The German language in the matter of declensions of nouns by case is very similar to Russian, and both have strict rules that you need to know by heart so that your speech looks natural and you are understood. For example, in the Russian phrase “I am a student” (who?) the ending is zero, however in "I see a student A" (whom?) ending appears A because the word student already answers the question "whom? What?" (accusative), but not "Who? What?" (Nominative case).
IN German noun endings can also change in different cases. In addition, in German the inflection is articles. We will consider changing articles first.
Declension of articles
There are 4 cases in German. They are very similar to Russians and answer the same questions: nominative, genitive (Genitive), dative, accusative (Akkusativ). You need to know the forms of German articles in different cases by heart.
Let's start with forms certain articles der(masculine) die(feminine gender), das(neuter gender), die(plural).
Having learned the forms of definite articles, it will be much easier for you to understand and remember the forms of indefinite articles, as well as the declension of adjectives and some pronouns.
Declension of the definite article
*We will look at the system of noun endings below.
Indefinite article- This ein(masculine and neuter) and eine(feminine gender). Forms plural have not definite article no, because literally ein (eine) means "one" ("one"). By analogy with the indefinite article, possessive pronouns will change in the singular (mein, dein, sein...) and denial kein.
Declension of the indefinite article
Declension of nouns (ending system)
Singular noun endings and noun declension types
In the singular, there are 4 types of declension, according to which the endings of nouns change: strong, weak, feminine and mixed.
Type 1 - strong declination. This includes most nouns male And all neuter nouns(except das Herz, see mixed declension).
The peculiarity of strong declination is in Genitiv unit ending appears -es /-s .
Type 2 - weak declination, or N-declension. This is a series of nouns only male , denoting mainly living beings.
Feature of weak declination - singular ending -en / -n in all cases except the nominative. Dictionary form plural. the number of such nouns is always formed by adding -en / -n.
This group includes:
- All masculine nouns ending in -e, with the exception of words from mixed declension (written about them below): der Junge – des Junge n der Kollege – des Kollege n etc.
- Masculine words ending in -and, -ant, -ent, -ist:der Doktorand — des Doktorand en der Elefant - des Elefant en der Student - des Student en der Kapitalist - des Kapitalist en etc.
- Some borrowed names of professions and types of activity are masculine, ending in -at, -ekt, -ograph/-ograf, -ologe, -onom, -osoph: der Diplomat — des Diplomat en, der Architekt — des Architekt en, der Demokrat - des Demokrat en, der Journalist - des Journalist en der Philosopher - des Philosopher en, der Photograph/Fotograf - des Photograph en/Photograf en der Psychologe - des Psychologe n der Astronom - des Astronom en etc.
- And also some borrowed names of things: der Automat — des Automat en, der Satellit — des Satellit en, der Diamant - des Diamant en, der Planet - des Planet en etc.
- A number of exceptions not included in the groups above: der Mensch – des Mensch en, der Herr – des Herr n, der Bär – des Bär en etc_.
Type 3 - feminine declension. This all nouns are feminine. The peculiarity of the feminine type of declension is singular in all cases. the number has no ending.
Type 4 - mixed declension. This is a very short list of exceptions.
Feature of mixed declension - ending -(e)n in units Dativ And Akkusativ and ending -(e)ns in units Genitiv. Thus, the mixed declination combines the endings of the weak and strong declination.
Nouns change according to mixed declension: der Buchstabe — des Buchstabe ns—dem Buchstabe n der Gedanke - des Gedanke ns—dem Gedanke n der Friede - des Friede ns— dem Friede n der Funke - des Funke ns— — dem Funke n der Glaube - des Glaube ns—dem Glaube n der Name - des Name ns—dem Name n der Wille - des Wille ns—dem Wille n der Same - des Same ns—dem Same n das Herz - des Herz ens— dem Herz en
Plural endings for nouns
In plural there is only one case ending: in Dativ an ending is added to the dictionary form of the plural -n.
However, the additional ending in Dativ does not appear if:
- The plural form of the noun already ends in -n. These are many feminine nouns and all weak and mixed declension nouns: die Studenten – den Studenten, die Frauen – den Frauen, die Namen – den Namen;
- The plural form of a noun ends in -s: das Auto – den Autos.
