German from First PrinciplesPost 5 of 19 · 19 of 19 written
- Overview
- 01The model: how German is built
- 02Sounds and spelling
- 03Nouns: gender and plural
- 04Case: the core idea
- 05Articles and declension: one set of endings
- 06Prepositions: who decides the case
- 07Adjective endings: signal once
- 08Pronouns: the same signals, new stems
- 09Verbs: stems, prefixes and frames
- 10Word order: the sentence frame
- 11Tenses and how they are really used
- 12Mood: necessity, unreality, reported speech
- 13Passive and its alternatives
- 14Word formation: multiplying your vocabulary
- 15Connectors and particles: structure and tone
- 16Register: which German, where
- 17How acquisition works, and your path to C1
- 18Asking the right questions
- 19Quick-reference tables
5. Articles and declension: one set of endings
Every article form comes from one table of sixteen strong endings attached to a stem. Learn this table once and der, dieser, jeder, welcher, ein, kein, mein and the adjective endings all fall out of it.
The strong endings
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | -er | -e | -es | -e |
| Akkusativ | -en | -e | -es | -e |
| Dativ | -em | -er | -em | -en |
| Genitiv | -es | -er | -es | -er |
Put them on dies- and you get the whole der-word paradigm: dieser Mann, diesen Mann, diesem Mann, dieses Mannes. The definite article is the same system with a fused stem: der, die, das, die / den, die, das, die / dem, der, dem, den / des, der, des, der. Das is the neuter -es signal in a fused form, just as dem is -em.
Five patterns that shrink the table
- Nominativ = Akkusativ everywhere except masculine. Only the masculine changes -er → -en.
- Feminine and plural are twins in Nominativ, Akkusativ (-e) and Genitiv (-er).
- Masculine and neuter are twins in Dativ (-em) and Genitiv (-es).
- -er appears in four cells: masculine Nominativ, feminine Dativ, feminine Genitiv, plural Genitiv. So der can be four different things; context decides.
- Dativ plural is -en, and the noun adds -n if its plural does not already end in -n or -s: mit den Kindern, mit den Autos.
The signature letters are worth memorising as a sound: masculine r – n – m – s, feminine e – e – r – r, neuter s – s – m – s, plural e – e – n – r.
Der-words and ein-words
Der-words take the strong endings in every cell: der, dieser, jener, jeder, mancher, welcher, solcher, and alle in the plural.
Ein-words are ein, kein and the possessives (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr). They take the same strong endings with one crucial difference: three cells have no ending at all.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural (kein / mein) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | ein (gap) | eine | ein (gap) | keine |
| Akkusativ | einen | eine | ein (gap) | keine |
| Dativ | einem | einer | einem | keinen |
| Genitiv | eines | einer | eines | keiner |
Those three gaps (masculine Nominativ, neuter Nominativ, neuter Akkusativ) are the single reason adjective endings look different after ein than after der. Section 7 builds directly on them.
Possessives: two decisions, not one
A possessive answers two separate questions. The stem comes from the owner: mein (my), dein, sein (his, its), ihr (her, their), unser, euer, Ihr (your, formal). The ending comes from the possessed noun’s gender and case.
Sie besucht ihren Vater: ihr- because she is the owner, -en because Vater is masculine Akkusativ. Er hilft seiner Mutter: sein- because he is the owner, -er because Mutter is feminine Dativ (helfen takes Dativ).
Genitiv and Dativ on the noun itself
Masculine and neuter nouns add -s or -es in the Genitiv singular: des Mannes, des Autos, des Computers. Use -es mostly after one-syllable nouns and after s, ß, x, z (des Hauses, des Platzes). A Dativ singular -e (dem Manne) is archaic and survives only in fixed phrases: zu Hause, im Grunde, nach Hause.