When there is no article, adjective endings often carry the gender and case information that an article would otherwise show.

der Kaffee
das Wasser
das Brot
die Suppe
der Apfel
das Kind

The idea

Compare frischer Kaffee, kaltes Wasser and mit frischem Brot. Dative plural uses en; masculine and neuter genitive adjectives also usually use en, while the noun marks the genitive.

Patterns to compare
Form / MusterBeispiel / Gegensatz
Nominativ maskulinfrischer Kaffee
Akkusativ neutralkaltes Wasser
Dativ maskulin / neutralfrischem Kaffee / frischem Brot
Dativ Pluralkleinen Kindern
Genitiv maskulin / neutralstarken Regens / kalten Wassers

Examples

  • Frischer Kaffee duftet gut.
  • Ich trinke kaltes Wasser.
  • Mit frischem Brot schmeckt die Suppe besser.
  • Wir essen reife Äpfel.
  • Sie hilft kleinen Kindern.
  • Trotz starken Regens gehen wir hinaus.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic German voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Without an article, the adjective often carries the visible case marker: mit frischem Brot. Dative plural still uses -en, as in kleinen Kindern.

Try it yourself

  1. Ich trinke kalt___ Wasser. (kein Artikel)

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    es

    Answer: “es”. Without an article, the adjective itself marks the neuter accusative with es.

  2. Mit frisch___ Brot schmeckt es gut. (kein Artikel)

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    em

    Answer: “em”. This complement is dative; its article, pronoun or adjective must show that case.

  3. Sie hilft klein___ Kindern. (kein Artikel)

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    en

    Answer: “en”. This complement is dative; its article, pronoun or adjective must show that case.

Use it today

Use “Frischer Kaffee duftet gut.” as a model. Replace the noun phrase with two new people or objects, then explain which case each replacement needs.