Adjective Endings in German (basic)

This entry was created to explain intricacies of the German language.

Refer to this chart as a guide for adjective endings:

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	(r)	e	(s)	e
accusative	n	e	(s)	e
dative	m	r	m	n
genitive	s	r	s	r

Wait, what?! Why are there parentheses? What does that mean? What am I supposed to do? Ahhhhh!
Fear not, my pupils of philology! There are little things called ein words, and they pretty much explain themselves. These are the adjectives that end in -ein, of course, but they also include a few other words that follow that pattern:
kein, mein, dein, sein, unser, euer, ihr, Ihr, and let's not forget ein.
These words are the ones to which those parenthesized letters do not apply. Or the ones to which the parentheses do apply.
In other words, you would never use "einer" to modify a noun in the nominative case.

Okay... can you give an example?
Ein Bus kommt. (A bus is coming.)
Eine Blume wächst. (A flower is growing.)

Now, I'm pretty sure the nominative case is not what you came here for.
So, my friends, stand by and watch some grammatical linguistics. I'll try to keep the examples basic so that you can see what's being explained without worrying about other rules.

Side note: when you have an adjective in the predicate, it's called a predicate adjective. You wouldn't believe how creative grammarians are when they name things. In predicate adjectives, you don't worry about cases. The case is nominative, although it is probably easier to think of it this way: just use the stem of the adjective, with no endings.

The bus is yellow. Der Bus ist gelb. 

The tree is tall. Der Baum ist groß.  

Get it?

Nominative.
masculine: Der Tisch ist rund. The table is round. Ein Bleistift ist spitz. A pencil is pointy.
feminine: Die Frau ist klug. The woman is smart. Eine kluge Frau schreibt. The smart woman is writing.
neuter: Das Wetter ist schön. The weather is nice. Ein Auto fährt. A car is driving.
plural: Keine Fische sind Säugetiere. No fish are mammals. Rote Schuhen sind schick. Red shoes are cool.

Accusative.
masculine: Ich habe einen Bruder. I have a brother. Du hast den Pulli. You have the sweater.
feminine: Du hast die Tasche. You have the bag. Ich habe deine Jacke. I have your jacket.
neuter: Hast du das Geld? Do you have the money? Ich habe ein Buch. I have a book.
plural: Du hast die Blumen. You have the flowers. Wir haben keine Papiere. We don't have (any) papers.

Dative.
masculine: Ich gebe meinem Bruder Geld. I give my brother money. Du gibst dem Lehrer einen Apfel. You give the teacher an apple.
feminine: Du gibst der Lehrerin einen Apfel. You give the teacher an apple. Wir geben einer Klasse eine Tour. We give the class a tour.
neuter: Ich gebe dem Restaurant mein Geld. I give the restaurant my money. Wir kaufen dem Kind Shuhen. We buy the kid shoes.
plural: Wir bringen den Kindern Süßigkeiten. We bring the kids candy. Wir bringen keinen Kindern Kuchen. We don't bring kids cake-- literally "We bring cake to no children."

Genitive.
masculine: Das ist der Hand des Lehrers. That is the teacher's hand.  Der Bruder meines Vaters ist mein Onkel. The brother of my father is my uncle.
feminine: Meine Tante ist die Schwester meiner Mama. My aunt is the sister of my mom. Die Blätter der Pflanze sind essbar. The leaves of the plant are edible.
neuter: Die Blätter des Buches sind dick. The pages of the book are thick. Die Handlung meines Lieblingsfilms ist lustig. The plot of my favorite film is funny.
plural: Die Lehrer dieser Schulen sind nicht zufrieden. The teachers at these schools are not happy. Die Eltern meiner Eltern sind mein Großeltern. The parents of my parents are my grandparents.

Adventures in Bookmaking (how to not study for the GRE)

So, you want to study for the GRE? SAT? Some other important test? Never fear--you just need the right materials!

First, you need to keep track of vocabulary. To the left, you will see what is possibly one of the most brilliant inventions of all time. The Vokabelheft. This is a small notebook (4"x6") that fits into a purse, backpack, or back pocket. The Germans use these all the time. And, really, they're awesome.

The page is divided down the middle (see photo at right). On the left side, you write down any new words. These can be words you've never seen or heard before, words you've seen but never thought to look up, or things you think might be words, but you should check before integrating them into your vocabulary.

