4.4 Adjectives with the dative

Der Jugendliche (sg.nom.) war nach Paris gefahren. The young man had gone to Paris. Bei den Jugendlichen (pl.dat.) handelte es sich um The young people in question were

Deutsche. Germans. Ein Jugendlicher (sg.nom.) wurde verletzt. One young man was injured. Jugendlichen (pl.dat.) ist der Zutritt nicht gestattet. No admission under 18.

Masculineand feminine adjectives used as nouns usually refer to people. In the English equivalent, we often have to supply a noun like man, woman or people. However, a large number of these adjectival nouns in common use correspond to simple nouns in English, for example:

der/die Abgeordnete representative der/die Reisende traveller der Beamte/die Beamtin civil servant der/die Staatsangehörige citizen der/die Bekannte acquaintance der/die Überlebende survivor der/die Deutsche German der/die Verlobte fiancé/fiancée der/die Erwachsene adult der/die Verwandte relative der/die Fremde stranger der/die Vorgesetzte superior der/die Geistliche clergyman der/die Vorsitzende chair(man)

NB The female form of der Beamte is the regular noun die Beamtin

Neuter adjectival nouns usually denote abstract ideas. The English equivalents often require a word like things:

Es ist schon Schlimmes passiert. Er hat Hervorragendes geleistet. Bad things have already happened. He has achieved outstanding things.

They are often used after indefinites, with the appropriate weak or strong ending depending on the ending of the determiner:

alles Gute etwas Schönes nichts Neues/von nichts Neuem wenig Interessantes everything (that is) good/all the best something beautiful/something nice nothing new/of nothing new nothing much of interest

Many adjectives can be used with a noun dependent on them in the DATIVE case:

Er ist seinem Bruder sehr ähnlich. He is very much like his brother. Dieser Mann war ihr nicht bekannt. This man was not known to her. Dieses Gespräch war mir sehr nützlich. This conversation was very useful to me.