German Adjective Endings: Weak, Strong & Mixed Declension

German adjective endings are the suffixes attached to an attributive adjective so it agrees with the noun in case, gender, and number. They look intimidating because the same adjective can appear as alt, alte, alten, alter, or altes depending on the noun and the article in front of it — but underneath the surface there are only three patterns: weak, mixed, and strong.

The whole system runs on one principle: someone has to mark the gender and case clearly. If the article in front of the adjective already does that job (der, dem, des), the adjective relaxes to -e or -en. If the article is ambiguous or missing, the adjective steps in with the strong markers -er, -es, -em, -en that normally live on der-words. That single trade-off is everything below.

German adjective endings at a glance

The compact matrix below covers every attributive ending you need at A2. Read it as: pick the row (case + number), then the column (the article type in front of the adjective), then the gender — that cell is your ending.

Want to lock these endings in? You can drill weak, mixed, and strong adjective endings right here — the interactive exercises further down are completely free, ask for no sign-up, and check every ending the instant you answer.

Three patterns, one logic. Where ein has no ending, the adjective in the mixed column borrows the strong marker (the bold cells). Where no article is present at all, the strong column simply copies the der-word endings outright. The rest is weak -e / -en territory.

What are German adjective endings?

A German adjective only takes an ending when it sits directly in front of a noun (attributive position). In that position it agrees with the noun's case, gender, and number, and the form of the ending depends on what kind of word — if any — comes before it.

• Attributive (takes endings): der alte Mann, ein alter Mann, alter Wein.
• Predicative (no ending): Der Mann ist alt. Der Wein wird gut. Sie bleibt jung.

This predicative-vs-attributive split is the first thing to get straight, because it explains why "sehr schön" or "das ist gut" never carries an ending — the adjective there isn't modifying a noun, it's completing a linking verb.

Inside attributive position, German chooses one of three declension patterns based on the article situation:

1. Weak declension — after der-words (der, die, das, dieser, jeder, jene, welcher, mancher, solcher). The article carries the strong marker, so the adjective only ever ends in -e or -en.
2. Mixed declension — after ein-words (ein, kein, mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer). These articles have no ending in three slots (masc. nominative, neut. nominative, neut. accusative); in those slots the adjective goes strong. Everywhere else it behaves weakly.
3. Strong declension — when there is no article at all (or after invariant quantifiers like viel, wenig, etwas, mehr in many positions). The adjective takes over the article's job and copies the der-word endings (with one wrinkle in the masculine/neuter genitive, which is a B1 topic — see strong declension deep dive).

The gender that drives all of this is the noun's grammatical gender, not its meaning. If you are still shaky on der/die/das, start with noun gender before drilling endings.

Adjective endings after the definite article (weak declension)

After der-words the article already encodes case and gender (der, den, dem, des; die, der; das, dem, des). The adjective therefore relaxes to one of two endings — almost always -e in the singular nominative/accusative, and -en everywhere else.

Der alte Mann liest. — The old man reads. Die kleine Katze schläft. — The small cat sleeps. Das alte Haus steht dort. — The old house stands there. Ich sehe den alten Mann. — I see the old man. (masc. acc. → -en) Wir wohnen in dem alten Haus. — We live in the old house. (dat. → -en) Die neuen Schuhe passen. — The new shoes fit. (plural → -en)

Weak declension: full table

The table has a friendly shape: only the masculine accusative singular escapes the -e block in nominative/accusative, and the entire dative collapses to -en. If you remember "weak = -e in the singular nom., -en everywhere else," you have 90% of it.

Adjective endings after the indefinite article (mixed declension)

After ein-words the article has no ending in exactly three slots — masculine nominative, neuter nominative, neuter accusative. In those three slots the adjective takes the strong marker (-er, -es) so the gender still gets signalled. Everywhere else the ein-word behaves like a der-word, and the adjective falls back to weak -e / -en.

Ein neuer Mann kommt. — A new man comes. (masc. nom. → -er; ein has no ending) Eine kleine Katze schläft. — A small cat sleeps. (fem. nom. → -e; eine already marks gender) Ein altes Haus steht dort. — An old house stands there. (neut. nom. → -es) Ich sehe einen neuen Mann. — I see a new man. (masc. acc. → -en; einen marks it) Wir wohnen in einem alten Haus. — We live in an old house. (dat. → -en) Keine neuen Schuhe passen. — No new shoes fit. (plural → -en)

Mixed declension: full table

Compared to weak, only three cells change (the bold ones): masc. nominative, neut. nominative, neut. accusative. Those are the exact slots where ein and ein have no ending and need backup. Everywhere else, mixed = weak.

Note that mixed declension only kicks in when the ein-word itself has no ending. As soon as it does — einen, einem, einer, eines, keine, meine, deinen, etc. — the adjective drops back to weak -en or -e.

