Plural Adjectives Without Articles
When we talk about things in general or in unspecified quantities—like "fresh apples" or "sweet strawberries"—we don't use an article. This is very common when buying loose produce at the market.
When a plural noun has no article, the adjective must step up and show the grammatical case.
For the Nominative (the subject) and Accusative (the direct object) cases, the adjective takes the ending -e. This mimics the plural definite article die.
| There are fresh apples at the market. | Auf dem Markt gibt es frische Äpfel. |
| We are buying fresh carrots today. | Wir kaufen heute frische Karotten. |
| Do sweet carrots taste good to you? | Schmecken dir süße Karotten? |
Dative Plural Without Articles
When the plural noun is in the Dative case, the adjective takes the ending -en. This mimics the dative plural article den. You will frequently see this after dative prepositions like mit (with) or aus (out of).
| Case | Adjective Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative & Accusative | -e | frische Äpfel |
| Dative | -en | mit frischen Äpfeln |
Here is how that looks in practice when talking about food from a market stall:
| The cake with sweet strawberries is very tasty. | Der Kuchen mit süßen Erdbeeren ist sehr lecker. |
| What do you make out of sour lemons? | Was machst du aus sauren Zitronen? |
| You can make wine with ripe grapes. | Mit reifen Trauben kann man Wein machen. |
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io
