Gut oder Schlecht? Good or Bad? Basic Descriptions of Things in German

In this post you’ll learn some basic descriptions of things in German. That means that you’ll learn how to use German adjectives to describe things. First you’ll learn colors in German along with some examples. Then you’ll learn other common adjectives you can use to give descriptions of things in German. Along the way, we’ll point out a few important grammar points to keep in mind when you’re using German adjectives.

Colors in German

Let’s start with colors: schwarz black; weiß white; rot red; blau blue; gelb yellow; grün green; braun brown; grau gray.

• Welche Farbe hat es?
  What color is it?
• Der Hund ist schwarz.
  The dog is black.
• Die Katze ist weiß.
  The cat is white.
• Unser Auto ist blau.
  Our car is blue.
• Die deutsche Flagge ist schwarz, rot, und gold.
  The German flag is black, red, and gold.

Other Common German Adjectives

Now let’s look at several other important basic adjectives: gut good; schlecht bad; groß big; klein small; schön beautiful; hässlich ugly; alt old; neu new; lang long; kurz short; hoch high; niedrig low; leer empty; voll full; breit wide; eng/schmal narrow; hart hard; weich soft; schwer/schwierig difficult; leicht/einfach easy.

• Dieses Restaurant ist gut / schlecht.
  This restaurant is good/bad.
• Es ist ein gutes Restaurant.
  It’s a good restaurant.
• Ich höre ein gutes/schlechtes Lied.
  I’m listening to a good/bad song.
• Der Film ist alt / neu.
  The film is old/new.
• Wir sehen einen alten / neuen Film.
  We’re seeing an old/new film.
• Die Stadt ist schön/groß.
  The city is beautiful/big.
• Die Straße ist breit/schmal.
  The street is wide/narrow.
• Das Bett ist hart/weich.
  The bed is hard/soft.
• Das Glas ist voll/leer.
  The glass is full/empty.

GRAMMAR TIP! Those Pesky Adjective Endings

Did you notice that German adjectives sometimes take different endings? Compare:

• Der Film is gut.
  The film is good.
• Das ist ein guter Film.
  That’s a good film.
• Ich habe einen guten Film gesehen.
  I saw a good film.

Adjectives After Sein (to be)

The easiest place to put a German adjective is after the verb sein, because its forms never change:

• Das Buch ist gut/schlecht.
  The book is good/bad.
• Der Film ist alt/neu.
  The film is old/new.

Adjectives Before Nouns

But if you use a German adjective right before a noun (as in a new film, the bad book, my beautiful city…) the adjective is going to take an ending, and that ending depends on a few things. We won’t get into all of it here, but in a quick nutshell:

• After singular der, die, and das: use the so-called “weak” ending -e: der gute Film (the good film); die schöne Stadt (the beautiful city), das schlechte Buch (the bad book). After plural die, the weak ending is –en: die guten Filme (the good films), die schönen Städte (the beautiful cities), die schlechten Bücher (the bad books).
• After ein(e), mein(e) and other possessives, or kein(e), use the so-called “strong”endings –er for masculine, –e for feminine, and –es for neuter: ein guter Film (a good film), meine schöne Stadt (my beautiful), kein schlechtes Buch (no good book). In the plural, the strong ending is –en: meine schönen Städte (my beautiful cities), keine schlechten Bücher (no bad books), unsere neuen Filme (our new films).
• In other cases after einen, einem, einer, den, dem, der, or des, the ending is always –en: einen guten Film (a good film, accusative), den guten Film (the good film, accusative),  in einer schönen Stadt (in a beautiful city, dative), in der schönen Stadt (in the beautiful city, dative), des schlechten Buches (of the bad book, genitive).

There’s a bit more to the story than that, but if you keep these three rules in mind, you’ll cover by far the greatest number of circumstances when you want to use a German adjective.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about basic descriptions of things in German. Now you know colors in German along with some other common German adjectives. If you’d like to learn more, check out our other posts on German language, culture, and more. And if you’re looking for convenient and affordable live German lessons with a real teacher, check out The Language Garage German. Our lessons are given online in a virtual classroom, so it doesn’t matter where you live or work. We can come to you. And we have flexible options, with a free trial so that you can decide if there’s a fit. Check us out!

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