ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part1(§1-§9)

⏪ CONTENTS

SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part2(§10-§24)

SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part3(§25-§34)

SHORTCUT TO ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS part4(§35-§43)

§1  Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words. Adjectives tell us more about nouns: 
      how big they are, how colorful, important, tasty, obtuse, and so on. Adverbs give more

      information about verbs (how well someone sings, how high she flies, when they will
      arrive, where the party will be), about adjectives (they’re unusually calm, incrediblyrich), 

      and even about other adverbs (he ran extremely fast).

§2  In Nouns §3 you read about der, die, and das as gender markers of nouns: der-nouns 

      are masculine, die-nouns are feminine, and das-nouns are neuter. Der, die, and das are

      three of the forms of the definite article, the most important and useful adjective 

      in German. ‘Definite’ means ‘known, obvious, old information’, ‘the one we all know  

      about’. There is an indefinite article in German as well, expressing ‘new or unspecified 

      information’. (See Adjectives §8). The German definite article d-, with all its forms, 

      is an essential tool in the manipulation of the language. If the forms of d- are not handled

      with precision, then communication will be severely inhibited and some grave 

      misunderstandings can occur. LEARN THESE FORMS!

§3  Der, die, and das identify masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns when used as the

      subject of a sentence:
      Der Kartoffelsalat kostet DM 2,20.
      Die Fahrkarte ist nicht zu teuer.
      Das Zimmer hat keine Dusche.
      When a noun is the subject of a sentence, it appears in what is called the nominative
      case. Der Kartoffelsalat, die Fahrkarte, and das Zimmer are all nominative forms. The
      subject directs the action of a sentence and fits the verb ending (See Verbs §7). Nouns
      that are not the subject of a sentence, but are identical with the subject, also appear in
      the nominative case:

                         ↓SUBJECT NOUN           ↓PREDICATE NOUN
            Ihre Mutter          ist             Universitätsprofessorin.
      When the definite article is used in the plural, all nouns — regardless of gender — that
      appear in the nominative case are identified by the article die:
      der Paß:            Bitte, wo sind die Pässe?
      die Fahrkarte:   Die Fahrkarten kosten DM 36,—.
      das Hotel:         Die Hotels in Frankfurt sind sehr elegant.
      SUMMARY:   definite articles in the nominative case
               MASCULINE    FEMININE    NEUTER    PLURAL
                     der                 die                das             die

§4   German nouns may appear in four different grammatical cases, according to their
       sentence usage. For example, subject nouns or pronouns can act with the verb 

       to have a direct effect on objects in the rest of the sentence, the predicate. 

       These nouns in the predicate are direct objects, and almost without exception they     

       appear in the accusative case.

                            ↓SUBJECT                   ↓DIRECT OBJECT
            Meine Mutter kauft immer Schokolade mit Nüssen.
       When a noun has a nonsubject function in a sentence, the form of its definite 

       article may change. Before feminine and neuter nouns in the accusative (direct object) 

       case, the definite articles die and das do not change. Before masculine nouns, 

       however, the definite article appears as den in the accusative.

       Haben Sie den Kartoffelsalat?
       Morgen kaufe ich die Fahrkarte nach Berlin.
       Wir möchten das Zimmer für heute und morgen.       
       When the definite article is used in the accusative plural, it appears for all genders 

       in the form die:
        der  Paß: Haben wir die Pässe?
        die  Fahrkarte: Heute kaufe ich die Fahrkarten.
        das Hotel: Ich finde die Hotels in Salzburg sehr komfortabel.       
       SUMMARY: definite articles in the accusative case
       MASCULINE        FEMININE        NEUTER        PLURAL
             den                      die                   das                die   
        NOTE: The accusative is used to express definite time. See Nouns §15.

§5  Sometimes a noun or pronoun is neither the subject of a verb nor its object, but rather a
      beneficiary, or recipient, of the action in a sentence.

                    He bought the old horse some medicine.

      the subject is ‘He’, the direct object is ‘medicine’, and the animal for which it was
      bought, ‘the old horse’, is different from the subject. ‘The old horse’ is the one for which
      the action is performed, and appears in the indirect object case, called the dative.

      By no means does this example mean that ‘horse’ is always in the dative case, or that
      ‘medicine’ must always be an accusative. This action took place at the veterinarian’s
      office. If ‘some medicine’ is stricken from the sentence, the meaning changes entirely:

                      He bought the old horse.

      Now ‘He’, the subject, acted directly on ‘the old horse’, the accusative object

      of the verb ‘bought’. This action took place at the sale barn.