Declension is the change of parts of speech by cases and numbers. In German, nouns, articles, pronouns, and adjectives are declined according to cases (if they appear before the noun).
Important!
Master the topic " Declension"Knowledge will help cases in German. Unlike the Russian language, in German there are only four cases: Nominative (Nominativ), Genitive (Genetiv), Dative (Dativ), Accusative (Akkusativ).
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Nominative |
Wer? (who) Was? (What) |
|
Wessen? (whose) |
|
|
Wem? (to whom) Wo? (where) Wann? (when) Wie? (How) |
|
|
Akkusativ |
Wen? (who) Was? (what) Wohin? (Where) |
Declension of adjectives in German
The method of declension of adjectives is closely related to the article. The presence or absence of an article before the adjective, as well as its type (definite or indefinite), determines what type of inflection the adjective will take - strong, weak or mixed.
- Declension of adjectives
- Strong declination
- Weak declination
- Mixed declension
Gender, number, case are shown in a phrase only once (or with an accompanying word - article, numeral, or adjective)!
As can be seen from the table, with a strong declension, the adjective receives the gender/case ending of the definite article. Exception: Genetiv singular masculine and neuter. In this form the adjective ends in -en.
Weak declension of adjectives
In Nominativ units. h. (all genders) and Akkusativ singular. (except m.r.) the adjective receives an ending -e, in all other cases singular and plural - en.
|
Der gut e |
Das gut e |
Die gut e |
Die gut en |
|
|
Des gut en |
Des gut en |
Der gut en |
Der gut en |
|
|
Dem gut en |
Dem gut en |
Der gut en |
Den gut en |
|
|
Den gut en |
Das gut e |
Die gut e |
Die gut en |
|
|
Vater |
Kind |
Mutter |
Eltern |
Mixed declension of adjectives
A sign of mixed declension of adjectives can be not only the indefinite article ein/eine, but also possessive pronouns ( mein, dein etc.), as well as a negative pronoun kein/ keine. If gender, number and case can be determined from the accompanying word (article, pronoun), the adjective is declined according to the weak type. If number, gender and case cannot be determined, use the strong one.
Ein guter Vater
(good father, Im.p.)
By the article ein (can be either in the m.r. or in the w.r.n.) it is impossible to understand what gender the noun Vater belongs to. Therefore, the generic ending -er receives in this case the adjective guter. Strong declination.
Meinen guten Vater
(my good father, V. p.)
By possessive pronoun meinen you can determine the gender, number and case of the noun Vater. In this case, the adjective guten ends in -en and is inflected weakly.
We looked at the declensions of adjectives in German. The specifics of the declension of German nouns are presented in the table:
Declension of nouns in German
|
Gen. / kind.p. |
-s des Vater s |
-s des Kind es |
||
|
Dat./dat.p. |
-n den Bucher n |
|||
|
Akk. /vin.p. |
||||
In the genitive case, masculine and neuter, an ending is added to the noun -s, in the dative plural the ending is added -n. In other cases, the noun remains unchanged. The exception is weak nouns.
Declension of weak nouns
Masculine nouns that receive the plural ending - (e)n. The same ending is characteristic of all singular cases, except the nominative. These nouns include:
- Words starting with -e (der Junge - boy);
- Words with Latin or Greek suffixes denoting the type of activity (der Student - student);
- Some inanimate nouns of foreign origin (der Automat - machine gun);
- A few German words that require memorization (der Mensch - man, der Nachbar - neighbor, etc.)
|
Sg. / unit |
Pl. / plural |
|
|
No. / Name |
Der Student (student) |
Die Student en |
|
Gen. / R.p. |
Des Student en |
Der Student en |
|
Dat. / D.p. |
Dem Student en |
Den Student en |
|
Akk. / V.p. |
Den Student en |
Die Student en |
For those who study German, the weak declension (cl.) of nouns (noun) is one of the many “little things” that, despite their apparent simplicity, cause a lot of trouble.
On the one hand, everything is clear: the peculiarity of this cluster. is that noun. in all case forms, except for the Nominative singular (number), acquire the ending –en. Articles are declined as usual.
