German · Chapter 5 · Lesson 4 · Grammar primer
Adjective endings
Prescribed by the AQA specification.
The short version
If the article is silent, the adjective speaks
German shows gender and case once per noun phrase. After der or dem the article has done it, so the adjective takes a plain -e or -en. After ein in the masculine nominative, ein gives nothing away, so the adjective carries the -er itself. One question replaces three tables: has anyone shown the case yet?
der alte Mann, ein alter Mann
No ending when the adjective comes after sein
Endings only appear when the adjective stands in front of its noun. Once it moves after sein, werden or bleiben, it goes back to its bare dictionary form, whatever the gender or number. Der Mann ist alter is a mistake; der alte Mann and der Mann ist alt are both right.
Das Haus ist neu.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 18 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
Lesson 4 of 16 in this chapter