When sorting items for a charity donation drive, you often need to evaluate what is in good condition.
| We sort out the clothes before we donate them. | Wir sortieren die Kleidung aus, bevor wir sie spenden. |
The Adjective Suffix "-bar"
Adding the suffix -bar to a verb stem creates an adjective expressing possibility. It works exactly like the English suffixes "-able" or "-ible."
For example, the stem of waschen (to wash) plus -bar becomes waschbar (washable):
| The sweater has a stain, but it is washable. | Der Pullover hat einen Fleck, aber er ist waschbar. |
Similarly, the stem of lesen (to read) becomes lesbar (readable):
| The book is very old, but the text is still readable. | Das Buch ist sehr alt, aber der Text ist noch lesbar. |
You can apply this to many common verbs to evaluate items quickly:
- brauchen (to use/need) → brauchbar (usable)
- reparieren (to repair) → reparierbar (repairable)
- tragen (to wear) → tragbar (wearable)
| This donation is unfortunately no longer usable. | Diese Spende ist leider nicht mehr brauchbar. |
| The jacket is indeed broken, but repairable and wearable again. | Die Jacke ist zwar kaputt, aber reparierbar und wieder tragbar. |
Adjective Endings
Because words ending in -bar are standard adjectives, they follow normal declension rules. When placed directly before a noun, they take an ending to match the noun's gender, number, and case.
For example, before the plural noun Lebensmittel (groceries), essbar (edible) takes the plural ending -e:
| We need not only clothes, but also edible groceries. | Wir brauchen nicht nur Kleidung, sondern auch essbare Lebensmittel. |
