For those who have been studying German for a long time, the declension (decl.) Of nouns (n.) In general is not particularly difficult. The case system consists of four cases (pad.): Nominative (Nominativ), Genitive (Genitiv), Dative (Dativ), Accusative (Akkusativ). Many nouns do not have special case endings (ending), only their articles change. However, there are also a few points to note here.
There are three types of warehouses. noun masculine and neuter: strong (s-Deklination), weak (n-Deklination) and mixed (gemischte Deklination). There is also a so-called. female wc.
Almost all words in the Dative pad. plural end. –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 the words of the feminine gender, in which the form of the Nominative pad. plural ends in –n, Dative pad 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).
Generally, n. the feminine gender is usually inclined according to the so-called. female declension... Its main feature is that all forms of the singular coincide with the Nominative pad., And the end. in all plural cases - en.
| Kasus | ||
| Nominativ | ||
| Genitiv | ||
| Dativ | ||
| Akkusativ |
To n., strong-leaning, include masculine and neuter words and some feminine words that are in the Nominative Pad. pl. h. have an ending. -er, -e, or null.
der Baum - die Bäume, die Erkenntnis - die Erkenntnisse, das Volk - die Völker, der Meister - die Meister.
Exs. male and neuter genders Genitive pad. units h end-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 and finish. –S: des Volks, des Tags.
- 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 finished. strong wkl. as follows:
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominativ | ||||
| Genitiv |
+ (e) s |
+ (e) s |
||
| Dativ | ||||
| Akkusativ | ||||
Sometimes in the Dative pad. nouns ending in a consonant may have an ending. –E. For example, im Jahre ..., dem Tage, dem Volke. Such forms are obsolete and are sometimes used in written speech (official documents).
A separate subspecies of strong scl. is considered to be skl. nouns with ending –S plural
Das Auto - die Autos, der Job - die Jobs, das Cafe - die Cafes.
Like the words of the "usual" strong spell., They have an ending. –S in Genitive pad. singular, but do not end. –N in the dative pad. plural
| Kasus | Singular | Plural |
| Nominativ | das Cafe | die Cafes |
| Genitiv | des Cafes | der Cafes |
| Dativ | dem Cafe | den Cafes |
| Akkusativ | den Cafe | die Cafes |
The main difference between a weak skl. is the end. –En, which appears in all forms except Nominative pad. units h To a weak skl. are usually n. masculine, which denote living creatures of the masculine gender, nationality and profession that end in -e, -af, -and, -ant, -ent, -ist, -loge, etc.
Schematically, the endings can be represented as follows:
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominativ | — | — | — | + (e) n |
| Genitiv | + (e) n | — | — | + (e) n |
| Dativ | + (e) n | — | — | + (e) n |
| Akkusativ | + (e) n | — | — | + (e) n |
To a variety of weak skl. are words that in the Genitive pad. end. –Ens . This group of words is not numerous - these include words der Name, der Buchstabe, der Glaube, der Wille, der Friede, der Gedanke, der Same, der Funke and also singular noun. neuter on this list - das Herz . 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.
To a weak skl. also applies to skl. the noun der Herr, although its ending. in the singular are slightly different from the usual:
| Kasus | Singular | Plural |
| Nominativ | der Herr | die Herren |
| Genitiv | des Herrn | der Herren |
| Dativ | dem Herrn | den Herren |
| Akkusativ | den Herrn | die Herren |
Consideration of the topic “German language. Declination of nouns "would be incomplete if we did not consider mixed declension... Its peculiarity lies in the fact that noun. in the singular declined according to the strong word. (acquired in the Genitive pad. singular ending -s or -es), and in the plural - by the weak scle. (in all pad. have the ending -en).
| Kasus | ||||
| Nominativ |
+ (e) n |
|||
| Genitiv |
+ (e) s |
+ (e) s |
+ (e) n |
|
| Dativ |
+ (e) n |
|||
| Akkusativ |
+ (e) n |
|||
To this skl. include words: 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 ...
Declination is a change in parts of speech for cases and numbers. Nouns, articles, pronouns, adjectives (if they come before a noun) are declined according to cases in German.
Important!
Master the topic " Declination»Knowledge will help cases in German... Unlike Russian, in German there are only four cases: Nominativ, Genitive, Dative, Accusative.
|
Nominativ |
Wer? (who) Was? (what) |
|
Wessen? (whose) |
|
|
Wem? (to whom) Wo? (where) Wann? (when) Wie? (how) |
|
|
Akkusativ |
Wen? (whom) Was? (what) Wohin? (where) |
Declination of adjectives in German
The way of declension of adjectives is closely related to the article. From the presence or absence of an article in front of the adjective, as well as from its type (definite or indefinite), it depends on which type the adjective will be inclined - strong, weak or mixed.
