er
In this class, all masculine and neuter forms are represented which have an umlaut in the plural and the ending morphem -er .
case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | the forest | W ä ld he |
Genitive | of the forest (e) s | W ä ld he |
dative | the forest ( s ) | the W ä ld ren |
accusative | The forest | W ä ld he |
- Examples of masculine: mouth, rim, shrub, worm ...
- Examples of neuter: office, leaf, hole, wood ...
S3: Umlaut + e (f.)
About 40 feminine nouns in non-compound form belong to this class .
case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | the fruit | The Question ü cht e |
Genitive | the fruit | the Fr ü cht e |
dative | the fruit | the Fr ü cht en |
accusative | the fruit | The Question ü cht e |
Examples: fear, arrival, evasion, ax, bench (to sit on), bride, rut, heat, breast, fist, fruit, goose, swelling (f. (Also n.); Also with the plural form swelling), crypt, hand , Skin, gap, strength, cow, art, louse, air, lust, power, maid, mouse, night, seam, need, nut, sow (also with the plural form sows), gorge (also with the plural form gorges), cord , lap (women skirt; and with the plural shot), city, -instead of (for example, sleeping place;. with the plural form RESIDENTIAL LEISURE ), addiction, wall bead (f (also m)..), sausage, guild.
S4: -e (without umlaut)
The masculine and neuter of this class inflect like those from S1, but they have no umlaut in the plural.
case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | the sheep | the sheep e |
Genitive | of the sheep (s) | the sheep e |
dative | the sheep (s) | the sheep s |
accusative | the sheep | the sheep e |
- Examples of masculine characters: construction (cave, shelter), mountain, wick, fish, belt ...
- Examples of neuter: bone, bread, camel, horse ...
This includes all nouns ending in -ment , e.g. B. Parchment, Testament
S5: umlaut without ending
This class mainly includes masculines ending in -el, -en, -er and two feminines ending in -er :
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | the floor | the B ö the | the mother | M u tter | |
Genitive | of the soil s | the B ö the | mother | M u tter | |
dative | the floor | the B ö the | mother | M u tter n | |
accusative | the ground | the B ö the | the mother | M u tter |
- Note: Mother can also accept s in the genitive singular , for example on mother's birthday .
- Examples of masculine characters: ground, bow, thread, harbor ...
- Example for Neutra: Monastery ...
These include the family names, remnants of the Indo-European r-tribes:
- Masculine: brother, father
- Feminine: mother, daughter
- Sister is weakly declined.
S6: unchanged plural
Mainly masculine and neuter on -el, -er belong to this class ; the only endings are -s in the genitive singular and -n in the dative plural.
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | the hunter | the hunters | The victim | the victims | |
Genitive | of the hunter s | the hunter | of the victim s | the victim | |
dative | the hunter | the hunter n | the victim | the victim n | |
accusative | the hunter | the hunters | The victim | the victims |
- Examples of masculine characters: citizens, opponents, masters, articles, devils ...
- Examples of neuter: window, fire, pack, sails ...
Almost all names of offenders belong here, as well as many names of peoples: baker, hunter, African, English, Australian ...
Weak and mixed declension
The weak classes developed from the ancient Germanic n -stems, i.e. nouns whose stem originally ended in -n- . This -n- can still be seen in the declination to this day. In Germanic a distinction was made between an -, in - and on - stems - as with the a -, i - and o - stems of the strong declension an - stems were reserved for masculine and neuter , on - stems reserved for feminine; The in -stems only include abstracts from adjectives (e.g. height, size, length ). The only difference to the strong classes here is that all umlaut-capable in -stems also have the umlaut in the singular.
The ending -en actually corresponds to the original root word, but all subsequent endings have been omitted. ( Take the Gothic declination series hraba - hrabins - hrabin - hraban - hrabans - hrabane - hrabam - hrabans as an example : the first form hraba corresponds to raven in New High German , all other forms appear simplified to ravens ).
W1: - (e) n (m./n.)
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | the bear | the bear s | the farmer | the peasant n | |
Genitive | the bear s | the bear en | of the farmer n | the farmer n | |
dative | the bear s | the bear s | the farmer n | the farmer n | |
accusative | the bear s | the bear s | the farmer n | the peasant n |
- This type of declination is called the N-declension in German grammar .
- Nouns of this class are in the singular colloquially sometimes sharply declined in nouns on -e although there is usually not the case (colloquial examples: "the bear ↔ the raven, the bear ↔ The Raven", "the bear ↔ Raven") is.
- Examples of masculine: bear, human, hero, gentleman (genitive: gentleman or seldom gentlemen , plural gentlemen ), prince, count, prince, tsar, welfare, gift, shepherd, mayor, sparrow, finch, peacock, griffin, leu, fool , Tor, idiot, dude, Mohr, colonel, subject, ancestor, ancestor, type, graph, tyrant, comrade, messenger, raven, lion, puppy ...
This subheading includes all denominations of affiliation with the following endings ( suffixes ):
- -ad: nomad
- -ale (m.): cannibals, rivals, vandals
- -and: subject
- -ant: demonstrator, elephant, giant, informant, client, musician, mutant, passer-by, protestant, sextant, satellite
- -arch: anarch, monarch, oligarch
- -at: autocrat, automaton, democrat, diplomat, castrato, magnate, pirate, prelate, primate (mammal), soldier
- -ent: high school graduate, lecturer, client, competitor, counterparty, president, student
- -et: exegete, comet, magnet, planet, prophet
- -isk: obelisk
- -is: anarchist, artist, Buddhist, Christian
- -ik: Catholic
- -it: Alewit, Hermit, Yemeni, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabit
- -one: Mormon, Ottone
- -ot: Chaot, idiot
- -and: vagabond
- -ut: Recruit
- -aut: astronaut , cosmonaut , argonaut
- -eut: therapist , pharmacist
Further all designations on -graph / -graf , -loge , -nom and -soph :
- Biographer , digraph , geographer , photographer / photographer
- Astrologer, biologist, geologist, neurologist, philologist, psychologist
- Astronomer, economist, taxonomist
- Philosopher, theosophist
A large part of the names for people belonging to the people with the ending -e also belong here :
- Afghan, Apache, British, Chinese, Burmese, Dane, Estonian, Finn ...
W2: - (e) n (f.)
Most feminines belong in this class. The short ending -n can come after the stem-ending -l- or -r- and after a vowel. With stems ending in -in (n) - the second -n- appears only in the plural in today's spelling. Particularly original o and on strains are in this class.
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | forehead | brow s | the pear | the pear n | |
Genitive | the forehead | forehead s | the pear | the pear n | |
dative | the forehead | the front en | the pear | the pear n | |
accusative | forehead | brow s | the pear | the pear n |
Examples of feminine:
- Axis, acacia, avenue, ant ...
