A-Level Grammar

Adjective endings

An attributive adjective (one standing before a noun) always carries an ending in German, and that ending depends on three things at once: the case, the gender/number of the noun, and — crucially — what kind of word comes before the adjective. There are exactly three declension patterns: weak, mixed and strong.

der gute Wein · ein guter Wein · guter Weinsame adjective, three endings — decided by what precedes it

Work through each screen and answer the questions. Collect ⭐ and press Start.

The system

Three declensions, one decision

Which pattern you use is decided by the word before the adjective:

Weak — after a definite article or der-word (der, die, das, dieser, jeder, welcher, alle). The article already shows case, so the adjective barely changes: only -e or -en.
Mixed — after an ein-word (ein, kein, mein, dein…). Weak endings, except where ein has no ending — there the adjective takes the strong ending.
Strong — with no article at all. The adjective must do the whole job of showing case and gender, so it takes the full article-like endings.

One mantra: "the ending has to appear somewhere." If the article shows it, the adjective relaxes (weak); if there is no article, the adjective carries it (strong).

Weak declension

After der / die / das

Only two endings appear: -e in the nominative singular (all genders) and the accusative feminine/neuter; -en absolutely everywhere else.

case	masc.	fem.	neut.	plural
Nom	der gute	die gute	das gute	die guten
Akk	den guten	die gute	das gute	die guten
Dat	dem guten	der guten	dem guten	den guten
Gen	des guten	der guten	des guten	der guten

Shortcut: the five "-e" boxes form an L-shape in the top-left; the whole rest of the grid is -en.

Quick check

Weak — nominative masculine

?Complete: Der ___ Mann wartet. ("The good man is waiting." — gut.)

Type it

Your turn — weak feminine

1Complete: Die ___ Frau lacht. ("The good woman is laughing." — gut, single word.)

Hint: weak, nominative singular → -e.

Quick check

Weak — dative plural

?Complete: Ich spiele mit den ___ Kindern. ("…with the good children." — gut.)

Mixed declension

After ein / kein / mein

Identical to the weak pattern except in the three boxes where ein shows no ending — there the adjective borrows the strong ending so the gender is still visible:

case	masc.	fem.	neut.	plural (kein)
Nom	ein guter	eine gute	ein gutes	keine guten
Akk	einen guten	eine gute	ein gutes	keine guten
Dat	einem guten	einer guten	einem guten	keinen guten
Gen	eines guten	einer guten	eines guten	keiner guten

The three "strong" boxes: nom. masc. (-er), nom. neut. and acc. neut. (-es) — exactly where ein itself is bare.

Quick check

Mixed — nominative masculine

?Complete: Er ist ein ___ Mann. ("He is a good man." — gut.)

Quick check

Mixed — neuter

?Complete: Das ist ein ___ Kind. ("That is a good child." — gut.)

Type it

Your turn — mixed accusative

2Complete: Ich habe einen ___ Wagen. ("I have a new car." — neu, single word.)

Hint: einen already shows the accusative masculine, so the adjective is weak: -en.

Sort it

Pick the correct ending

Strong declension

No article — the adjective carries it all

With no article (after etwas, viel, wenig, mehrere, numbers, or nothing), the adjective takes the der-word endings — except the genitive masc./neut., which is -en (the noun already shows -s):

case	masc.	fem.	neut.	plural
Nom	guter Wein	gute Milch	gutes Bier	gute Weine
Akk	guten Wein	gute Milch	gutes Bier	gute Weine
Dat	gutem Wein	guter Milch	gutem Bier	guten Weinen
Gen	guten Weines	guter Milch	guten Bieres	guter Weine

Notice: these endings mirror der/die/das/dem/des… almost exactly — guter, gute, gutes, gutem, guter — because the adjective is now the only signpost.

Quick check

Strong — no article

?Complete: ___ Wein schmeckt gut. ("Good wine tastes good." — gut, no article, nom. masc.)

Type it

Your turn — strong dative

3Complete: Sie kocht mit ___ Wein. ("She cooks with red wine." — rot, no article, dat. masc., single word.)

Hint: strong dative masculine mirrors dem → -em.

Sort it

Weak or strong trigger?

Sort each preceding word by the adjective ending it forces.

→ WEAK adjective

→ STRONG adjective

Exam craft

Getting them right under pressure

Two habits save marks in the essay and translation:

Default to -en: across all three tables, the majority of boxes are -en. If in doubt in a plural, dative or genitive, -en is usually right.
Watch the strong genitive: trotz schlechten Wetters, not *schlechtes Wetters — masc./neut. genitive adjective is -en.

Two adjectives? They take the same ending: ein guter, alter Freund; mit gutem, rotem Wein.

Type it

Your turn — a full phrase

4Translate "a good friend" (nominative, masculine) into German — article + adjective + noun.

Hint: mixed declension — bare ein forces the strong -er on the adjective.

Type it

Your turn — weak genitive

5Complete: das Auto des ___ Mannes ("the old man's car" — alt, single word).

Hint: after des the declension is weak, and the genitive is firmly outside the L-shape → -en.

Game · Match

Match the context to the correct form

Tap a context on the left, then the correct form of gut on the right.

CONTEXT

def. art., Nom. masc.

ein-word, Nom. masc.

kein Artikel, Nom. masc.

ein-word, Nom. neut.

kein Artikel, Dat. masc.

def. art., Dat. plural

FORM

gutem Wein

der gute Mann

den guten Kindern

ein guter Mann

ein gutes Kind

guter Wein

Recap

Your adjective-ending toolkit

Weak (after der-words): only -e (nom. sing. + acc. fem./neut.) and -en everywhere else.

Mixed (after ein-words): weak, but -er / -es / -es in the three bare-ein boxes.

Strong (no article): the der-endings (-er, -e, -es, -em, -er); genitive masc./neut. = -en.

Default when unsure in plural/dative/genitive: -en.

Cluster 4 turns to the verb: the tense system — present, perfect, Präteritum, pluperfect and future. Press Finish.

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Mini-Lektion abgeschlossen!

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You've mastered the weak, mixed and strong adjective endings for Edexcel A-Level German. 🎉

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Next in the backbone: the tense system — present, perfect, Präteritum, pluperfect and future.

Next: test yourself in the Verify stage.

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