What happens when there is no article at all in front of a German noun? Think of uncountable foods and drinks (warm bread, fresh milk, cold water), general plurals (red apples, good friends), or nouns preceded only by a number (three old trees).
In these phrases, there is no der and no ein to signal whether the noun is masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural—or which of the four cases it stands in. That entire grammatical job falls onto the adjective. This pattern is the Strong Declension (Starke Deklination).
The Core Pattern: Copy the Definite Article
The strong adjective endings mirror the final letters of the definite article (der, die, das, den, dem) almost cell for cell:
- der → -er (heißer Tee)
- die → -e (frische Milch, rote Äpfel)
- das → -es (kaltes Wasser)
- dem → -em (heißem Tee, kaltem Wasser)
- den → -en (heißen Tee, roten Äpfeln)
There is one single exception to this rule: Masculine and Neuter Genitive take -en (not -es), because the noun itself already ends in -(e)s. German avoids clumsy double -es endings like *heißes Tees or *schlechtes Wetters, using heißen Tees and schlechten Wetters instead.
Strong Declension Master Table
Compare the endings across all four cases with concrete zero-article nouns (der Tee, die Milch, das Wasser, der Apfel / die Äpfel):
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | heißer Tee | frische Milch | kaltes Wasser | rote Äpfel |
| Akkusativ | heißen Tee | frische Milch | kaltes Wasser | rote Äpfel |
| Dativ | heißem Tee | frischer Milch | kaltem Wasser | roten Äpfeln |
| Genitiv | heißen Tees | frischer Milch | kalten Wassers | roter Äpfel |
Notice how Dative Masculine and Dative Neuter end in -em (just like dem), while Dative and Genitive Feminine end in -er (just like der). Because there is no article carrying -em or -er, the adjective wears it directly.
Key Examples in Context
- Nominative Masculine (-er): Frischer Kaffee duftet herrlich. (Fresh coffee smells wonderful. — der Kaffee)
- Accusative Neuter (-es): Wir trinken kaltes Wasser. (We drink cold water. — das Wasser)
- Dative Feminine (-er): Der Pullover ist aus reiner Wolle. (The sweater is made of pure wool. — die Wolle, after the Dative preposition aus.)
- Dative Masculine (-em): Ich trinke Tee lieber mit frischem Zitronensaft. (I prefer drinking tea with fresh lemon juice. — der Zitronensaft.)
- Accusative Plural (-e): Auf dem Markt kaufen wir reife Tomaten. (At the market we buy ripe tomatoes. — die Tomate / die Tomaten.)
- Genitive Neuter (-en): Trotz schlechten Wetters fand das Fest statt. (Despite bad weather, the festival took place. — das Wetter, after the Genitive preposition trotz.)
Other Triggers That Require Strong Endings
Strong declension shows up not only when nothing precedes the adjective, but also after uninflected words and cardinal numbers:
| Trigger Before Adjective | Rule | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal numbers (zwei, drei, zehn) | Adjective stays strong (plural) | drei neue Häuser | three new houses (das Haus / die Häuser) |
| etwas / mehr / viel / wenig (uninflected) | Adjective stays strong | mit wenig gutem Willen | with little good will (der Wille) |
| viele / einige / wenige / mehrere (plural) | Strong plural endings (-e Nom/Akk, -en Dat, -er Gen) | viele interessante Ideen | many interesting ideas (die Idee / die Ideen) |
| wessen / deren / dessen | Genitive pronouns give no case/gender signal to the following noun, so adjective is strong | wegen dessen hoher Kosten | because of its high costs (die Kosten, pl.) |
Wait—what about alle? Remember from weak declension that alle takes weak endings (alle neuen Ideen), whereas viele, einige, wenige, mehrere take strong endings (viele neue Ideen in Nominative/Accusative, mit vielen neuen Ideen in Dative)!
Two Adjectives in a Row (Parallel Inflection)
When two adjectives stand together without an article, both receive the exact same strong ending—never one strong and one weak:
- mit kalter, frischer Milch (Dative feminine → both take -er)
- ein Glas guten, alten Weines (Genitive masculine → both take -en)
- kleine, bunte Blumen (Nominative plural → both take -e)
(You can double-check any gender with the Der, Die, Das Checker and verify multi-case endings with the Adjective Declension Calculator.)
Common Mistakes: Wrong vs. Right
| Mistake | Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaving off -es on neuter uncountables | Wir trinken kalte Wasser. | Wir trinken kaltes Wasser. | Without das, the adjective must provide the neuter -es ending. |
| Using weak -en in feminine Dative | Der Pullover ist aus reinen Wolle. | Der Pullover ist aus reiner Wolle. | Feminine Dative without an article mirrors der → -er. |
| Using -es in Masc./Neut. Genitive | Trotz schlechtes Wetters… | Trotz schlechten Wetters… | Masculine and neuter nouns take -(e)s in Genitive, so strong adjectives take -en. |
| Mixing -en after numbers | Zwei alten Freunde kommen. | Zwei alte Freunde kommen. | Numbers don’t decline here, so plural Nominative stays strong (-e). |
With weak, mixed, and strong declensions mastered, you have the complete German adjective-ending system.