- Bunting, aster, leaves, magpie, flounder ...
- Type, bay, drive, corridor (usable land area), woman, ford, mudslide, look, layer, ravine, forehead, deed, clock, shipyard ...
This subheading includes most tree names, fruit names, many animal and flower names and names for musical instruments, as well as all words with the following suffixes :
- -ade: carbonade, lemonade, jam, masquerade, parade, castling, chocolate
- - eel: fountain, moraine, moray eel
- -ete: machete, rocket
- -ette: cassette, clarinet, cuff, puppet, tweezers, pipette, rosette, silhouette
- -euse: chauffeuse, hairdresser
- -ie: allergy, embolism
- -in (obsolete also -inn), plural -i nn s: princess, bitch, journalist, teacher, princess, seamstress
- -ine: sinkhole, curtain, canteen, cousine, avalanche, machine, praline, raisin, saline, slavine, turbine
- -ode: fashion, period
- -ole: console, password
- -osis: diagnosis, neurosis, psychosis, thrombosis, tuberculosis, cirrhosis
- -ure: allure, brochure, reading, manicure
Furthermore, all abstractions that end on -heit, -keit, -ion, -ung belong here.
W3: 1st mixed class, genitive - (e) s
The singular of this mixed class inflects strongly (genitive on - (e) s ), the plural weakly.
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | the eye | the eyes n | the ear | ear s | |
Genitive | of the eye s | the eye n | of the ear (s) | ear s | |
dative | the eye | the eye n | the ear (s) | ear s | |
accusative | the eye | the eyes n | the ear | ear s |
- Examples of masculine words : pain, state , nouns ending in -tor (author, prospector, ...)
- Examples of neuter: eye, ear, shirt, bed, verb ...
Bau (building) with the irregular plural `` Bauuten '' also belongs to this class .
W4: 2nd mixed class, genitive -ens
In this mixed class, weak and strong genitive endings are combined, the other cases go to W1. Most (masculine) nouns in this class have a variant on -en in the nominative singular in addition to a form ending in -e , e.g. B. the seed and the seed .
case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | the name | the name n | the heart | heart s | |
Genitive | of the name ns | the name n | Heart ens | heart s | |
dative | the name n | the name n | the heart (s) | the heart s | |
accusative | the name n | the name n | the heart | heart s |
- Examples of masculine: letter, name, seed, peace, spark, belief (s), will, thought, heap (s)
- Example of neuter: heart
Abbreviations and foreign words
Abbreviations can have -s in the plural , masculine and neuter can also have this ending in the genitive singular: the IM, the IM [s], the IM [s]; the pc, the pc [s], the pc [s]; the CD, the CD, the CDs . The other cases are unchangeable.
Foreign words are hardly subject to fixed rules. Often they are declined just like German words by placing them in a class (this is especially true for loan words, for example army - armies, Karzer - Karzer ... ).
Otherwise the following usually applies:
- The genitive singular masculine / neuter has the ending -s (after s, x, z it is usually omitted).
- The dative and accusative singular have no ending.
- Feminines are usually immutable in the singular.
- The ending for all cases of the plural is often irregular, the dative plural remains unchanged in these cases.
- Foreign words that end in a vowel (except for a short e ) and are younger or come from French or English usually have -s in all plural forms : cameras, offices, cafes, casinos, hummingbirds, taxis . Exceptions: pizzas (also pizzas and pizzas ), risks (including risk ). The genitive is: the camera, the cafe, the office, the hummingbird, the casino, the taxi, the pizza , etc.
- Foreign words are partially classified in a German class. The facade (Pl. Facades) and the Box (Pl. Boxes) have been classified in the weak class, while computers and scanners are declined like teachers . In the case of other foreign words, the foreign plural ( e.g. debuts, fans, joysticks, hits, kids ) is retained.
For foreign words from Latin and Greek, but also from Romance languages, the following applies:
- Many foreign words are completely Germanized: helicopter - the helicopter, photographer - the photographer ...
- Foreign words that received their old rectus ending were sometimes given the German plural endings: center - centers, museum - museums, magma - magmas, globe - globes, virus - viruses, stimulant - stimulants ... , the genitive is simply des Center, the museum, the magma, the globe or the globe, the virus, the stimulant .
- Others, however, have even received their old plural ending: the internship - the internship - the internship, the supernova - the supernova - the supernovae, the term - the term - the terms, the lexicon - the lexicon - the lexica, the genus - the gender - the genera, the tense - the tense - the tenses, the case - the case - the case, the numerale - the numeral - the numeralia or the numeralia .
- A common Greek plural type for neuter consists of the ending -ta / te : the climate - the climates, the stigma - the stigmata, the comma - the commas ...
- Further remnants of old plural forms with Germanized subsidiary forms are the lexicon - the lexicon - the lexicons / lexicons, the atlas - the atlas / atlas - the atlases / atlases, the visa - the visa - the visas / visas ...
Foreign words from other languages have partly been completely Germanized (e.g. the typhoon - the typhoon - the typhoons ), others (less common ones) have retained their original plural form (e.g. the ksar - the ksars - the ksur , what is meant is one rectangular Berber settlement).
Proper names
Proper names usually have no plural, the only changed case is then the genitive singular: Moscow - Moscow, Mississippi - Mississippi, Mount Everest - Mount Everest ...
Personal names are often put before or after the noun in the genitive without an article ( Peters Ziegen , die Sorge Uriels ) - personal names of all genders get the ending -s - if this would not be audible due to a preceding sibilant (s, ß, x, z), is replaced by an apostrophe: Peters, Veronikas, Hans', Max ', Fritz'. Instead of the apostrophe there is sometimes the ending -ens : Fritzens .
Sometimes a plural also has to be formed. There are actually no fixed rules at all. You can do this as follows:
- There is no ending for names in an unstressed -er : all Peter in the world .
- In the case of names with a sibilant, the ending -e can be used with umlaut: all Mäxe / Hänse in the world .
- Often there is the plural ending -s : all Veronikas / Uriels / ... in the world .
Different rules sometimes apply to names from Latin:
- Petrus , genitive Petri
- Jesus , genitive / dative / vocative Jesu , accusative Jesum
- Maria sometimes has the old genitive Mariä (next to Marias and Mariens ). This form is also common as an ancient dative (the accusative Mariam is no longer in use).
In names of companies or organizations and titles of works, there is a certain tendency to give up the declination by sometimes the nominative for all cases occurs (Gen .: operating the German train instead: operation of the German n train , Dat .: in Schiller robbers instead: in Schiller's robbers ). This is rejected by language teaching.
