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4.3 Adjectives used as nouns

This runs counter to the usual rule that adjectives always have weak endings after a determiner which has an ending itself:

Adjectives ending in -el, -er (and sometimes those in -en) can drop the -e- when an ending is added:

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The adjective hoch ‘high’ has the special form hoh- when endings are added:

nom. einige gute Weine acc. einige gute Weine gen. einiger guter Weine dat. einigen guten Weinen

dunkel trocken teuer

ein dunkler Wald

a dark forest die trockne/trockene Wäsche the dry washing ein teurer Computer an expensive computer

Der Berg ist hoch BUT ein hoher Berg The mountain is high/a high mountain

In German, almost any adjective can be used as a noun:

Adjectives used as nouns like this have a capital letter, but they keep their adjectival ending. This ending is ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ depending on the determiner, as the table below shows for der Jugendliche ‘the young man’:

der Alte the old man die Alte the old woman die Alten the old people

declension with… definite article indefinite article

singular nominative der Jugendliche ein Jugendlicher

accusative den Jugendlichen einen Jugendlichen genitive des Jugendlichen eines Jugendlichen dative dem Jugendlichen einem Jugendlichen plural nominative die Jugendlichen Jugendliche accusative die Jugendlichen Jugendliche genitive der Jugendlichen Jugendlicher dative den Jugendlichen Jugendlichen

NB The feminine equivalent has the feminine adjective endings, e.g. in the nominative case singular die Jugendliche, eine Jugendliche. Correspondingly, neuter adjectival nouns have the appropriate neuter adjective endings, e.g. das Schöne (the beautiful thing/quality).

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