German grammar dartmouth7/3/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() She ordered a white wine, but I'll take a red.Įs gibt wenig gute Schriftsteller, aber er gehört zu den besten. The adjective may also be in lowercase when the impression is less of an adjective used as a noun than of a noun having been omitted: Sie hat einen Weißwein bestellt, aber ich nehme einen roten. We're both here, but where are the others?ĭiese Tasse ist schmutzig. The same is true for "andere": Wir beiden sind da, aber wo bleiben die anderen? Germans also frequently say or write "ihr beide", however.Īnd, although "wir Grünen" and "ihr Grünen" are used more consistently,īoth "Sie Grünen" and "Sie Grüne" are possible. In the plural, however, there are some surprises, especially in the vocative: Wir Grün en sind nicht so unrealistisch. They are more apt to show up in the vocative: Du Armer! There's no point in replacing old with old. Note the following: Es hat keinen Zweck, Altes mit Altem zu ersetzen. Some of the forms in the above chart may seem hard to work into the conversation, but they do exist. Here are examples of "the old man," "the rich woman," "the Good", "the poor ": The examples above are all in the nominative case, but the adjectival inflections hold true in the accusative, dative, and Plural adjectives of color represent members of particular political parties: e.g., "die Grünen" = Today we're driving into the wild, blue yonder. (Note that "German" is the only nationality designated by an adjectival noun.)įrequent usage has produced other conventions: Ich möchte ein Helles. Only adults are allowed to see this film. Some adjectives that become such nouns are "bekannt", "angestellt", "verwandt" , So long as the context is clear, all that's needed to make the noun is to capitalize the first letter.Ī number of such nouns constructed in this fashion have become conventional enough to be listed as dictionary entries in their own right. Since the der, followed by the -e ending on dick tells us that we are dealing with a single masculine subject ![]() When Germans refer to Ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl as der Dicke (the fat man), they don't need a further noun, It can be a little easier in the plural: "The rich are different." "For ye have the poor always with you."īecause German adjective endings carry considerable information about case, gender, and number, the noun that they modify can sometimes seem redundant. "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." "I'm talking about the fat guy." "He's an odd one." "Let's drink a cold one". One can talk about certain abstract concepts like the True or the Good,īut in most cases, at least one added word like "one," "thing," or something like "man," "woman," or "guy" is required to create a noun phrase: (From Der Spiegel) A survey of 25,000 university graduates: why so many study the wrong thing.īecause English adjectives are uninflected, it is more difficult to make nouns out of them. ![]()
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