Personal pronouns
Inflection of the personal pronouns
The declension of personal pronouns is fundamentally different from that of all other nouns, if only because many pronouns have different stems (for example I ↔ me , we ↔ us )
This state has been present since Indo-European times, compare:
- German I , Gothic ik , ancient Indian ahám opposite German me , Gothic mik , Latin mē , ancient Greek emé , me ;
- German we , Gothic weis , Hittite u̯ēš versus German us , Gothic us , Hittite ang- .
In the 3rd person there are different stems:
- the pronominal stem i- is based on German he / him / him ~ es , Gothic is / imma / ina ~ ita , Latin is / ei / eum 'this, he' ~ id 'this, it';
- the demonstrative stem ḱi- (continued in her , here and there ) occurs in Dutch hij / hem ~ het , English he / him , Scandinavian han / ham .
The personal pronoun enk in the acc. Plural, which occurs in some Bavarian dialects , comes from the original dual form * inke of the 2nd person, compare Old Saxon ink and Old English inc . German no longer knows any other dual forms.
- A reflexive personal pronoun only exists in the dative and accusative (itself) . In the genitive, the pronoun of the 3rd person jumps in (his / her) .
- The genitive of the personal pronoun is rarely used today. Basically, it only appears as an object after verbs that require the genitive ( remembers me, have mercy on us, remember them ... ; the obsolete forms my, yours , for example don't forget mine ) are also used here.
The possessive pronouns indicate possession (see below).
Singular | Plural | reflexive | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
case | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 3rd person | ||
Nominative | I | you | he | she | it | we | her | she | |
Genitive | My mine) | your (your) | his (his) | of their | his (his) | our (our) | your (yours) | of their | |
dative | me | to you | him | her | him | us | to you | them | themselves |
accusative | me | you | him | she | it | us | to you | she | themselves |
In the genitive, the shorter form is common for the plural, the longer form for the singular and the contraction with due . When contracting, the final -er is converted into -et (on my account, on account of you, on account of him, on account of you, on account of us, on account of you, because of you).
Personal pronouns as part of the noun phrase
In individual cases, personal pronouns can be followed by adjectives:
- After me , you and you adjectives are strongly inflected ( I poor-it chicken; you love-er God; you crazy-er; you wild-es kaleidoscope ) in the dative also weakly inflected ( with me poor-er / poor-en woman ; with you lazy-em / lazy-guy ).
- After you and us , adjectives are usually weak in the nominative ( you hard-working [less often: hard-working ] readers; you two [seitener:] both ), in the other case, however, they are strongly inflected ( for you hard-working readers; for you Hardworking ).
Case and gender
Use of the case
The nominative
The nominative (who-case) stands as the subject of the sentence; it also takes on the form of the vocative: the cat jumps on the table, the snow falls, he gives him the shoe ; come, dear cat, come !, (oh) man !, you idiot! . It is usually at the beginning of a sentence, often after the finite predicate, an adverb or an object.
Adjectives and nouns in the nominative, together with the auxiliary verb sein, can form the intransitive predicate: he is great, she is his secretary, many people are Protestants, they will soon be unemployed .
The genitive
The genitive is used relatively rarely in colloquial language and dialects , it is most often used in high-level language.
The range of functions of the genitive is the greatest of all four cases:
- Formation of the possessive: the trader's book, Ursula's house
- Affiliation: the door of the house, the leaves of the trees
- Genitive object in certain verbs: they expelled him from the country, he was accused of this crime
- It comes after the prepositions because of, whether, within, during, despite, thanks, force, means, for the purpose, because of, within, in the course ... and for the sake of the post : because of the rain, whether these circumstances, for the sake of harmony, for the purpose of drastic wage cuts , despite the protests over what happened, within one day, over three years
- It can be used together with certain adjectives: Mastery of the German language , in older linguistic usage it can be used predicatively: it is good things .
- It functions (to a limited extent ) as a genitivus absolutus , i.e. to describe an accompanying circumstance (actual or figurative) without grammatical dependence on the rest of the sentence: he left the office with his head held high , standing on his feet (loan translation from Latin), today (from * "today ") etc.
In the first three cases, the noun declined in the genitive comes after the reference word.
The preposition because of the reference word can also be added: because of the rain . In personal pronouns the dative is used; this is the only option if the personal pronoun is expanded ( because of you two ); However, if the personal pronoun is used alone, the compound words are for my sake, for your sake, for his sake, for us, for your sake, theirs possible and then only permitted in high-level language (in colloquial language also here with dative, because of me , etc.) In some dialects can also the genitive stand (so in Bavarian because of mine , even if this has almost completely lost the genitive elsewhere because of ).
The genitive is often paraphrased by the preposition of + dative . This is done in partitive use: none of us . Stands before nouns in partitive the preposition of : three workers from this factory . Before plural words without an article and accompanying adjective (which would otherwise be unmarked), the von-paraphrase is also permitted and binding in the high-level language: a period of hours , but a period of several hours .
Colloquially , the functions mentioned are described as follows:
- Possessive: the book from the dealer / the dealer his book, the house of (the) Ursula / Ursula her house .
One uses the preposition of + dative or the Rhenish genitive.
Possessive pronouns are still widely used. - Affiliation: the door of the house, the leaves from the trees / the trees their leaves
- In some verbs, the genitive object is given an accusative object (out of date, still elevated today: forgotten someone , besides forgetting someone ), in others through a participle construction (older or elevated: remember someone , younger: remember someone ; older or elevated: accuse someone of a matter , younger accuse someone of a matter ), otherwise it has to be paraphrased: they expelled him from the country, he was blamed for the crime .
- The prepositions because of and despite (as well as within ) often have the dative case - depending on the region - colloquially : because of the rain, despite the protests . For other prepositions, the construction of which is partly still clearly recognizable ( due to, instead of, in the course , but also: within ), stands from : due to the events, within one day, within three years .
- The genitive with certain adjectives or in a predicative position only exists in some phrases anyway, so that these are still used in everyday language . The adverbial genitive is replaced by prepositions: he left the office with his head held high .
The dativ
The dative is mainly an indirect object: I can see that from you, it gives it the shoe . In addition, he often stands with subjective impressions: I'm too cold, the book is too complicated for him .
The dative case comes after the following prepositions:
- with, from, from, at, after, from, before, to, within
It also comes after the following prepositions to indicate the place:
- on, in, on, under, over, in front of, behind, at, next to
as well as before the post positions
- ahead, ahead
The accusative
The accusative (the forms of which are often not different from those of the nominative) is used as a direct object in transitive verbs: I see you, he gives him the shoe .
The accusative comes after the following prepositions:
- for, without, through, against, around, up
In addition, it comes after the prepositions an, in, on, under, over, in front of, behind, through and next to indicate the direction or the movement and in front of the post position along.
