Barsby's Grammar Bash

Exercises on Adjectival and Weak Nouns

Adjectival Nouns

All adjectives and participles can be used as nouns in German, whereas in English we typically use a "dummy" noun, such as "man", "woman" or "thing".

Adjectives used as nouns usually decline in exactly the same way as adjectives preceding nouns, hence their endings depend on gender, case, and whether or not they are preceded by an article.

Example:

Definite Articles

	Masc. Sing.	Fem. Sing.	plur
Nom.	der Angestellte	die Angestellte	die Angestellten
Acc.	den Angestellten	die Angestellte	die Angestellten
Gen.	des Angestellten	der Angestellten	der Angestellten
Dat.	dem Angestellten	der Angestellten	den Angestellten

Indefinite Articles

	Masc. Sing.	Fem. Sing.	Plural
Nom.	ein Angestellter	eine Angestellte	Angestellte/keine Angestellten
Acc.	einen Angestellten	eine Angestellte	Angestellte/keine Angestellten
Gen.	eines Angestellten	einer Angestellten	Angestellter/keiner Angestellten
Dat.	einem Angestellten	einer Angestellten	Angestellten/keinen Angestellten

Some Common Adjectival Nouns (not exhaustive!)

der/die Abgeordnete (representative)
der/die Angestellte (employee)
der/die Beamte (civil servant)
der/die Bekannte (acquaintance)
der/die Deutsche (German)
der/die Erwachsene (adult)
der/die Freiwillige (volunteer)
der/die Fremde (stranger)
der/die Gefangene (prisoner)
der/die Jugendliche (youth)
der/die Reisende (traveller)
der/die Verlobte (fiancé)
der/die Verwandte (relative)
der/die Vorsitzende (chairperson)

Neuter adjectival nouns

These usually denote abstract or collective ideas and are frequently used after indefinites (alles, nichts, viel etc)

Eg:alles Gute - von allem Guten

nichts Neues - von nichts Neuem

viel Interessantes - von vielem Interessanten

Weak Nouns (schwache Substantiven)

Weak nouns are masculine and have the ending -(e)n throughout the plural and in all cases of the singular, except nominative. Eg: der Mensch:

	Sing	Plur
Nom.	der Mensch	die Menschen
Acc.	den Menschen	die Menschen
Gen.	des Menschen	der Menschen
Dat.	dem Menschen	den Menschen

Examples of weak nouns are:

Most masculine nouns ending in -e ('der Käse' is a notable exception)
Some masculine nouns of foreign origin
Many nouns ending in -at; -ant; -ent; -ist, etc
Plus some other nouns (eg: Mensch; Nachbar, etc - see list below)

Some common weak nouns:

Affe (monkey)
Bote (messenger)
Franzose (Frenchman)
Junge (boy)
Löwe (lion)
Matrose (sailor)
Neffe (nephew)
Soldat (soldier)
Elefant (elephant)
Präsident (president)
Student (student)
Philosoph (philosopher)
Fotograf (photographer)
Bauer (farmer)
Bär (bear)
Fürst (prince)
Prinz (prince)
Graf (count)
Herr (gentleman/Mr)
Mensch (human)
Held (hero)
Christ (Christian)

In addition there are eight masculine nouns with the same declension as above except that they take -(e)ns in the genitive singular:

der Name (name)
der Gedanke (thought)
der Buchstabe (letter of alphabet)
der Friede (peace)
der Funke (spark)
der Same (seed)
der Wille (will)

eg:

	Sing	Plur
Nom.	der Name	die Namen
Acc.	den Namen	die Namen
Gen.	des Namens	der Namen
Dat.	dem Namen	den Namen

There is also a group of neuter nouns which all take -(e)n in the plural: Auge (eye); Bett (bed); Insekt (insect); Ende (end); Hemd (shirt); Interesse (interest); Ohr (ear); Leid (sorrow); Statut (statute)

Useful mnemonic for last group:

		The EARwig is an INSECT
			With INTERESTing EYES
			It lives in a SHIRT
			Sleeps in a BED
			And in the END it dies (... SORROW)

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