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### Emphasizing with **so ein-**

When visiting a pretentious coffee shop, you might find yourself needing to complain about the absurd concepts and outrageous prices. In spoken German, the colloquial phrase **so ein-** (such a) is the perfect way to express strong emphasis or exasperation.

The word **so** never changes. The word **ein-** declines exactly like a regular indefinite article for gender and case. Any adjectives that follow it take standard mixed adjective endings (for example, **-er** for a masculine nominative noun, or **-es** for a neuter accusative noun).

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### Exclamations of Disbelief

You do not always need an adjective to express strong feelings. You can pair **so ein-** directly with a noun as an exclamation to emphasize your frustration or shock.

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### Accusative and Feminine Forms

Because **ein-** acts just like a normal indefinite article, remember to use **so einen** for masculine nouns in the accusative case (like the object of a sentence or after the preposition **für**). 

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Likewise, for feminine nouns in the nominative or accusative cases, use **so eine**. The following adjective takes the standard **-e** ending.

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Colloquial demonstratives (so ein-)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
such a (so ein, so eine, so einen)	so ein
outrageous	unverschämt
the barista	der Barista
He is such an outrageous barista!	Er ist so ein unverschämter Barista!
absurd	absurd
the concept	das Konzept
The café has such an absurd concept.	Das Café hat so ein absurdes Konzept.
the madness	der Wahnsinn
the oat milk	die Hafermilch
Such madness, the oat milk costs five euros!	So ein Wahnsinn, die Hafermilch kostet fünf Euro!
the atmosphere (e.g. of a planet, ambience)	die Atmosphäre
tiny	winzig
The atmosphere is great, but the little table is tiny.	Die Atmosphäre ist toll, aber das Tischchen ist winzig.
the sip	der Schluck
I would not pay for such a tiny sip.	Ich würde für so einen winzigen Schluck nicht bezahlen.
One euro for a sip of water is absurd.	Ein Euro für einen Schluck Wasser ist absurd.
Understandably, everyone finds the oat milk outrageously expensive.	Verständlicherweise finden alle die Hafermilch unverschämt teuer.
Ten euros for a tea? Such madness!	Zehn Euro für einen Tee? So ein Wahnsinn!
The café has such a cold atmosphere.	Das Café hat so eine kalte Atmosphäre.
They have such an absurd menu here!	Sie haben hier so eine absurde Speisekarte!
The café has such an absurd concept and the barista is outrageous.	Das Café hat so ein absurdes Konzept und der Barista ist unverschämt.
the bloke, the guy	der Kerl
I do not like a bloke like that.	So ein Kerl gefällt mir nicht.
That bloke there is my neighbour.	Der Kerl da ist mein Nachbar.
the type; the guy	der Typ
A guy like that does not like working.	So ein Typ arbeitet nicht gern.
Which type of car is that?	Welcher Typ von Wagen ist das?
the mate, the buddy	der Kumpel
My mate is coming this evening.	Mein Kumpel kommt heute Abend.
He is a good mate.	Er ist ein guter Kumpel.
stupid, daft	blöd
What a stupid mistake!	So ein blöder Fehler!
The film was pretty stupid.	Der Film war ziemlich blöd.
great, super	super
The food was great.	Das Essen war super.
We have not had such great weather in a long time.	So ein super Wetter hatten wir lange nicht.
to look, to watch (colloquial)	gucken
Look who is coming!	Guck mal, wer da kommt!
We are watching a film tonight.	Wir gucken heute Abend einen Film.

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