Uncertainties
In some cases, even with German native speakers, there is often uncertainty as to which case should be used correctly. This concerns among other things:
Appositions
In appositions there is case congruence if the apposition:
- contains an article ( Oskar Roehler, the son of Gisela Elsner, is a well-known film director. Oskar Roehler, the son of Gisela Elsner, was awarded the German Film Prize. The organizers of the Berlinale invited Oskar Roehler, the son of Gisela Elsner. )
- contains a demonstrative or possessive pronoun ( The designer prefers to work with cashmere, this versatile material. Erika went on the trip with Klaus, her brother. )
- a calendar date contains ( The Potsdam conference began on Tuesday the 17 July 1945. The premiere will take Saturday [= adverbial accusative] , the February 3rd in Munich. )
The disregard of the prescribed case congruence is particularly common:
- after prepositions that rule the genitive or accusative ( a gift for Bruno, the [ wrong dative: the] brother of Maria. Because of a cold, this annoying ailment [ wrong: this annoying ailment] .)
- for accusative objects ( careful notes and a register open up the rich and well-illustrated volume, an [ wrong dative: an] important contribution about Thoma and his time. )
- with possessive attributes ( the cinema shows a film by Oskar Roehler, the son [ wrong dative: the son] by Gisela Elsner. )
- if the apposition is preceded by a dative noun with the preposition of ( The accident of Toni Kalderer, an experienced skier [ wrong: an experienced skier], was a general surprise. )
Case deviations are possible or even compulsory for appositions if the apposition:
- no article word, but contains an adjective or a substantiated adjective (case congruence or nominative: the delegation met with Dan Meridor, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. Alexander VII welcomed Claude de Mesmes, envoy / envoy of the French king. )
- Contains neither an article nor an adjective (nominative only: The late work of the multiple award-winning Philip Roth, writer in New York. The first work of the former scholarship holder, Lutz Seiler . )
Rankings
Case deviations are also possible in the case of rows. Example:
- Additions with calendar date, if these are not interpreted as apposition but as a sequence ( This takes place on Saturday [= adverbial accusative] , February 3rd, in Munich ). It is disputed whether such rankings are to be understood as correct.
Elliptical parentheses
A distinction must be made between appositions and elliptical parentheses : shortened inserted sentences. Case deviations are possible here. Examples:
- Affiliations with everything , everyone (nominative: The Pléiade consisted of Ronsard, Du Bellay, Dorat, Belleau, de Baïf, de Tyard and Jodelle, all men . )
- Additions at the beginning of the sentence that can be understood as shortened participle phrases (omitting being ) (nominative: a welcome guest in numerous families , he was entrusted with this task. )
Gender
German nouns, adjectives and pronouns occur in three genera (gender): masculine (male), feminine (female) or neutral (neuter). The natural gender ( girl is a female person, table is an object) mostly does not match the grammatical gender, especially in inanimate things ( the girl (neutral), the table (masculine)).
Basically:
- Nouns on -ei, -schaft, -heit, -keit, -ung, - (t / s / x) ion, - (i) ity, as well as -öse (French -euse), -iere (French - ière) are feminine
- Nouns on -tum, -lein, -chen are neutral (although there are exceptions, for example: the error , the wealth )
Article words and adjectives
Article words and adjectives have special inflection endings in common in German, which are often fundamentally different from those of nouns.
What are article words?
The traditional grammar, which emerged from the description of Latin, with its separation of articles , pronouns , adjectives and number words as different parts of speech, is not very effective for an adequate description of the inflection in German. In the current edition of the Duden grammar, they are replaced by the distinction between article words ( determinatives ) and adjectives.
Word class | Examples | |
---|---|---|
Modern designation | Term in traditional grammar | |
Definite article | Definite article | that, that, that |
Indefinite article | Indefinite article | an |
Possessive article words | possessive pronouns | my book |
Demonstrative article words | Demonstrative pronouns | the book, this book, that book, that book, the same book |
Relative article words | relative pronoun | she would like to have his hair colored, with which intention he does not agree (rarely) |
Interrogative article words | Interrogative pronouns | which book? Which book? |
Indefinite article words | Indefinite pronouns | someone new, a little butter ; also: nobody, nothing, (any-) something, (any-) what, (any-) who, enough, all, everyone, all, both, some, some, some, (any) which, such, any, none, all sorts, such, such, three, a little, a few |
Special features of the inflection of article words and adjectives
Adjectives and article words can be used as adjectives and nouns:
- Adjectively, they come before a noun in the order article / pronoun / possessive pronoun + adjective + noun : "the house, this house, big houses, this big house, all these big houses, these many big houses". The adjectives are separated from each other in lists by commas: he doesn't like blue, red or green houses . Possessive pronouns are usually used without additional pronouns, they are seldom defined by the pronoun this : this my house .
- In nouns, adjectives and article words represent a noun: the house - it is big, the houses - they are big; I like this one, I don't like that over there; she likes red cars, but not green ones .
the replaced colloquially the substantive pronoun this , that and there : this is great, because not .
Noun adjectives and pronouns in the singular neuter also refer to several things, with people the plural is used: Big (neuter singular) is expected by powerful (plural) = big things are expected by powerful people.
Noun adjectives and article words cannot form a genitive in some cases. In the attributive position it can be circumscribed by von + dative : the money of the rich , in the prepositions because of and despite the genitive: because of many, despite so less . In southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the dative is generally used instead of the genitive. The dative is the older form, but is used less often today.
Phrase inflection
In German, in the majority of cases, not single words but entire noun phrases are declined. The basis of word group inflection is the rule of congruence : In noun phrases, article words and adjectives match the noun in gender, number and case ( a hot coffee ).
Article words, adjectives and nouns are the characteristics of the noun phrase: they contain information about gender, number and case. Each noun phrase contains a main feature carrier ; the other elements are secondary feature carriers . The main feature carrier (highlighted here) is the leftmost element that has an ending:
- soft blue fabric
- a / no / my soft blue fabric
- the-er / this-er soft-e blue-e fabric
- because d-es soft blue-en-en fabric it
- wonderfully soft blue fabric
- with wonderfully soft blue fabric (-e)
- with precious-em soft-en blue-en fabric (s)
- under -m green tree; i -m White House; to -r old mill
Substantiated adjectives are either main or secondary characteristics:
- a dry red-er
- every-er dry-e red-e
Whether a word receives an ending (possibly also: and what kind of ending) depends on whether it is a main or secondary feature:
Part of speech | Main features carrier | Secondary feature carrier |
---|---|---|
Article words | strong ending
|
no ending
|
Adjectives | strong ending
|
weak ending
|
Adjectives and ordinalia
Whether and how the adjective is declined depends on its usage: Ordinalia behave grammatically like other adjectives.
