Possessive adjectives Possessive adjectives are words such as 'my', 'your', 'his', etc. which tell you to whom an object belongs. In the same way that the words for 'a' change according to which case the noun is in (what the noun is doing in the sentence), so the endings for these words also change. This is what the possessive adjectives are in German: my mein your (singular) dein his, its sein her ihr our unser your (plural) euer their ihr your (polite) ihr The endings change like the endings for 'ein' and 'kein': Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural: Nominative: mein meine mein meine Accusative: meinen meine mein meine Genitive: meines meiner meines meiner Dative: meinem meiner meinem meinen Try these sentences. Type in the correct form of the word that is given in brackets: For Example: Unsere Deutschlehrerin heisst Frau Schmidt. (unser) /**/ Adjective endings Adjectives are describing words such as good, bad, ugly, etc. If the adjective is not immediately in front of the noun then you don't have to do anything to it. For Example: Der Mann ist alt. Die Schuhe sind schwarz. However, if an adjective is used before a noun, for example, 'the old man', then the adjective changes its ending depending on the word before it ('the', 'a', 'my', etc.). The old man = der alte Mann An old man = ein alter Mann Use this table if the word before the adjective is der, die, das, etc: Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural: Nominative: der alte Mann die alte Frau das alte Buch die alten Schuhe Accusative: den alten Mann die alte Frau das alte Buch die alten Schuhe Genitive: des alten Mannes der alten Frau des alten Buches der alten Schuhev Dative: dem alten Mann der alten Frau dem alten Buch den alten Schuhen Use this table if the word before the adjective is ein, mein, sein, ihr etc: Masculine: Feminine: Neuter: Plural: Nominative: ein alter Mann eine alte Frau ein altes Buch meine alten Schuhe Accusative: einen alten Mann eine alte Frau ein altes Buch meine alten Schuhe Genitive: eines alten Mannes einer alten Frau eines alten Buches meiner alten Schuhe Dative: einem alten Mann einer alten Frau einem alten Buch meinen alten Schuhen Try these sentences. Read the sentence and decide what case the noun is in. The gender is given to you to make it easier. Type in the correct adjective ending: /**/ Comparatives In talking about things, we often want to compare them with others. For Example: This chair is bigger than that chair. To form a comparative adjective in German you add '-er' to the adjective and on many one-syllable adjectives, you add an umlaut too. For Example: klein = kleiner; warm = wä rmer. In German, you use 'als' for 'than'. For Example: Peter is shorter than Paul = Peter ist kleiner als Paul. There are a few exceptions: gut = besser gern = lieber hoch = hö her viel = mehr Like all adjectives, comparatives can be used either before a noun or separately from the noun. Before a noun: A comparative will take ordinary adjective endings. For Example: Mein ä lterer Bruder heisst Martin. Ich trage einen ä ngeren Rock. Der jü ngere Mann sitzt hier. Separately from a noun: You don't need an adjective ending here. For Example: England ist kä lter als Spanien. Siegfried ist ä lter als Karl. Superlatives If you want to say 'the best', 'the fastest', 'the most intelligent', etc. you use the superlative of the adjective. To form this, you add '-est' or '-st' to the adjective. Like comparatives, an umlaut is added to one-syllable adjectives. Before a noun: You will need to add the adjective endings to the superlative. For Example: das ä lteste Haus. meine jü ngste Schwester. Separately from a noun: The superlative has a special form. You use 'am' before the superlative and then add '-esten' or '-sten' to the adjective. As before, you add an umlaut to one-syllable adjectives. This sounds worse than it really is! For Example: kalt = am kä ltesten (the coldest) schö n = am schö nsten (the prettiest) Exceptions are: Gut = am besten Gern = am liebsten Hoch = am hö chsten Viel = am meisten. It's best to learn Comparatives and Superlatives together: For Example: jung = jü nger = am jü ngsten alt = ä lter = am ä ltesten