German Adjective Endings: Why guter, gute and guten?
Learn how article type, case, gender and number affect attributive adjective endings.
DE009 · DE · A2 / B1 · grammar, cases
The question
Why do we say ein guter Kaffee but der gute Kaffee?
German adjectives before a noun take endings that help express case, gender and number. The ending depends partly on what information the determiner already shows. Adjectives after verbs such as sein normally do not take these endings: Der Kaffee ist gut.
Start with masculine singular
| Determiner | Nominative | Accusative |
|---|---|---|
| Definite | der gute Kaffee | den guten Kaffee |
| Indefinite | ein guter Kaffee | einen guten Kaffee |
| No article | guter Kaffee | guten Kaffee |
After definite articles, attributive adjectives often have -e or -en (weak declension). With ein-type determiners, adjectives sometimes supply a gender/case signal missing from the determiner (ein guter Kaffee). With no determiner, the adjective generally carries more grammatical information. Full tables vary by gender, number and case, so this masculine example is a starting point, not a complete rule.
Common mistake
Avoid *ein gute Kaffee in the nominative; say ein guter Kaffee. But do not attach an ending to a predicate adjective: Der Kaffee ist gut, not *Der Kaffee ist guter.
Remember
Identify case, gender, number and determiner type before choosing an attributive adjective ending.