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German declension is the declensional system of the German language. In keeping with a fairly conservative, fusional language, German marks nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives to distinguish case, number, and gender.
Modern High German distinguishes between four cases—nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive—and three grammatical genders—feminine, masculine, and neuter. Nouns may also be either singular or plural.
[edit] Articles
These correspond to the English "the".
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
der |
den |
dem |
des |
| Neuter |
das |
das |
dem |
des |
| Feminine |
die |
die |
der |
der |
| Plural |
die |
die |
den |
der |
These correspond to English "a", "an", or "one". Note that there is no plural.
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
ein |
einen |
einem |
eines |
| Neuter |
ein |
ein |
einem |
eines |
| Feminine |
eine |
eine |
einer |
einer |
[edit] Pronouns
The English next to the genitive German forms is actually possessive case, which serves a slightly different purpose. Genitive case for pronouns is currently considered archaic.[3]
| Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| ich - I |
mich - me |
mir - to/for me |
meiner - my |
| du - you (informal singular) |
dich - you |
dir - to/for you |
deiner - your |
| er - he |
ihn - him |
ihm - to/for him |
seiner - his |
| sie - she |
sie - her |
ihr - to/for her |
ihrer - her |
| es - it |
es - it |
ihm - to/for it |
seiner - its |
| wir - we |
uns - us |
uns - to/for us |
unsrer - our |
| ihr - you (plural) |
euch - you |
euch - to/for you |
eurer - your |
| Sie - you (formal singular) |
Sie - you |
Ihnen - to/for you |
Ihrer - your |
| sie - they |
sie - them |
ihnen - to/for them |
ihrer - their |
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Personal ("who") |
wer |
wen |
wem |
wessen |
| Impersonal ("what") |
was |
was |
was |
von was |
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
der |
den |
dem |
dessen |
| Neuter |
das |
das |
dem |
dessen |
| Feminine |
die |
die |
der |
deren |
| Plural |
die |
die |
denen |
deren |
All possessive pronouns conform to the same inflectional paradigm:
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
- |
-en |
-em |
-es |
| Neuter |
- |
- |
-em |
-es |
| Feminine |
-e |
-e |
-er |
-er |
| Plural |
-e |
-e |
-en |
-er |
To illustrate, here is the complete paradigm of mein ("my").
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
mein |
meinen |
meinem |
meines |
| Neuter |
mein |
mein |
meinem |
meines |
| Feminine |
meine |
meine |
meiner |
meiner |
| Plural |
meine |
meine |
meinen |
meiner |
These may be used in place of personal pronouns to provide emphasis, as in the sentence "Den sehe ich" ("I see that"). Also note the word ordering: den corresponds to "that", and ich corresponds to "I". Placing the object at the beginning of the sentence places emphasis on it. English, as a generally non-declined language, does not have this feature.
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
der |
den |
dem |
dessen |
| Neuter |
das |
das |
dem |
dessen |
| Feminine |
die |
die |
der |
deren |
| Plural |
die |
die |
denen |
deren |
Used when a subject and object are the same, as in "Ich wasche mich" = "I wash myself"
| Accusative |
Dative |
| mich - myself |
mir - to/for myself |
| dich - yourself |
dir - to/for yourself |
| sich - himself/herself/itself/oneself |
sich - to/for himself/herself/itself/oneself |
| uns - ourselves |
uns - to/for ourselves |
| euch - yourselves |
euch - to/for yourselves |
| sich - yourself/yourselves (formal) |
sich - to/for yourself/yourselves |
| sich - themselves |
sich - to/for themselves |
[edit] Attributive adjectives
Predicate adjectives are undeclined.[5] Other adjectives use the following declension patterns.
This is used when there is no preceding article.
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
-er |
-en |
-em |
-en |
| Neuter |
-es |
-es |
-em |
-en |
| Feminine |
-e |
-e |
-er |
-er |
| Plural |
-e |
-e |
-en |
-er |
This is used when there is a preceding definite article ("der-word"). These include jen- ("that, those"), solch- ("such a"), manch- ("many, some"), jed- ("each, every"), all- ("all"), dies- ("this, these"), and welch- ("which").
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
-e |
-en |
-en |
-en |
| Neuter |
-e |
-e |
-en |
-en |
| Feminine |
-e |
-e |
-en |
-en |
| Plural |
-en |
-en |
-en |
-en |
[edit] Mixed inflection[6]
This is used when there is a preceding ein-word (i.e. words like mein, dein, sein, kein etc.) or one that conjugates alike (like unser for example).
|
Nom. |
Acc. |
Dat. |
Gen. |
| Masculine |
-er |
-en |
-en |
-en |
| Neuter |
-es |
-es |
-en |
-en |
| Feminine |
-e |
-e |
-en |
-en |
| Plural |
-en |
-en |
-en |
-en |
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 55
- ^ Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 58
- ^ a b Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 209
- ^ Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 213
- ^ Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 169
- ^ a b c Canoo guide to adjective inflection
- ^ a b Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, Third Edition, p. 170