On the other hand, remember which words belong to this group. at the moment of speaking, it can be difficult. First of all, it should be noted that all these entities. masculine (except for das Herz). So, to the weak cl. in German include:
- Nouns denoting male creatures (humans and animals) that end in –e: der Kollege, der Zeuge, der Kunde, der Knabe, der Sklave, der Geselle, der Hase, der Drache, der Affe, der Löwe, etc.
- Monosyllabic nouns with the same meaning: der Graf, der Held, der Mensch, der Fürst, der Prinz, der Zar, der Bär, etc.
- Names of all nationalities ending in –e: der Russe, der Pole, der Chinese, der Grieche, der Türke, etc.
- Foreign (usually Greek and Latin) words with the suffix -and-/ -ant-: der Doktorand, der Proband, der Elefant, der Musikant, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -ent-, denoting males: der Student, der Absolvent, der Produzent, der Präsident, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -ad-/ -at-: der Kamerad, der Demokrat, der Diplomat, der Soldat, der Automat, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -ist-: der Polizist, der Journalist, der Tourist, der Egoist, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -loge-: der Psychologe, der Philologe, der Biologe, der Pädagoge, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -eut-, -aut-: der Therapeut, der Pharmazeut, der Astronaut, der Kosmonaut, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix –graf-/ -graph-: der Telegraf, der Fotograf, der Geograph, der Paragraph, etc.
- Foreign words with the suffix -t-: der Architekt, der Athlet, der Satellit, der Ästhet, etc.
- Some words that do not fit into the classification above: der Astronom, der Philosopher, der Catholic, der Monarch, der Komet, der Planet, der Tatar and others. In total to this skl. refer to about four thousand nouns.
Standing somewhat apart from this list are the words der Name, der Buchstabe, der Glaube, der Wille, der Friede, der Gedanke, der Same, der Funke, as well as singular noun. neuter in this list – das Herz . Their peculiarity is that in the Genitive case the singular number. they acquire the ending -ens, that is, they look like this: des Namens, des Buchstabens, des Glaubens.... In all other forms they have a characteristic ending -en.
Noun das Herz in the Accusative case does not have the ending –en:
Particular attention should be paid to the pronoun Herr, despite the fact that it belongs to the weak inflection, its forms are somewhat different from the usual ones:
To the weak slope refers to noun Ungar, although with skl. it takes on the ending -n:
Studying the topic “German. Weak declension of nouns,” you need to remember that there is a mixed declension, and not to confuse one with the other. To mixed group include words that are in the singular. inclined on a strong slope. (in the Genitive case singulars have the ending -s), and in the plural - in the weak case. This includes the words der See, der Staat, der Vetter, das Auge, das Ohr, etc. This can also include noun. der Bauer, der Nachbar, etc., although they can also lean along a weak slope. (with ending –n), and mixed:
|
Kasus/ case |
Singular/ singular |
Plural/ plural |
|
Nominative/ Nominative |
Bauer | Bauern |
| Nachbar | Nachbarn | |
|
Genitiv/ Genitive |
Bauers, Bauern | Bauern |
| Nachbars, Nachbarn | Nachbarn | |
|
Dativ/ Dative |
Bauer, Bauern | Bauern |
| Nachbar, Nachbarn | Nachbarn | |
|
Akkusativ/ Accusative |
Bauer, Bauern | Bauern |
| Nachbar, Nachbarn | Nachbarn |
For those who have been studying German for a long time, the declension of nouns (nouns) is generally not particularly difficult. The case system consists of four cases (cases): Nominative (Nominativ), Genitive (Genitiv), Dative (Dativ), Accusative (Akkusativ). Many nouns do not have special case endings (terminations), only their articles change. However, there are also a few things to pay attention to here.
There are three types of skl. noun masculine and neuter: strong (s-Deklination), weak (n-Deklination) and mixed (gemischte Deklination). There is also the so-called women's school
Almost all words are in Dative pad. plural have graduated –n:
das Buch (N. singl.) – die Bücher (N. pl) – den Bücher-n (D. pl),
die Mutter (N. singl) – die Mütter (N. pl) – den Müttern (D. pl),
der Vater (N. singl) – die Väter (N. pl) – den Vätern (D. pl).