Declined vs. non-declined use of adjectives
declination | No declination |
---|---|
The adjective is declined when it is used as an attribute and in relation to a noun ("adsubstantive"). The adjective is either before or after the noun:
|
The adjective is not declined when it is used adverbially ( it runs quickly ) or predicatively ( the delusion is short, the reu is long. [Schiller]). Also not declined are:
|
Declination for two or more adjectives
When two or more adjectives used attributively follow one another, they are all declined according to the noun:
- when ranked ( Max has white, blue and gray shirts )
- with obedience ( Max prefers to wear his old blue shirt )
Declination of noun compounds
In noun compounds , adjectives used as attributes are always declined according to the whole connection ( a stone bridge pillar ). This also applies in the relatively rare cases in which the adjective does not refer to the last but to the first part of the compound ( the secret right to vote ; proper names: the St. Johann Church, the Teutoburg Forest Railway ).
Rules for the formation of the declination forms
Attributive adjectives are based on the noun to which they refer in case, number and gender. Gender differences exist only in the singular.
The article words have a decisive influence on the declension forms . Each adjective can be inflected strongly and weakly. If the adjective is preceded by an article word with an inflection ending, the adjective is weakly inflected, otherwise strong.
- weak declination (after article word with inflection ending): this he blue e hat
- strong declination (without precedence of an article with the word diffraction broadcast): blue He Hat; blue he nail polish
In the case of article words that have partly endless, partly inflected forms (a, no, mine, etc.), the following adjectives are partly strongly and partly weakly inflected. See below for details .
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | cold he coffee d he cold e coffee |
cold it water as s cold e water |
cold s milk di e cold s milk |
cold e drinks di e cold en drinks |
Genitive | due to cold en coffee despite d it cold en coffee |
because cold s water despite d it cold s water |
because cold he milk despite d he cold s milk |
because cold he drinks despite d he cold en drinks |
dative | with cold- em coffee with d em cold s Coffee |
with cold em water with d em cold en Water |
with cold he milk with d he cold s milk |
with cold en beverages with d s cold en beverages |
accusative | for cold en coffee for d en cold en Coffee |
for cold there water for da s cold e water |
for cold- e milk for di e cold s milk |
for cold- e drinks for di e cold en drinks |
The strong declension of adjectives coincides largely with the declination of the pronouns, in particular that of the Demonstrationspronomen this . There are only deviations in the genitive singular masculine ( cold en coffee - this is coffee ) and in the genitive singular neuter ( cold en water - this is water ).
The weak declination of adjectives has only two endings: -e and -en . The ending -en is used in all plural forms, in all dative and genitive forms as well as in the singular of the masculine in the accusative.
Deviations from the basic rules
In some cases there are deviations from the basic rules for choosing adjective inflection:
- After heavily inflected article words such as B. some who specify an indefinite amount but not a totality, the following adjectives are declined either weakly (as usual after article words) or strongly (as after number adjectives):
- "She has some good reasons."
- "He has some good material."
- "The family owns a lot of expensive porcelain."
- After adjectives that are all close to demonstrative article words and the indefinite , the following adjectives tend to be weakly inflected (as after strong article words):
- "The table contains the following new goods."
- "Sports fans know the names of all new / new players."
- In some fixed phrases, proverbs and quotations, the possible endinglessness in Middle High German or Early New High German (instead of - es ) in the nominative and accusative neuter singular with strong inflection has been preserved:
- "Our daily bread", "dry bread"
- "Hot water", "warm water", "running water"
- "another time"
- "On good luck"
- "For dear money"
- "Good things take time" ( proverb )
- " No beautiful country " [comparative] (folk song)
- “A nasty song! Pooh! A political song! "(Quote from Goethe's Faust I , scene in Auerbach's cellar )
- "All things are poison" (quote from Paracelsus )
- Adjectives on -el, -er, -en
For adjectives that end in -el, -er or -en, when they are combined with a vowel-ending suffix, an unstressed e is sometimes used ( e- deletion):
- dunk e l → a dark forest; illustration e r → an illustrious society; zerbroch e n → a zerbroch (e) ner pitcher (see details in the article contraction )
- Irregularly declined adjective
The only adjective in German that is declined irregularly is high . The non-suffixed form high is contrasted with the forms high , high , high , etc., followed by a vowel-like suffix . Only in the superlative, where the suffix starts with a consonant ( -st ), does the basic form ( highest ) appear.
Inflection of compared adjectives
Compared adjectives are inflected in the same way as not compared:
- the small-e / small-e / smallest-e dog
- for the small / small / smallest dog
- despite the small / small / smallest dog
- with the small / small / smallest dog
Article words, article-like words, and pronouns
Overview
When it comes to article words, a distinction is made between endless and those that have an ending.
Article words have a huge impact on how a subsequent adjective is inflected. Here are some selected examples:
Article word | Nominative | Genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | neuter | Plural | Masculine singular | |
of the | d it cold e coffee | da s cold e water | di e cold en drinks | despite d it cold en coffee |
this | this he cold- e Coffee | this is cold e water | This e cold en drinks | Despite this it (controversial: this s ) cold en coffee |
Alles | all he cold- e Coffee | all of it cold e water | all e cold en drinks | despite all en cold en coffee |
each | jed it important e note a jed it important he / important e Note |
jed it important e keyword a jed it important it / important e Keyword |
- | Despite jed s (also: jed it ) is important s note despite a it jed s important s reference |
a | a cold he Coffee | a cold it water | - | because a it cold en coffee |
the following | Following it important he / important e Note | following it important it / important e keyword | Following e important e / important en details | despite following en important en (= important en ) reference |
such | such he cold he / cold e Coffee | such it cold there / cold e water | such e cold e / cold en drinks | despite such en cold en (= cold en ) coffees |
some | many it important e Note | many it important e Keyword | many e important e / important en details | Despite some s important s reference |
lots | much he cold he coffee | much it cold it / cold e water | much e cold e drinks | Despite much en cold en (= cold en ) coffees |
all | all he cold he / cold e Coffee | all it cold it / cold e water | all e (rare: cold e ) cold en drinks | Despite all en cold en (= cold en ) coffees |
other | other he cold he coffee | other it cold it water | other e cold e drinks | Despite the other en cold en (= cold en ) coffees |
something | something cold he Coffee | something cold it water | - | Despite some cold en coffee |
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion, bold = irregular cases |
Inflected article words
Inflected article words with weakly inflected adjective
Definite article; these , those
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | d he cold- e coffee so he cold- e Coffee |
there s cold e water so it cold e water |
di e cold s milk this e cold s milk |
di e cold en drinks this e cold en drinks |
Genitive | d despite it cold en coffee despite this it (controversial: this s ) * cold en coffee |
d despite it cold en water in spite of this it (controversial: this s ) * cold en water |
despite d he cold s milk despite this he cold s milk |
despite d he cold en drinks despite this he cold en drinks |
dative | d em cold en coffee with this em cold s Coffee |
d em cold en water with this em cold en Water |
d he cold s milk with this he cold s milk |
d s cold en beverages with this en cold en beverages |
accusative | for d s cold en Coffee for it s cold s Coffee |
for there s cold e water for this it cold e water |
for di e cold e milk for this e cold s milk |
for di e cold en drinks for this e cold en drinks |
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion, bold = irregular cases |
* In the case of these , the form with -es is correct in the genitive masculine and neuter . In addition, -en is also increasingly being used .