Adjective endings with no article (strong declension)

When there is no article at all in front of the adjective, the adjective has to do the article's entire job: signal case, gender, and number on its own. It does so by copying the der-word endings outright. This is what teachers call strong declension, and it shows up constantly in mass nouns, generic statements, and after invariant quantifiers.

Kalter Kaffee schmeckt nicht. — Cold coffee doesn't taste good. (masc. nom. → -er, like der) Frische Milch ist gut. — Fresh milk is good. (fem. nom. → -e, like die) Kaltes Wasser hilft. — Cold water helps. (neut. nom. → -es, like das) Ich trinke kalten Kaffee. — I drink cold coffee. (masc. acc. → -en, like den) Mit heißem Kaffee schmeckt es besser. — With hot coffee it tastes better. (masc. dat. → -em, like dem) Bei frischer Milch ist es einfach. — With fresh milk it's simple. (fem. dat. → -er, like der) Kleine Kinder spielen draußen. — Small children play outside. (plural nom. → -e, like die)

Strong declension: full table

Line this up against der/die/das in the same cases and the cells match almost one-for-one. The only place strong diverges meaningfully from der-word endings is the masculine and neuter genitive (gut**en** Weines vs des Wein**es**), which is a B1 topic — see German strong adjective declension for the full picture.

Weak, mixed, and strong side by side

The three patterns differ in only a handful of cells. Stacking them clarifies what each one is doing:

The bold mixed-column cells (-er, -es, -es) are the spots where ein has no ending and the adjective compensates. The bold strong-column cell (-er for feminine dative) is the lone strong-vs-weak surprise — everywhere else, "strong" is just "copy the der-word ending."

Common mistakes

Five traps catch nearly every A2 learner. Each is fixable in seconds once you see what's going on.

1. Confusing -e with -en in masculine nominative vs accusative

The masculine singular flips from -e to -en the moment the case changes from nominative to accusative. Learners regularly produce Ich sehe der alte Mann because they've memorised "der alte Mann" as a chunk.

2. Forgetting that the feminine plural is always -en across all three patterns

The plural dative and every plural after a der-word or ein-word ends in -en, regardless of gender. Learners often default to -e because the noun feels "more than one" and -e looks plural-ish.

The only plural that escapes -en is the strong nominative/accusative without any article (kleine Kinder spielen).

3. Triggering mixed declension when ein-words actually carry an ending

Mixed declension only kicks in when the ein-word itself has no ending — masc. nom., neut. nom., neut. acc. The moment ein becomes einen, einem, einer, eines, or any possessive picks up an ending, the adjective stops compensating and drops back to weak -en or -e.

4. Mishandling strong declension after no article

Without an article, the adjective has to copy the der-word endings — including in slots where learners expect -en. Strong masculine dative is -em (like dem), and strong feminine dative is -er (like der), not -en.

5. Putting an ending on a predicative adjective

After sein, werden, bleiben, scheinen, aussehen and the rest of the linking-verb family, the adjective is predicative and never inflects.

The flip-side anchor: as soon as you slot the adjective in front of the noun, the ending comes back — das alte Haus, die junge Frau.

FAQ

The questions below are exactly the ones learners type into Google. Each answer is self-contained so it can be lifted as a citation.

How do German adjective endings work? Attributive adjectives (those before a noun) take an ending that signals case, gender, and number. The ending depends on what comes in front of the adjective: a der-word (weak), an ein-word (mixed), or nothing (strong). One of these — the article or the adjective — has to carry the strong gender marker. Predicative adjectives after sein, werden, or bleiben never take an ending.

When do you use -en vs -e on German adjectives? Use -e in the weak singular nominative across all three genders and in the weak/mixed feminine and neuter accusative. Use -en almost everywhere else: the entire dative, the entire plural after der-/ein-words, masculine accusative singular, and any slot where the article has already done the case-marking. When you are unsure, -en is the safer guess.

What's the difference between weak, strong, and mixed declension? Weak follows a der-word that already shows case and gender, so the adjective stays minimal. Strong kicks in with no article — the adjective copies the der-word endings. Mixed is the hybrid after ein-words: where ein has no ending, the adjective goes strong; everywhere else it behaves weakly.

Do German adjectives change in the dative? Yes. In the dative, every attributive adjective ending is -en regardless of gender, number, or declension type — except for strong dative feminine singular, where the adjective takes -er (gutem Wein, but guter Milch).

Why doesn't 'sehr schön' have an ending? Because schön is predicative there, not attributive. Adjectives after sein, werden, bleiben, scheinen, or aussehen describe the subject across a linking verb and never inflect.

Does the adjective change after dieser, jeder, welcher? No — these are der-words, so they trigger weak declension exactly like der/die/das. Dieser alte Mann, jede neue Idee, welches alte Buch.

Related grammar

• German noun gender — gender is the input to every ending; nail der/die/das first.
• German articles — der, die, das and ein, eine, ein in every case.
• German articles in the dative — dative trigger words and the article forms the adjective follows.
• German strong adjective declension (B1) — the no-article pattern in depth, including the genitive wrinkle.