In feminine words in which the Nominative form is pad. The plural ends in –n, the Dative form. matches it (the new letter –n does not appear):
Die Studentin (N. singl) – die Studentinnen (N. pl) – den Studentinnen (D. pl).
Die Leserin (N. singl) – die Leserinnen (N. pl) – den Leserinnen (D. pl).
In general, noun. The feminine gender is usually declined according to the so-called. feminine declension. His main feature is that all forms of the singular coincide with the Nominative case, and the ending. in all plural cases – en.
| Kasus | ||
| Nominative | ||
| Genitiv | ||
| Dativ | ||
| Akkusativ |
To the point, strongly inclined, include masculine and neuter words and some feminine words that are in the Nominative pad. pl. h. have ending. -er, -e or null.
der Baum – die Bäume, die Erkenntnis – die Erkenntnisse, das Volk – die Völker, der Meister – die Meister.
Noun masculine and neuter gender Genitive pad. units have ending –s or – es:
der Baum – des Baums, der Meister – des Meisters.
Finish -es joins:
- Usually to monosyllabic nouns. (for euphony): das Volk – des Volk(e)s, der Tag – des Tag(e)s. Although in these cases it is possible to use conc. –s: des Volks, des Tags.
- To nouns ending in –s, -ss, -ß, -tz, -x, -z . Das Haus - das Hauses, der Kuss - des Kusses, das Gesetz - des Gesetzes.
Thus, the table is final. strong cl. as follows:
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominative | ||||
| Genitiv |
+(e)s |
+(e)s |
||
| Dativ | ||||
| Akkusativ | ||||
Sometimes in Dative pad. nouns ending in a consonant may have an ending. -e. For example, im Jahre..., dem Tage, dem Volke. Such forms are outdated and are sometimes used in written speech (official documents).
A separate subspecies of the strong class. is considered to be skl. nouns ending –s in plural
Das Auto – die Autos, der Job – die Jobs, das Cafe – die Cafes.
Like the words of the “ordinary” strong inflection, they have an ending. –s in Genitive. units, but do not have endings. –n in the dative case. plural
| Kasus | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | Das Cafe | die Cafes |
| Genitiv | des Cafes | der Cafes |
| Dativ | dem Cafe | den Cafes |
| Akkusativ | den Cafe | die Cafes |
The main difference between weak cl. is final –en, which appears in all forms except the Nominative pad. units To the weak slope usually refer to nouns. masculine, which denote living beings of the masculine gender, nationality and profession that end in
-e, -af, -and, -ant, -ent, -ist, -loge, etc.
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominative | — | — | — | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: |
| Genitiv | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: | — | — | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: |
| Dativ | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: | — | — | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: |
| Akkusativ | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: | — | — | Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows: |
+(e)n . To a variety of weak cl. refer to words that in the Genitive case. have graduated –ens This group of words is not numerous - it includes the words, as well as singular noun. neuter in this list – das Herz . der Name, der Buchstabe, der Glaube, der Wille, der Friede, der Gedanke, der Same, der Funke
Accordingly, in the Genitive pad. these words will look like: des Namens, des Buchstabens, des Glaubens, des Willens, des Friedens, des Gedankes, der Samens, des Funkens, des Herzens.
| Kasus | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | To the weak slope also applies to skl. noun der Herr, although its ending. in the singular are slightly different from the usual ones: | der Herr |
| Genitiv | die Herren | des Herrn |
| Dativ | der Herren | dem Herrn |
| Akkusativ | den Herren | der Herr |
den Herrn Consideration of the topic “German language. Declension of nouns" would be incomplete if we did not consider mixed declension
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominative |
. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that noun. in the singular they are inflected in the strong inflection. (acquired in the Genitive case singular ending -s or -es), and in the plural - according to the weak inflection. (all pads have the ending –en). |
|||
| Genitiv |
+(e)s |
+(e)n |
. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that noun. in the singular they are inflected in the strong inflection. (acquired in the Genitive case singular ending -s or -es), and in the plural - according to the weak inflection. (all pads have the ending –en). |
|
| Dativ |
. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that noun. in the singular they are inflected in the strong inflection. (acquired in the Genitive case singular ending -s or -es), and in the plural - according to the weak inflection. (all pads have the ending –en). |
|||
| Akkusativ |
. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that noun. in the singular they are inflected in the strong inflection. (acquired in the Genitive case singular ending -s or -es), and in the plural - according to the weak inflection. (all pads have the ending –en). |
|||
To this skl. words include: der See, der Staat, der Direktor, der Staat, der Schmerz, der Vetter, der Motor, das Ohr, das Drama, das Bett, das Auge, das Ohr, der Mast…
So, if we talk about the declension of nouns in the German language, then we should first talk about the features of the language itself. And in this case there are a lot of them.
