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Unpreceded Adjectives by Jeffery Donley, Ph.D.

There are three basic groups of adjectives:

  • Adjectives that are not preceded by der-words or ein-words, referred to as unpreceded adjectives.

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  • Adjectives preceded by der-words, such as dieser, welcher, etc.

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  • Adjectives preceded by ein-words, such as possessive adjectives, indefinite articles, and forms of kein.

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The difference between the strong endings and the endings of unpreceded adjectives occurs in the genitive singular masculine and neuter.

The attributive adjective has the ending -en instead of -es. The phrases “starken Kaffees” and “interessanten Buches” illustrate this, as here the endings are -en instead of the -es the strong endings would require.

Exercise 3

Write the appropriate declined strong adjective form of gut for the masculine singular nouns (questions 1–4), the feminine singular nouns (questions 5–8), and the neuter singular nouns (questions 9–12).

Some of the answers have been provided.

<tgroup cols="3" align="center"> <colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colwidth="25%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="3" colname="col3" colwidth="25%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>1. Nom:</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>guter Vater</emphasis></p></td> <td><para/></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>2. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Vater</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>3. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Vater</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>4. Gen:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Vaters</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>5. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Mutter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>6. Gen:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Mutter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>7. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Mutter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>8. Nom:</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>gute Mutter</emphasis></p></td> <td><para/></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>9. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Kind</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>10. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Kind</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>11. Nom:</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>gutes Kind</emphasis></p></td> <td><para/></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>12. Gen:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p>Kindes</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <h2>Exercise 4</h2> <p>Write the correct form of gut with the strong endings for the masculine plural (questions 1—4), the feminine plural (questions 5–8), and the neuter plural (questions 9–12). Fill in the blanks.</p> <p>Some of the answers have been provided for you.</p> <table width="100%" frame="none"> <title/> <tgroup cols="3" align="center"> <colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colwidth="25%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colnum="3" colname="col3" colwidth="25%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>1. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Väter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>2. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Vätern</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>3. Gen:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Väter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>4. Nom:</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>gute Väter</emphasis></p></td> <td><para/></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>5. Gen:</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>guter Mütter</emphasis></p></td> <td><para/></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>6. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Mütter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>7. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Müttern</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>8. Nom:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Mütter</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>9. Acc:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Kinder</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>10. Dat:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Kindern</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>11. Gen:</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Kinder</emphasis></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>12. 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