I loved this idea so much that I had to have something like it to study for the GRE. I didn't have an appropriate notebook lying around and I thought it was a little silly to go out and buy something just for writing down words I'd heard and used before but needed 100% accurate definitions for. So I thought for a while and decided I'd just make a little booklet by stapling together a couple pages. As I went to staple my cutesy little "notebook," I realized just how tiny my stapler was. Sure, I could've stapled the thing along the edge, but I wanted to make it more like a magazine, with the staples right in the middle of the creasy thing.

I always see things in the store and think "I could do that." Often, the thought is "I can do that better." I'd seen notebooks sewn by hand and thought, "too easy. Who would pay 20 bucks for that?" This was the obvious solution to my vocabulary notebook dilemma! I'd just use a needle and thread and it would be functional and attractive, right?

Well, kind of. I used an awl (out of a teeny-tiny screwdriver set) to get the holes in the pages so I wouldn't have to jab a needle through every time. I didn't really know what I was doing so I just started sewing. Most of the time, I sat there thinking "I can't believe I'm sewing paper." It seemed to take forever-- probably about 90 minutes. I used 6 pieces of 8.5x14 paper cut into quarters. Sewing each section was fine; getting the sections to hold together was quite the challenge. It isn't nearly as attractive as the stuff you might see in a gift shop. It's a little flimsy and the sets of pages/chunks/sections seem like they'll come apart any second, even though they're well secured to one another. It was fun and very cheap and slightly time consuming, but the coolest part is that it's something I made and I'll actually use. I have lots of drawings and paintings and crafts around the house, but the last useful thing I recall making was a situpon when I was a Brownie Girl Scout.

To make a lovely notebook as I did, you need:

• a couple sheets of paper
• scissors (a paper cutter would be a better choice)
  
• a poking device, such as an awl
• needle
• thread (please, only pretty colors)
  
• a little time
• a little patience

Also, a ruler would not be a bad idea. I didn't use one.

Decide how big you want your book to be. Or cut a lot of paper to the same size, making sure it's twice the size of your finished product. Divide the cut sheets into sections. 6 sheets per section worked well for me. Fold the pages of each section in half. Poke holes along the crease you created. Two holes are good, 4 are better. Secure the pages of each section to each other by sewing. You should just be running the needle round and round and round the same two holes. Do this until you think it's secure. Tie the thread so it doesn't come undone. If you make 4 holes instead of 2, you should be doing this twice for each section of the booklet.

To secure the sections to each other, well, that's anyone's guess. Good luck. I sewed around and through and over and under till I thought I couldn't stand it anymore. I tried to make my stitches tight, but they're very loose. I also poked my holes at uneven intervals, thinking it would look more interesting from the outside for the thread to be coming from lots of different places. That's why I didn't use a ruler and recommend using one. It does not look cool. It looks spidery (especially since I used navy thread for that part).

It's not pretty but it's fun. I made it myself. It probably cost around six cents to make. And I'm getting a ton of use out of it.

Check yo self before you wreck yo self. Or, the importance of correct grammar and perhaps an editor.

This is not a confession. This is a public service announcement.

I am a grammar snob. I used to think I wasn't. Of course I make mistakes myself, but in writing, interviews, and formal settings, I'm extremely cautious. Sometimes, those little tiny errors really matter.

There is one common mistake I hear all the time. I never realized just how bad it was until I was seeing Richard Burr's campaign ads multiple times a day. My friends, I present the commercial:

"As a father, I know Richard Burr is concerned about his children's future."

Alex Gonzales, College Student (by the way, Alex is a female)

Alex, I don't know you, but I'm pretty sure you're not a father. Had I committed such a grammar crime, every single one of my professors would have been on my case. This is an example of a dangling modifier. Don't get caught in a trap because of it.

Examples:

1. As a criminal, I think OJ Simpson has gotten some bad press. (Oh yeah? What are your criminal standards like? Are you incriminating yourself?)
2. Having been painted, you should enjoy your room a lot more. (You got painted? Take a bath.)
3. After getting completely trashed, Anna needed to make repairs to her house. (Working with a hangover is no fun.)
4. Having been beaten, Beth put the eggs in the mixing bowl. (Beth needs to get help. I know this example is not funny, but this is one of the cases that may cause alarm.)

A dangling modifier doesn't correspond clearly with what it's supposed to modify. Sure, we can assume that the house got painted, but why make your poor audience guess?

I think you get the idea. Luckily, Burr and Ms. Gonzales didn't make our work too hard. We understand that he is a father and she is a supporter.

I hope you, dear reader, will watch your modifiers and try to dangle them as infrequently as possible.