The word that is inflected according to the same pattern as this .
Alles
The word all has two uses:
- unselfish use ( all this / our wasted effort )
- inflected use ( all in vain effort )
When used inflected, all forms have endings. The following adjectives are always weakly inflected:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | all he cold- e Coffee | all of it cold e water | all e cold s milk | all e cold en drinks |
Genitive | despite all en cold en coffee | despite all en cold s water | despite all he cold s milk | despite all he cold en drinks |
dative | with all of em cold s Coffee | with all of em cold s water | with all he cold s milk | with all en cold en drinks |
accusative | for all s cold s Coffee | for all it cold e water | for all e cold s milk | for all e cold en drinks |
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Each
The word each has only singular forms.
In the case of the genitive masculine and genitive neuter, the ending -es is increasingly used in subsequent adjectives . The - conservative - use of the ending -en is only permitted if the following noun has a genitive- s ( the duty of every student; the duty of every student; the duty of every student; the duty of every student ).
The word Any can be preceded by an indefinite article . In cases where this is endless, the following adjective can be inflected either strongly or weakly:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | jed it important e note a jed it important he / important e Note |
jed it important e keyword a jed it important it / important e Keyword |
jed s important e note an e jed s important e Note |
|
Genitive | Despite jed s (also: jed it ) is important s note despite a it jed s important s reference |
Despite jed s (also: jed it ) important en keyword despite a it jed s important s keyword |
Despite jed it important s note despite a he jed s important s Note |
|
dative | with jed em important s Note with a em jed s important s Note |
with jed em important en keyword with an em jed s important s Keyword |
with jed it important s Note with a he jed s important s Note |
|
accusative | for jed s important en Notice for en jed s important s Note |
for jed it important e keyword for a jed it important it / important e Keyword |
for jed s important e Note for jed s important e Note |
|
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion, bold = irregular cases |
Both
The word both has only plural forms. If it is the bearer of the main features, it is strongly flexed, otherwise weakly. The following adjectives are always weakly inflected.
case | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | beid e cold en drinks this e beid s cold en drinks |
|||
Genitive | Despite beid he cold en drinks despite this he beid s cold en drinks |
|||
dative | with beid s cold en drinks with this s beid s cold en drinks |
|||
accusative | for beid e cold en drinks for this e beid s cold en drinks |
|||
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Inflected article words with inconsistently inflected adjective
Paradigm one
This type includes the words one and no and the possessive article words ( my, your, his, her, our ). What these have in common is that in some cases they do not have an ending in attributive use. The lack of suffixes of the article word forces a strong inflection of the adjective in these cases; in all other cases the adjective is weakly inflected.
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | my cold he Coffee | My cold is water | my e cold s milk | my e cold en drinks |
Genitive | because my it cold en coffee | because my it cold s water | because my he cold s milk | because my he cold en drinks |
dative | with my em cold s Coffee | with my em cold s water | with my he cold s milk | with my s cold en drinks |
accusative | for my s cold s Coffee | for my cold it water | for my e cold s milk | for my e cold en drinks |
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Since noun phrases in German always have to contain a main feature carrier, endings also appear in the otherwise endingless forms when used as a predicative:
- attributive: Mia is reading a book.
- Predicative: Vera also reads one (s).
The possessive article words our and your can have contracted forms before an ending:
- with our / our / our partners (details in the article contraction )
Paradigm following
The demonstrative adjective following is strongly inflected if it is a main feature carrier; subsequent adjectives can be strongly or weakly inflected. If it has the following secondary characteristics, it is weakly inflected, together with any subsequent adjectives:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Following it important he / important e Note this he following e important e Note |
Following it important it / important e keyword this it follows e important e Keyword |
Following e important e (= important e ) Note this e following e important e Note |
Following e important e / important s details this e following s important s details |
Genitive | Despite following s important s (= important en ) indication , despite this it follows s important s reference |
Despite following s important s (= important s ) keyword despite this it follows s important s keyword |
Despite following it important he / important s note despite this he following s important s Note |
Despite following it important he / important s Details despite this he following s important s details |
dative | Following with em essential em / important s Note with this em Following s important s Note |
Following with em essential em / important en keyword with this em Following s important s Keyword |
with following it important he / important en note with this he following s important s Note |
with the following en important en (= important en ) details with this en following en important en details |
accusative | for following s important s (= important en ) Note for this s follows s important s Note |
for following it important it / important e Keywords for this it following e important e Keyword |
for the following e important e (= important e ) note for this e following e important e note |
for following e important e / important en details for this e following s important s details |
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Articleless demonstrative adjectives such as B. above, the former, the latter, said, questionable, same are inflected according to the same pattern.
The words which , something and any are inflected according to the same pattern, but never appear with a preceding article word ( what-he cold-e / cold-he coffee; this which cold coffee ).
Such
Adjectives that follow an inflected form of such are optionally strongly or weakly inflected. If the inflected such the indefinite article a precedes, is an adjective that follows, parallel to those inflected:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | such he cold he / cold e coffee one such he cold he Coffee |
such it cold there / cold e water a such it cold there water |
such e cold e (= cold e ) of milk a e such e cold s milk |
such e cold e / cold en drinks - |
Genitive | despite such en cold en (= cold en ) coffee despite a it such en cold en coffee |
despite such en cold en (= cold en ) water despite a it such en cold en water |
despite such he cold he / cold s milk despite one he such s cold s milk |
despite such he cold he / cold en drinks - |
dative | with such em cold em / cold s Coffee with an em such s cold s Coffee |
with such em cold em / cold s water with a em such s cold s water |
with such he cold he / cold s milk with one he such s cold s milk |
with such s cold s (= cold s ) beverages - |
accusative | for such s cold s (= cold en ) coffee for a s such s cold s Coffee |
for such it cold there / cold e water for a such it cold there water |
for such e cold e (= cold e ) milk for e such e cold s milk |
for such e cold e / cold en drinks - |
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Just like that , and some can such well endingless and uninflected ( such a good book ; see below ).