- Declination of adjectives
- Strong declination
- Weak declension
- Mixed declension
Gender, number, case are shown in a phrase only once (or an accompanying word - an article, a numeral, or an adjective)!
As you can see from the table, with a strong declension, the adjective gets the generic / case ending of the definite article. Exception: Genetiv singular, masculine and neuter. In this form, the adjective ends with -en.
Weak declension of adjectives
In the nominativ unit. hours (all genus) and Akkusativ singular (except for m) the adjective gets an ending -e, in all other singular and plural cases - ru.
|
Der gut e |
Das gut e |
Die gut e |
Die gut ru |
|
|
Des gut ru |
Des gut ru |
Der gut ru |
Der gut ru |
|
|
Dem gut ru |
Dem gut ru |
Der gut ru |
Den gut ru |
|
|
Den gut ru |
Das gut e |
Die gut e |
Die gut ru |
|
|
Vater |
Kind |
Mutter |
Eltern |
Mixed declension of adjectives
The 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 the gender, number and case can be determined by the accompanying word (article, pronoun), the adjective is declined according to the weak type. If the number, gender and case cannot be determined - by the strong.
Ein guter vater
(good father, Im.p.)
By the article ein (it can be both in the m and in the middle word) it is impossible to understand what gender the noun Vater belongs to. Therefore, the generic ending -er gets the adjective guter in this case. Strong declination.
Meinen guten vater
(my good father, V. p.)
The possessive pronoun meinen can be used to determine gender, number and case of the noun Vater. In this case, the adjective guten gets the ending -en and is inflected weakly.
We have covered the declension of adjectives in German. The specifics of the declension of German nouns are presented in the table:
Declination of nouns in German
|
Gen. / genus. |
-s des Vater s |
-s des Kind es |
||
|
Dat./ dat.p. |
-n den Bücher n |
|||
|
Akk. / vin.p. |
||||
In the masculine and neuter genitives, the ending is added to the noun -s, in the dative plural, the ending is added -n... Otherwise, the noun remains unchanged. Weak nouns are an exception.
Declension of weak nouns
Weak nouns are masculine nouns that receive the plural ending - (e) n... The same ending is typical for all cases of the singular, except for the nominative. These nouns include:
- Words ending in -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 - automaton);
- Several German words that require memorization (der Mensch - person, der Nachbar - neighbor, etc.)
|
Sg. / unit h |
Pl. / plural |
|
|
Nom. / Im.p. |
Der Student (student) |
Die student ru |
|
Gen. / R. p. |
Des student ru |
Der student ru |
|
Dat. / D.p. |
Dem student ru |
Den student ru |
|
Akk. / V. p. |
Den student ru |
Die student ru |
In German, there are four types of declension of nouns in the singular:
1. strong declination;
2. weak declination;
3. feminine declension;
4. mixed declension.
The predominant indicator of number and case is the article (or the pronoun that replaces it), since the case endings of the German noun are often absent.
In the plural, all nouns are declined in the same way.
Strong declination
This type of declension in German includes most masculine nouns and all neuter nouns (exception: das Herz - heart). Main feature: ending - (e) s in the genitive case:
| Nominativ | der Vater | der Mann | das Volk | das Fenster |
| Genitiv | des Vaters | des Mannes | des Volkes | des Fensters |
| Dativ | dem Vater | dem Mann | dem Volk | dem Fenster |
| Akkusativ | den Vater | den Mann | das Volk | das Fenster |
Masculine nouns ending in -us, -ismus do not receive the endings - (e) s in the genitive case. Compare:
The ending -s in the genitive case is typical mainly for polysyllabic nouns:
and nouns ending in -s, -ß, -x, -z, -tz:
Some monosyllabic nouns can retain the lost dative ending -e, for example:
im Walde (der Wald) nach Hause (das Haus).
Weak declension
The weak declension includes only masculine nouns, mostly animated. Among them:
1. Nouns ending in -e:
der Knabe - boy
der Affe - monkey
der Kollege - colleague
der Löwe - lion
der Neffe - nephew
der Falke - falcon
der Erbe - heir to
der Hase - hare, etc.
2. Some monosyllabic nouns:
der Bär - bear
der Narr - fool
der Fürst - Prince
der Ochs - bull
der Graf - graph
der Prinz - Prince
der Held - hero
der Spatz - sparrow
der Herr - lord
der Tor - fool
der Hirt - Shepherd
der Zar - king
der Mensch is a man.
