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For example:

Ich habe weiße Milch, vs weiß

When you use the different rot, rote, roten, rotes?

I find nouns, indifinitive adjectives or whatever very confusing so if this could be explained in a very simple way, it would be much appreciated.

user unknown
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Selena Cox
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    Well, as you mention, in this case "weiße" is a conjugated adjective. So all rules for adjectives appply here. Or do I miss something here and your question is more specific? – Jonathan Scholbach Jan 31 '17 at 22:12
  • ...declinated adjective – user1583209 Jan 31 '17 at 22:34
  • So in German rather than saying the white milk they normally say the milk white and have the adjective after, but when they put it before it becomes a 'declinated adjective' and adds a suffix? (-e or -en)

    http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/adjectives/adjective-declensions/

    This is what I have used to try and understand what a declinated adjective is but I might be completely misunderstanding.

     – Selena Cox Jan 31 '17 at 22:44
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    @SelenaCox: Caution! Having the adjecitve after the noun, gives a completely different meaning, similar to english: "weiße Milch" is white milk, while "milchweiß" would mean something like milke-white, or as white as milk – Jonathan Scholbach Jan 31 '17 at 23:20
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    @SelenaCox: I don't think there is much point trying to translate grammar like this into English which does not have anything like it. Just get used to it that German words (not only adjectives) can have endings depending on context. – user1583209 Jan 31 '17 at 23:25
  • @SelenaCox No, you will usually have the adjective in front. You only put it after if you use it with something like "to be". – sgf Jan 31 '17 at 23:44
  • The first sentence on the page you linked to is the important part: "German adjectives work just like English ones, except that they take on case endings when they come right before a noun." - Which case ending that is depends on the noun's grammatical gender, which you just have to learn, preferably right away together with the noun, I'm afraid. – I'm with Monica Feb 01 '17 at 15:38
  • @user1583209 declined, inflected – Crissov Feb 01 '17 at 21:21

2 Answers2

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In general, you will have to inflect adjectives. The case where you don't inflect them (the one mentioned in the link you posted in the comments) is when you use the adjective as a predicate:

  • "Weiße Milch" - white milk - He're you need to inflect the adjective.
  • "Milch ist weiß." - Milk is white - Here you're using it as a predicate and therefore don't have to inflect it.

In general, you are using the adjective predicatively if it's not in front of the noun it's describing. You will usually have that situation when you use words like "sein" (to be) and "werden" (to become): "Die Milch wird gelb." - The milk's going yellow.

sgf
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  • So just so I understand what you mean, I would so

    Der Himmel ist blau und groß- for the sky is blue and big

    but I would say, Der blaue Himmel ist groß. So the colour is inflected because its an adjective before a noun?

     – Selena Cox Feb 01 '17 at 00:33
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    @Selena Cox Your sentences are both correct now, but the colour is always an adjective. All adjectives behave that way: "die schlechte Milch" (the bad milk) vs "Die Milch ist schlecht." (The milk's bad.) – sgf Feb 01 '17 at 00:52
  • so that makes sense now for adding an 'e', but why when saying 'ein gelbes hemd' it has added an 'e' and a 's' – Selena Cox Feb 01 '17 at 17:33
  • Because the correct form of adjectives in German depends on four things: a) the gender of the noun it modifies ("Milch" is feminine while "Hemd" is neuter"), b) whether the noun is singular or plural, c) the case of the noun it modifies and d) whether the article is definite (der/die/das) or indefinite (ein/eine/ein) (die schlechte Milch vs ein gelbes Hemd.) – sgf Feb 02 '17 at 09:01
  • Adjective declension is a complicated topic; but which form to use in which case is explained in the link you posted in your comment to the question. – sgf Feb 02 '17 at 09:02
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Because in German adjectives are inflected.

Carsten S
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