Some
If the word some an adjective follows, this is weak in the singular, and optionally inflected strong or weak in the plural:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | many it important e Note | many it important e Keyword | many e important e Note | many e important e / important en details |
Genitive | Despite some s important s reference | Despite some s important s keyword | Despite some it important s Note | Despite some it important he / important en details |
dative | with some em important en Notice | with some em important en Keyword | with some it important s Note | with some s (important en =) important en details |
accusative | for some s important s Note | for some it important e Keyword | for some s important e Note | for some s important e / important en details |
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion, bold = irregular cases |
The word some is also used endlessly (see below ).
Lots
If the word many is followed by an adjective, it is strongly inflected. In the neuter it is also often weakly inflected:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | much he cold he coffee this he much e cold e coffee |
much it cold there / cold e water so it much e cold e water |
much e cold s milk this e lot e cold s milk |
much e cold e drinks this e much s cold en drinks |
Genitive | much he cold he coffee despite this it much s cold en coffee |
Despite much s cold s (= cold s ) water despite this it much s cold s water |
Despite much he cold he milk despite this he much s cold s milk |
Despite much he cold , he drinks despite this he much s cold en drinks |
dative | with a lot of em cold em coffee with this em much s cold s Coffee |
with a lot of em cold em / cold s water with this em much s cold s water |
with a lot of it cold it milk with this he much s cold s milk |
with plenty of s cold en drinks with this s much s cold en drinks |
accusative | for much s cold en Coffee for this s much s cold s Coffee |
for much of it cold there / cold e water for this it much e cold e water |
for much e cold e milk for this e lot e cold s milk |
for much e cold e drinks for this e much s cold en drinks |
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion, bold = irregular cases |
The word many is also used endlessly (see below ).
All
If the word of all an adjective follows, then optionally flexed this strong or weak. In the plural nominative, accusative and dative it is usually weakly inflected.
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | all he cold he / cold e Coffee | all it cold it / cold e water | all e cold e (= cold e ) milk | all e (rare: cold e ) cold en drinks |
Genitive | Despite all en cold en (= cold en ) coffees | Despite all en cold en (= cold en ) water | Despite all he cold he / cold s milk | Despite all he cold he / cold en drinks |
dative | with all of em cold em / cold s Coffee | with all em cold em / cold en Water | with all he cold he / cold s milk | with all s (cold en =) cold en beverages |
accusative | for all s cold en (= cold en ) Coffee | for all it cold it / cold e water | for all e cold e (= cold e ) milk | for all e (rare: cold e ) cold en drinks |
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Who, anyone
The inflected indefinite pronouns wer and somebody occasionally appear with an apposition, usually a substantiated adjective. This is - according to the basic rule of adjective inflection - weakly inflected. As in the case of the indefinite pronouns somebody and nobody , the nominative and accusative generally have the ending -es, which by no means refers to a neuter but to an original genitive.
case | Singular | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | w he unknown it | |||
Genitive | - | |||
dative | w em Unknown en | |||
accusative | for w s Unknown there for w s Unknown s | |||
Explanation: green = original genitive, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Article words that act like adjectives
Adjectives that follow the article words others , few , some , some, and something are inflected as if an adjective preceded it:
case | Masculine | neuter | Feminine | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | on the other he cold he coffee so he other e cold e Coffee |
on the other it cold there water so it other e cold e water |
other e cold s milk this e other e cold s milk |
other e cold e drinks this e other s cold en drinks |
fresh he cold he coffee this he fresh e cold e coffee |
fresh it cold it water this it fresh e cold e water |
fresh e cold s milk this e fresh e cold s milk |
fresh e cold e drinks this e freshly s cold en drinks |
|
Genitive | despite other s cold en coffees despite this there other s cold en coffee |
despite other s cold s water despite this there other s cold s water |
Despite the other he cold he milk despite this he other s cold s milk |
Despite the other he cold , he drinks despite this he other s cold en drinks |
despite fresh en cold en coffees despite this it fresh en cold en coffee |
despite fresh en cold s water despite this it fresh en cold s water |
despite fresh it cold he milk despite this he freshly s cold s milk |
despite fresh it cold he drinks despite this he freshly s cold en drinks |
|
dative | with other em cold em coffee with this em other s cold s Coffee |
with other em cold em water with this em other s cold s water |
with the other he cold it milk with this he other s cold s milk |
with other s cold en drinks with this s other s cold en drinks |
with freshly em cold em coffee with this em fresh en cold s Coffee |
with freshly em cold em water with this em fresh en cold s water |
with fresh he cold it milk with this he freshly s cold s milk |
with freshly s cold en drinks with this s freshly s cold en drinks |
|
accusative | for other s cold en Coffee for this s other s cold s Coffee |
for the other it cold there water for this there other e cold e water |
for other e cold e milk for this e other e cold s milk |
for other e cold e drinks for this e other s cold en drinks |
for fresh en cold en Coffee for this s freshly s cold s Coffee |
for fresh it cold it water for this it fresh e cold e water |
for fresh e cold e milk for this e fresh e cold s milk |
for fresh e cold e drinks for this e freshly s cold en drinks |
|
Explanation: pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
The following special features:
- With the exception of a few ( the few cold coffee ), the words in this group never appear with a preceding article word ( some cold coffee;
this some cold coffee). - The word several has only plural forms ( several cold drinks ).
Not inflected article words
Many, such, what, much, little
Some otherwise inflected article words have endless forms in certain usage:
- some can be used indefinitely in sophisticated style ( some young women ; but: some young women )
- the same applies to such ( with such a great effort ; but: with such a great-em / great effort )
- which can be used endlessly in exclamation sentences ( with what bold swing (s) the letters are written! but: what bold swing )
- the words much and little can also be used endlessly ( with a lot / little cold water ; but: with a lot / little cold water )
Something, enough, nothing , all kinds of formations ; whose, whose, whose
Some article words and pronouns are not adjectivally but noun inflected. This concerns u. a. the words something, nothing, enough, nobody, his / her, whose as well as the formations of any kind ( both, such, various, many, two , etc.). The following adjectives are always strongly inflected:
- some green tea
- Wigman, whose expressive dance fascinated the audience
Anyone, anyone, no one
The indefinite pronouns somebody , somebody and nobody fluctuate between noun and adjectival inflection: to be somebody - despite hoping for somebody / - speak to somebody - vouch for someone / -en .
Both words, as well as the word who , can be followed by a close apposition. Usually it is a substantiated adjective. In standard language, this adjective has the ending -es in the nominative and accusative case. This is an original genitive, which today is mostly perceived as a nominative / accusative neuter.