      A person hearing or reading a noun that appears in the dative case can tell immediately
      what its function is by the form of the preceding article:
                   der Mann: Ich gebe dem Mann einen Reiseführer.
                   die Frau: Wir kaufen der Frau zwei Pfund Äpfel.
                   das Kind: Schenken wir dem Kind eine Modellbahn?
      When the definite article precedes nouns in the dative plural, it has the form den,
      regardless of the gender of the noun:
                   Bringen Sie den Männern eine Flasche Wein, den Frauen je ein
                             Liter Pils und den Kindern Kola oder Orangensaft

      The dative is not used just as an indirect object case. Many prepositions govern the
      dative case as well.
                   Gehen Sie mit der Frau da.
                   — Mit ihr?
                  Ja, mit ihr. Nicht mit dem Mann. Er ist ein Idiot.
                   — Gut, also mit ihr, nicht mit ihm.
      SUMMARY: definite articles in the dative case
       MASCULINE      FEMININE      NEUTER      PLURAL
             dem                   der                dem             den

§6   Another set of forms of the definite article shows that a noun is in possession of
       something. That possession may be tangible, as in
                   the doctor’s children
       or it may be intangible, as in
                   the end of the day.
      In these examples, the nouns that show possession — the doctor and the 

      day — appear in the genitive case, also called the possessive case in English   

      grammar.The definite articles that precede genitive nouns have characteristic forms:

                   der Arzt: Der Sohn des Arztes wohnt in Salzburg.
                   die Tante: Die Kinder der Tante heißen Vetter.
                   das Hotel: Die Zimmer des Hotels sind wunderschön.
      For an explanation of the -(e)s ending on genitive nouns, see Nouns §10.
      When the definite article appears in the genitive plural, all genders have the form der:
                   der Computer: Der Preis der Computer ist zu hoch.
                   die Maus: Es ist unmöglich, eine der Mäuse zu fangen.
                   das Problem: Das war nur der Anfang der Probleme.
      SUMMARY: definite articles in the genitive case
      MASCULINE      FEMININE      NEUTER      PLURAL
             des                   der                des              der
      NOTE: The genitive is used to express indefinite time. See Nouns §10.

§7  Definite articles in all cases, singular and plural
                                  MASCULINE   FEMININE   NEUTER   PLURAL
      NOMINATIVE           der                   die              das             die
      GENITIVE                des                   der             des             der
      DATIVE                    dem                  der             dem            den
      ACCUSATIVE          den                   die             das              die
§8  Indefinite articles, forms of ein-, precede nouns that introduce new information or
      describe any member of a category. They correspond to English ‘a’ or ‘an’, 

      as opposed to the definite article ‘the’. The paradigm of the indefinite article 

      bears a strong resemblance to that of the definite article (§7):
                                  MASCULINE   FEMININE   NEUTER
      NOMINATIVE            ein                   eine             ein
      GENITIVE                 eines               einer            eines
      DATIVE                     einem              einer            einem
      ACCUSATIVE           einen               eine              ein      
      Note that ein- has no ending in the masculine and neuter nominative or in 
      the neuter accusative. Note also that, by definition, ein has no plural forms. 
      Moreover, the absence of an article in the plural signals an indefinite plural. 
      Plural endings do exist, however, for kein, the negative of ein:
      Kein has singular forms also, since it negates singular nouns as well as plural ones.
      These endings are the same as those for ein. As the negative of ein, kein has the
      meaning ‘none, not any, -n’t . . . any’.
§9  Sometimes ein and kein follow nouns that have been used in a previous clause. Here

      they are similar to ‘one’ and ‘none’ in English, and take on the function of pronouns.
             Where did my pet turtles go? Here’s one!
             Do you have some money? No, I don’t have any.
      In these situations ein and kein add the endings that would be present if the nouns in
      question were there:
             Wo sind meine Schildkröten? Hier ist eine [Schildkröte]!
             Haben Sie einen 10-Mark-Schein? Nein, ich habe keinen [Schein].
      This principle applies even in those cases where ein and kein do not have endings
      themselves, in the masculine nominative and the neuter nominative and accusative.
      Here ein and kein borrow endings from the definite article, with eines shortened to eins:

                                                                                                             ↓ der Bleistift

       MASCULINE NOMINATIVE: Wo ist ein Bleistift? Hier ist einer.

                                                                                                        ↓ das Auto

      NEUTER ACCUSATIVE: Wer hat ein neues Auto? Ich habe eins.      
      Ein can also anticipate an understood noun in the German equivalent of ‘one of . . ’.
      Here, too, ein borrows endings from the definite article if they are not already part of the
      ein declension. The ‘of’ phrase is rendered either by von and the dative or by the
      genitive:

                                          ↓ anticipates der Freund

      Wer ist das? Das ist einer von meinen Freunden.
                           Das ist einer meiner Freunde.

                                                           ↑genitive plural

                                ↓ anticipates die Freundin

                  Das ist eine von meinen Freundinnen.
                  Das ist eine meiner Freundinnen.

                                              ↑genitive plural