Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

(Tina Meador) #1

UNIT FIFTEEN


Unit 15 Adjectives and adverbs


Use of adjectives


Adjectives provide more information about nouns:

Dieses Handy ist teuer.
This mobile phone is expensive.

Sie ist eine interessanteFrau.
She is an interesting woman.

Adjectives can either appear after the noun (Dieses Handy ist teuer) or
directly in front of the noun they describe (eine interessante Frau).

Adjectives after nouns – do not take endings


Adjectives do not change when they appear after the noun they describe.
This is often the case in connection with the verbs sein‘to be’ andwerden
‘to become’:

Michael ist immer schon ein bisschen komischgewesen.
Michael has always been a bit funny.

Ihr Gesicht wurde dunkelrot.
Her face turned purple.

Adjectives before nouns – take endings


An adjective preceding a noun normally requires an ending. The patterns
of endings depend on whether the adjective appears:

111


2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


1011


1


2


13


4111


5


6


7


8


9


2011


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


3011


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


4011


1


2


3


41111

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