In standard language, the basic rule of adjective declination is used (inflected forms are followed by strongly inflected forms). However, there are also various slang forms:
case | Standard language analogous to the inflection of the neuter |
Colloquial | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | someone unknown it | someone unknown he | ||
Genitive | despite someone Unknown en | |||
dative | with someone unknown to em | with someone em Unknown em with someone em Unknown en | ||
accusative | for someone unknown it | for someone unknown s , for someone en Unknown | ||
Explanation: gray = endless forms, green = original genitive, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Cardinal numbers
The cardinal numbers from two to twelve, which are usually not inflected at all, are given the strong ending -er ( the children of two-er people ) in the genitive, unless an article word is used . The following adjectives are strongly inflected ( the children of two-he lucky-er people ).
The number one is also used in the adjectival position as an indefinite article and is declined like a possessive pronoun, in the noun position like a common adjective.
The number two is usually no longer adjusted in terms of gender in younger New High German (see Zwei # Sprachliches ):
The other numerals usually remain unchanged, they are rarely used as nouns: in three houses (dative).
case | a | two | thirteen | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative |
a large he dog d he a e big e Dog |
two large e dog di e two large en Dogs |
Thirteen large e dog di e thirteen large en Dogs |
|
Genitive | Despite a it big s dog despite d it a s big s dog |
despite two he big he dogs despite d he two large en Dogs |
Despite thirteen large he dogs despite d he thirteen large en Dogs |
|
dative | with an em big s dog with d em a s big s dog |
with two large en dogs with d s two large en dogs |
with thirteen large en dogs with d s thirteen large en dogs |
|
accusative | a s large en dog for d s a s big s dog |
for two large e dogs for di e two large en Dogs |
for thirteen large e dogs for di e thirteen large en Dogs |
|
Explanation: gray = endless shapes, pink = strong flexion, light blue = weak flexion |
Notes on the genitive:
- Numbers from two to twelve without an article receive the ending -er in the genitive .
- The attributive genitive is usually paraphrased by the preposition of or needs the definite article: the doors of 21 houses, the doors of the 21 houses .
- The prepositional genitive and the genitive as an object can only be formed with the ending -er (for numbers from 1 to 12), the definite article or other pronouns: by means of two calls, because of these three calls; he had mercy on the three wanderers .
The noun dative is formed by the ending -en for numbers from one to twelve : there are three houses - in two it is burning . For other numbers, the partitive can be used as an aid: there are twenty houses - nineteen (of them) have lights on .
Furthermore, nouns exist hundreds - by hundreds - by hundreds and thousands - by thousands - by thousands , as well as (the) hundred - by the hundred and (the) thousand - by the thousand .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ duden.de: mother
- ↑ duden.de: Klamottenkiste
- ↑ Elke Hentschel & Harald Weydt: Handbook of German grammar. 4th edition. Walter de Gruyter, 2013, p. 138f.
- ↑ Thorsten Roelcke: Language typology of German . Walter de Gruyter, 1997, p. 137.
-
↑ Pons grammars:
- Ines Balcik: Pons. Volume 2: Doubtless German. Grammar. Secure answers to tricky questions . Klett, Stuttgart et al. 2007, p. 10f.
- Ines Balcik, Jürgen Folz, Klaus Röhe: Pons. Volume 3: Perfect German. The guide in cases of linguistic doubt. PONS, Stuttgart et al. 2009, pp. 162–164.
- Ines Balcik, Klaus Röhe, Verena Wróbel: Pons. Volume 2: The great German grammar. The comprehensive reference work. PONS, Stuttgart et al. 2009, p. 111ff.
- ↑ Thordis Hennings: Introduction to Middle High German. Third, revised and improved edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2012, p. 149.
-
↑ Examples:
- In the entry Oma at duden.de it says to the genitive singular "der Oma, Omas"
- Duden elementary school dictionary. Better say it! The right choice of words . 2013, p. 68. Quote: "An emerald-green stone sparkles on mom's ring."
-
↑ Examples:
- Johann Christoph Adelung: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect. Leipzig 1793–1801:
- “The Bèttstatt, plur. the place, or bed place, plur. the -n [...] "
- “The Hofstatt, plur. the place [...] "
- “The workshop, plur. the -stätte, or the workshop, plur. the -n [...] "
- “The abode, plur. the -stätte, or the dwelling, plur. the -n [...] "
- Olla Potrida. First piece. Weversche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1788, p. 143: "The workshops are in small numbers, and the workers are only employed for part of the year."
- Joseph Schneider: Why do people die earlier today than in the past? A program, as a contribution to the glorification of the priestly jubilee celebration of His High Princely Grace Adalbert III, Prince-Bishop of Fulda, the Heil. Roman Empire Prince, Her Majesty the Roman Empress Arch Chancellor through Germania and Gaul Primate rc. rc. Fulda 1811, p. 11: "Our beds are now soft and warming duvets [...]"
- Heinrich Zschokke: History of the struggle and fall of the Swiss mountain and forest cantons, especially the old federal canton of Schwyz. In four books. Bern / Zurich 1801, p. 23: "In the year 1257, therefore, the united Waldstätte chose the bravest in Helvetia as their guardian."
- Ferdinand Meyer: The Protestant community in Locarno, their emigration to Zurich and their other fates. A contribution to the history of Switzerland in the sixteenth century. First volume. Zurich 1836, p. 332: "Shortly afterwards we find the messengers of the four forest sites, with all seven places of authority, gathered in Lucerne."
- Johann Christoph Adelung: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect. Leipzig 1793–1801:
- ↑ duden.de: mother
- ↑ Duden. The grammar. Volume 4, 5th edition. Mannheim / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich 1995, § 427.
- ↑ Ask me. In: The time. December 26, 2018, accessed January 15, 2019 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 954 f .
- ↑ a b c d Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 955 .
- ↑ a b c d Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 958 .
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 980 .
- ↑ a b c d Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 982 .
- ↑ a b c d Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 981 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 981 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 980 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 253 ff .
- ↑ Duden Vol. 9, 2007, p. 890.
- ↑ a b c Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 948 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 948 f .
- ↑ See Peter Eisenberg: Das Wort. Floor plan of the German grammar. Volume 1. 3rd edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006.
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 342 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 343 .
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 344 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 345 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 343 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 346 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 346 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 347 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 348 .
- ↑ a b c Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 363 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 363 f .
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 952 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 365 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 366 .
- ↑ a b c Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 950 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 260-262 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 287 f .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 309 ff., 954 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 262, 969 .
- ↑ a b c d Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 956 .
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 954 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 364 .
- ↑ a b c d e Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 957 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 329 .
- ↑ a b c Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 998 f .
- ^ A b Duden editorial team: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 951 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 951, 954 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 319 .
- ^ Duden editors: The grammar . 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Vienna, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-411-04048-3 , pp. 954, 958 .