I can just hear it now: (cue dramatic music) Did you know that Richard Burr dangles his modifiers?

midnight munchies-- banana burrito

Most of my snacks are meal-sized, and most of my meals are snack-sized. That said, I don't put much stock into "rules" about food. I eat (basically) what I want, when I want, though I try and get more fruits and vegetables and all, and somehow I manage to eat fairly well. It's all basically the same though: bread with topping, whether it's a sandwich, taco/burrito/quesadilla, pizza (i.e. huge open face sandwich) or crackers with cheese/hummus/whatever. Tortillas are one of my favorite foods. I'm not sure why-- probably because they're so dang useful. Anyway, there's an abundance of tortillas at home, and I needed something sweet. I thought back to the chocolate enchiladas at Caroline's birthday party and thought "hey... I could eat that." (sidenote: new blog title?)

I rummaged through the kitchen to find some sweet things to eat. I came up with bananas, peanut butter, and honey.

"Recipe"-- but also see notes below!
one tortilla (I used a burrito-sized 10-inch one, but a fajita sized one may have been better)
a few good globs of peanut butter, 2.5 tablespoons?
one banana
a tablespoon(?) of honey. I used Rapsblüte (rapeseed? rapeseed blossom?) honey that I brought home from Germany.
Microwave for 40 seconds, or till banana is warm and peanut butter is gooey. Wrap like a burrito. Eat it. May require fork and knife.

Result: waaaaayyyy too sweet! And a sweet tooth is the only kind of tooth I have. Maybe it was the honey I used. I recommend this stuff anyway, though. It has an amazing texture, great flavor, and it's just odd because it's opaque. And they have it at TJ Maxx for some reason!
This is a pretty healthy snack, though it doesn't feel like it. It's super messy (skip the microwave), but despite the mess and the sugar, it's a fun food. Think banana sandwich in wrap form.

this time.

This time, it's going to happen. Starting now. The blog, the caterpillar-butterfly thing but college student to decent young adult, the job search. Let's do it.

There's so much going on right now that it's like there's a real and a fake and I don't know what's what.

I'm learning Dutch online- and really, do check out Livemocha! It's a wonderful, FREE resource and it basically works by sharing. If you could combine Facebook and Rosetta Stone, that would be this service. That's real. That's progress. I finished Dutch 101 last week. But it's online, I have nobody to speak it with, and to be honest, I can't stand doing these "chats" with members that you're supposed to do. Am I learning or memorizing? I guess we'll find out the next time I'm in Flanders or the Netherlands. Or Aruba.

Visited Davidson over the weekend. Way too much. I had a superb time. Friday I planned to go to work on job applications, visit Career Services, and get my alumni library card. Instead, I ran into people, chatted, spent a little time in Career Services, ran into a friend working in the union, found an anthro professor to talk grad school with, got my library card, found a couple anthro professors, talked more seriously about grad school, talked with them and their current students (one of whom I'm friends with), went with friend to her dorm, hung out with her and her roommate for an hour or more, finally decided to leave, but ran into a Phi member on the way out, shot the breeze with her for at least 30 minutes, then really decided to leave. My car was on Concord Road, and when I finally got there, two friends driving by rolled down their window to invite me to a party. Oh, this was ALL just on Friday.

The whirlwind was insane. There's no way it's real. And graduate school? And talking seriously about it with profs? That is too, too weird. Saturday I went to Chapel Hill but I was able to attend the aforementioned party-- at which I saw about a dozen of my classmates. Again, totally surreal.

But somehow, dinner with Claire was 100% reality. Maybe because it was productive. Maybe because we're kind of in the same situation. Or maybe because my connection with her is different, and it goes beyond meeting in Davidson, squealing when I realize she's there, and swearing we'll do lunch someday. Those connections are great and cherished, too, but they're just not the same. Maybe our bond is that we talked so loftily about our dreams at least three years ago, and there we were last night, revisiting that ohyesofcourse10yearsfromnow and making it more like a plan slowly coming together. Of course, it didn't hurt that we were eating amazing food as we mulled it over.

I have my stuff now!  I begin school tomorrow.

Take that, Europeans.  I AM using the word "school" for post-secondary education.

This is our kitchen window.

I did a terrible job with this last semester. I plan on doing a lot better this time.

I'm back in Berlin. Without luggage.

The plane ride was uneventful. I'd never used the bus system alone and had never gone anywhere near our apartment on a bus, so I didn't realize that what I thought would be the closest/most logical route was 1.5km/0.9 miles by foot. Whoops. But it wasn't so bad since I was luggageless.

more when something actually happens.