This is the topic most learners find hardest at A2, and most of that difficulty comes from meeting it as three tables to memorise. There is one idea underneath all three, and it makes them much easier to hold: the ending exists to show gender and case. If the article has already shown them, the adjective can go quiet. If the article cannot, the adjective has to do the job itself.
First: does it need an ending at all?
Only adjectives standing in front of a noun take endings. An adjective sitting after the verb — after ist, wird, bleibt — takes nothing at all, ever. This one distinction removes half the problem, and it is free.
Die Wohnung ist neu.
The flat is new.
after ist — no ending, whatever the gender
die neue Wohnung
the new flat
in front of the noun — ending required
Der Weg war schmal. Es war ein schmaler Weg.
The path was narrow. It was a narrow path.
same adjective, both jobs, in two sentences
Pattern 1 — after der, die, das
The definite article already tells you the gender and the case, so the adjective barely works. There are only two endings in the whole table: -e and -en.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der gute Wein | die gute Milch | das gute Bier | die guten Weine |
| Accusative | den guten Wein | die gute Milch | das gute Bier | die guten Weine |
| Dative | dem guten Wein | der guten Milch | dem guten Bier | den guten Weinen |
Tipp · Look at the shape rather than the boxes: -e appears only in the top-left corner — the three nominative singulars and the two accusatives that match them. Everything else is -en. If you learn “-e in five places, -en everywhere else”, you have this table.
Pattern 2 — after ein, kein, mein
Here the article sometimes fails to show the gender. “Ein” looks the same for masculine and neuter, so in exactly those places the adjective steps in and takes the ending the article should have had.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein guter Wein | eine gute Milch | ein gutes Bier | meine guten Weine |
| Accusative | einen guten Wein | eine gute Milch | ein gutes Bier | meine guten Weine |
| Dative | einem guten Wein | einer guten Milch | einem guten Bier | meinen guten Weinen |
Compare the two tables and only three boxes differ: masculine nominative (guter, not gute), and neuter nominative and accusative (gutes, not gute). Those are precisely the three places where ein carries no ending of its own. Nothing here is arbitrary — the adjective is covering a gap.
ein kleiner See
a small lake
See is masculine, ein shows nothing, so the adjective says -er
eine alte Hütte
an old hut
eine already marks it feminine, so the adjective relaxes to -e
ein schmaler Weg
a narrow path
masculine again — the ending is doing real work
Pattern 3 — no article at all
With no article there is nothing to lean on, so the adjective takes the ending the definite article would have had. You meet this most with uncountable things and with plurals — food, drink, materials, abstract nouns.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | guter Wein | gute Milch | gutes Bier | gute Weine |
| Accusative | guten Wein | gute Milch | gutes Bier | gute Weine |
| Dative | gutem Wein | guter Milch | gutem Bier | guten Weinen |
Notice that these endings are the endings of der, die, das themselves — der → guter, dem → gutem, den → guten. The adjective is standing in for the missing article, which is exactly what the one idea at the top predicted.
Two adjectives in a row
When several adjectives modify the same noun they all take the same ending. There is no sequence to work out — whatever the first one does, the rest copy.
eine überraschend stille Aufnahme
a surprisingly quiet photograph
überraschend is an adverb here modifying stille, so it takes no ending itself
das kühle, hohe Licht der Halle
the cool, high light of the hall
both adjectives take -e after das
ein warmer, dunkler Mantel
a warm, dark coat
both -er, matching masculine nominative after ein
Common mistakes
✗Die Wohnung ist neue.
✓Die Wohnung ist neu.
After ist the adjective is predicative and takes no ending at all. Adding one is the most common error in the whole topic and the easiest to stop making.
✗ein kleine See
✓ein kleiner See
See is masculine and ein shows no gender, so the adjective must supply -er.
✗ein gutes Wein
✓ein guter Wein
The ending is right for a neuter noun, but Wein is masculine. Adjective endings cannot be learned separately from gender.
✗in der neue Wohnung
✓in der neuen Wohnung
in + dative here, and everything outside the top-left corner of the der-table is -en.
✗Ich kaufe einen warme Mantel.
✓Ich kaufe einen warmen Mantel.
Accusative masculine. einen already marks it, so the adjective takes the quiet -en — not the -e.
✗Ich koche mit guten Wein.
✓Ich koche mit gutem Wein.
No article after mit, so the adjective has to carry the dative ending itself: -em, the ending dem would have had. The quiet -en is only for when an article is already doing the work.
A note on the genitive, deliberately left out of the tables above. It exists (des guten Weines, der guten Milch) and the adjective is -en almost everywhere in it, so once you need it there is very little new to learn. At A2 the three cases here will carry everything you write.