German Grammar Explained /
Adjective declension after definite articles
Let us introduce you to declension chapter #153 - ok, maybe there aren't that many, but we are sorry to keep throwing them at you. We are almost done!
Mark Twain famously mocked this particular piece of grammar when he said:
“I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective."
The Awful German Language
Without further ado...
Der große Fernseher ist schön.
Die schöne Lampe ist groß.
Das kleine Regal ist alt.
Die alten Stühle sind bunt.
Basically, they all end in -e but the plural ones that end in -en. Since we still see the gender in the definite article (der, die, das, die), we don't need to do much with the adjective. We don't understand Mark Twain's point!
What about the other cases?
To be continued...