h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK We'll do this real slow.

It'll help me spread out the lessons (into 2002 at this rate!) and give you more time to digest things, which is no doubt a good idea, as all you multitude of readers out there are probably doing this in between things at work or home and haven't really got a lot of time.

An adjective describes a noun.

The car. The RED car.
The school. The GIRLS' school.

and so on, indefinitely. There is no way round them. They prevent misunderstandings, they give colour and feel to what you are saying, they single out one item among many others which are otherwise similar.

In German, the adjectives have to "agree" with the noun on three counts: the gender, the article and the case.

First, I will give you a table for later reference, with the endings, just for the definite article for the time being

Masculine:

Nom: Der große Tisch - the big table.
Acc: den großen Tisch
Dat: dem großen Tisch
Gen: des großen Tisches

(i.e. - you add an "n" in all cases except the nominative)

Feminine:

Nom: Die kleine Katze - the little cat
Acc: die kleine Katze
Dat: der kleinen Katze
Gen: der kleinen Katze

(nom + acc, dat + gen are formed to the same pattern)

Neuter:

Nom: Das rote Auto - the red car
Acc: das rote Auto
Dat: dem roten Auto
Gen: des roten Autos

Now for some examples, to drum these in and to clarify further which are the direct and indirect objects:

Nom: Der große Tisch - the big table.
Der große Tisch war reichlich bedeckt. The big table was richly laid.
Acc: den großen Tisch
Die Müllmänner nahmen den großen Tisch nicht mit. The dustbin men did not take the big table with them.
Dat: dem großen Tisch
Die Katze bekam ihre Kätzchem unter dem großen Tisch. The cat had her kittens under the big table.
Gen: des großen Tisches
Die Maus nagte an einem Bein des großen Tisches. The mouse gnawed at one leg of the big table.

One general rule where you will use the dative is always if you are describing the position of something. i.e. On the table, under the table (auf dem Tisch, unter dem Tisch) A full list of the relevant prepositions will come later.

Feminine:

Nom: Die kleine Katze - the little cat
Die kleine Katze schief. The little cat was asleep.
Acc: die kleine Katze
Die alte Frau hatte die kleine Katze auf dem Schoß. The old lady had the little cat on her lap.
Dat: der kleinen Katze
Das tut der kleinen Katze weh! - that hurts the little cat!
Gen: der kleinen Katze
Nur eine Pfote der kleinen Katze war weiß. Only one of the little cat's paws was white.

Neuter:

Nom: Das rote Auto - the red car
Das rote Auto glänzte in der Sonne - the red car shone in the sun.
Acc: das rote Auto
Er kaufte das rote Auto. He bought the red car.
Dat: dem roten Auto
Er fuhr mit dem roten Auto nach Hause.
He drove home with the red car. ... well, in English that sounds a bit stilted, and you would say, he drove the red car home. You can do this in German, too, putting the car into the accusative case and using the verb "fahren" to drive. Er fuhr das rote Auto nach Hause.
Gen: des roten Autos
Die Reifen des roten Autos sind abgenutzt. The red car's tyres are worn down.

Whew ! that's it for today. Tomorrow the same thing for the indefinite articles, with more examples to help recognise the indirect (dative) and direct (accusative) cases.