Cases, masculine and feminine declensions
In this language of the Romano-Germanic group, there are four types of declensions of these independent parts of speech. They are divided into mixed (special), female, weak and, accordingly, strong. the main task- determine the pattern in the process of declension in each of the cases, of which there are four in the German language. The nominative (translated as Nominativ) answers questions such as “wer?” and “was?”. Genitive, which is translated as Genetiv, - to the question “wessen?”. It is followed by the dative, Dativ, - “wem?”, “wo?”, and also the accusative, Akkusativ, - “wen?”, “was?”, “wohin?”. Strong declination is determined by the ending “s” in this case applies most of nouns that are masculine, as well as all those belonging to the neuter gender. The exception is “heart” - Das Herz. If we talk about the weak declension of nouns in the German language, then in this case the sign will be the ending e(n) - it applies to all cases. The exception is m.p. nouns that define living beings. The situation is simplest with the feminine declension - there are no endings.
Special type and plural
It was said that the German language differs in some ways. previously mentioned mixed type, is one of those. Only a few words stand out here; you should list them and remember them! Das Herz (translated as "heart"), der Schaden ("damage"), der Frieden (translation - "World", although there is a synonym Welt, changing according to all the rules), der Wille ("Will"), der Same (" seed"), der Glaube ("faith"), der Gedanke (translated as "thought", but can be replaced by the synonym idea), der Funke ("spark"), der Buchstabe ("letter"), der Name ("name" ). The listed words have the following declension of nouns in German: they end with e(ns) in the genitive case, and with e(n) in the dative and accusative case. It's a little easier to decline in the plural. Everything here follows one rule: in Dativ it ends in n, with only one exception. If a noun is converted from singular. h., then it receives the suffixes s or n.
About the strength of declination
So, in this language, unlike Russian, there are only four cases. If we talk about declension, then there are three types according to which words change. This is a strong declination, weak and mixed. If in German, then s-Deklination, n-Deklination and gemischte Deklination. Many nouns do not have endings; only the article changes in the word. Almost all words end in n, the same goes for female nouns. Although there is a peculiarity here. Nouns f. R. and change according to feminine declination. All singular forms are exactly the same as and plural words in any case end in en.
The strong type has its own characteristics. The fact is that words of the neuter and also masculine gender are declined according to this type. It should be noted here that the listed words in Nominativ have either -er, -e. Weak declination has distinctive feature in the form of the ending -en. It appears in every form except Nominativ. The weak type changes masculine names ending in -loge, -ant, -e, -and, -ist, -af, etc. These are mainly words denoting professions, nationality and living beings.
How to remember
Declension of nouns in German is a complex topic. And very important, because in order to speak normally, so that native speakers can understand the speaker, you need to be able to change words according to declensions. Exercises will help you master the topic “Declination of nouns.” The German language is very rich, so it will be easy to train. To do this, you can create diagrams or tables with endings and cases. In this way, two types of memory will work: visual and auditory, and the memorization process will be much more productive The table can be compiled in the following form (for example, the words “person”, “mister”, “student”, “name” are taken):
N: der: Mensch, Herr, Student, Name.
A: den: Mensch(en), Herr(n), Student(en), Name(n).
D: dem: Mensch(en), Herr(n), Student(en), Name(n).
G: des: Mensch(en), Herr(n), Student(en), Name(ns).
Even based on such a simple example, you can see that learning and memorizing using such a table is quite simple. The most important thing, as in any other language, is to find a pattern in which the memorization process will look logical and consistent.