3. Nouns - names of persons - with foreign language stressed suffixes -ant, -at, -ent, -et, -graph (-greif), -ist, -it, -ot, etc .:
der Aspirant - PhD student
der Fotograf - photographer
der Diplomat - diplomat
der Pianist - pianist, etc.
Nouns are also declined
der Architekt - Architect
der Kamerad is a comrade.
4. Several inanimate nouns of foreign language origin, for example:
der Planet - planet
der Brilliant - diamond
der Komet - comet
der Diamant - diamond
der Automat - automatic machine
der Foliant - tome
The main indicator of weak declension is ending - (e) n in all cases except the nominative.
| Nominativ | der Knabe | der Mensch | der Diplomat |
| Genitiv | des Knaben | des Menschen | des Diplomaten |
| Dativ | dem Knaben | dem Menschen | dem Diplomaten |
| Akkusativ | den Knaben | den Menschen | den Diplomaten |
Feminine declension
All feminine nouns are feminine. The main feature of the feminine declension is the absence of case endings.
| Nominativ | die Tür | die Kraft | die Wissenschaft |
| Genitiv | der Tür | der Kraft | der Wissenschaft |
| Dativ | der Tür | der Kraft | der Wissenschaft |
| Akkusativ | die Tür | die Kraft | die Wissenschaft |
Mixed declension
Several nouns make up a special group that combines the signs of the strong (-s in the genitive case) and weak (-en in the indirect cases) types of declension. This includes the following masculine nouns:
der Name - name
der Buchstabe - letter
der Same - seed
der Wille - will
der Gedanke - thought
der Friede - Peace
der Fumke - spark
der Fels - rock
and the only neuter noun das Herz is heart.
| Nominativ | der Name | das Herz |
| Genitiv | des Namens | des Herzens |
| Dativ | dem Namen | dem Herzen |
| Akkusativ | den Namen | das Herz |
Declension of nouns in the plural
So, if we talk about the declension of nouns in German, then we should first say 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), feminine, weak and, accordingly, strong. The main task is to determine the pattern in the declension process in each of the four cases in the German language. Nominative (translated - Nominativ) answers questions such as "wer?" and "was?" The genitive, which translates as Genetiv, is the answer to the question “wessen?”. It is followed by the dative, Dativ, - "wem?", "Wo?", And also the accusative, Akkusativ, - "wen?", "Was?", "Wohin?" The strong declension is determined by the ending "s"; in this case, most of the nouns that are representatives of the masculine gender, as well as all belonging to the neuter gender. The exception is the “heart” - Das Herz. If we talk about the weak declension of nouns in German, then in this case the sign will be the ending e (n) - it concerns all cases. Exceptions are nouns m.r., which define living beings. The easiest case is with the feminine declension - there are no endings.
Special type and plural
It was said that the German language differs in some peculiarities. of the previously mentioned mixed type, refers to one of those. Here only a few words stand out, you should list and remember them! Das Herz (translated as "heart"), der Schaden ("damage"), der Frieden (translated as "Peace", although there is a synonym for 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 a synonym idea), der Funke ("spark"), der Buchstabe ("letter"), der Name ("name" ). The listed words have the following declension of nouns in German: in e (ns) they end in the genitive case, and in e (n) in the dative and accusative. It is a little easier to declare in the plural. Everything follows one rule here: in Dativ, the ending with n, with only one exception. If a noun is transformed from singular. h, then it receives the suffixes s or n.
On 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 in which words change. It is a strong declension, weak and mixed. In German, s-Deklination, n-Deklination and gemischte Deklination. Many nouns have no endings; only the article changes in the word. Almost all words end in n, the same goes for feminine nouns. There is a peculiarity here, though. Nouns R. and change according to the feminine declension. All forms of the singular are exactly the same as and the plurals end in any case with en.
The strong type has its own characteristics. The fact is that the words of the middle, as well as masculine, are inclined according to this type. It should be noted here that the listed words in Nominativ have either -er, -e. The weak declension is distinguished by the -en ending. It stands in every form, with the exception of the Nominativ. The masculine names ending in -loge, -ant, -e, -and, -ist, -af, etc. are changed according to the weak type. These are mainly words denoting professions, nationality and living beings.
How to remember
The 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 by declension. Exercises will help to master the topic "Declination of nouns." The table can be drawn up in the following way (for example, the words “person”, “master”, “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 proceeding from 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 according to which the memorization process will look logical and consistent.