Nouns, verbs and adjectives

What do “Suppe”, “spiele” and “groß” tell you?

Take a look

Die Suppe ist sehr lecker.The soup is very tasty.
Ich spiele gern Fußball.I like playing football.
Das Haus ist sehr groß.The house is very big.

The rule

Nouns name people, things or ideas. In German you write them with a capital letter and learn the article with them: die Suppe. Verbs tell you what someone does or what happens: spielen, schlafen. Adjectives describe what something is like: groß, lecker. These word types work together in a sentence. Find the verb first; that makes the rest easier to understand.

Remember: Nouns name, verbs act, adjectives describe.

Goes with lesson 3, 11, 13 of the course.

What differs for you

English already distinguishes nouns, verbs and adjectives, so the roles of “Suppe”, “spiele” and “groß” are familiar. German adds a visible signal that English usually lacks: every noun starts with a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence. Learning a noun with its article also matters because the article tells you something about its German form.

The forms

The main parts of speech

Wortart	Beispiel	Erkennst du an
Nomen	die Suppe, das Haus	großer Anfangsbuchstabe, Artikel
Verb	spielen, essen	Endung ändert sich: ich spiele, du spielst
Adjektiv	groß, müde	beschreibt: das große Haus
Artikel	der, die, das, ein	steht vor dem Nomen
Pronomen	ich, du, sie	steht statt eines Nomens
Präposition	in, auf, mit	steht vor Nomen oder Pronomen

Common mistakes

*die suppe → die Suppe.
*Ich groß. → Ich bin groß.

Quick check

Which form fits? Die ___ ist sehr lecker.
1. Suppe
2. suppe
3. suppen
Answer
Suppe — “Suppe” is a German noun, so it starts with a capital letter.
Which form fits? Ich ___ gern Fußball.
1. Spiel
2. spiele
3. spiel
Answer
spiele — With “ich”, the present-tense verb takes -e: “spiele”.
Which form fits? Das Haus ist sehr ___.
1. Groß
2. größe
3. groß
Answer
groß — “groß” describes the house and stays lowercase after sehr.
Which form fits? Mein ___ ist sehr nett.
1. Chef
2. chefen
3. chef
Answer
Chef — “Chef” is a German noun, so it starts with a capital letter.
Which form fits? Sie ___ sehr gut.
1. tänzerisch
2. tanzt
3. Tanz
Answer
tanzt — With sie meaning one woman, the verb ends in -t: “tanzt”.

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Terms

Noun: A word for a person, thing, or idea: child, table, joy.
Verb: A word for an action or event: go, sleep, be.
Adjective: A word that describes a quality: a big house.

BeforeDer, die, das and ein, eine AfterPlural nouns

Word classes

Personal pronouns A1Personal pronouns replace nouns and indicate the person.→Adjective endings A2Why “einen roten Mantel” but “eine freundliche Person”?→Groß, größer, am größten A2What does “am liebsten” mean compared with “gern”?→Mein, dein, sein: whose is it? A2Whose passport does “Ihren Reisepass” refer to?→Nominalization B2Nominalization means turning verbs or adjectives into nouns.→

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