Predicate Adjectives in German

In Brief

A German adjective used after sein (“to be”), werden (“to become”), or bleiben (“to remain”) normally has no adjective ending: Das Wetter ist schön (“The weather is nice”). Its form stays the same regardless of gender, number, or case: Der Mann ist müde, Die Frau ist müde, Die Kinder sind müde.

Overview

A predicate adjective describes the subject (the person or thing the sentence is about) through a linking verb. In Die Suppe ist heiß (“The soup is hot”), heiß describes die Suppe, while ist connects the two. German calls this use prädikativ.

This is an important A1 pattern because it lets you describe almost anything before you have mastered German adjective endings. English also uses adjectives after “be” without changing their form: “The room is quiet” and “The rooms are quiet.” German works similarly here. The verb changes to match the subject, but the adjective does not: Das Zimmer ist ruhig and Die Zimmer sind ruhig.

The contrast with adjectives before nouns is essential. An adjective directly before a noun is attributive (it forms one noun phrase with that noun), and German gives it an ending: ein ruhiges Zimmer. Move the description after sein, and the ending disappears: Das Zimmer ist ruhig.

How It Works

The beginner pattern

The three main linking verbs are:

Pattern	Function	Example	English
subject + sein + adjective	describes a state or quality	Der Kaffee ist kalt.	The coffee is cold.
subject + werden + adjective	describes a change	Der Kaffee wird kalt.	The coffee is getting cold.
subject + bleiben + adjective	says that a state continues	Der Kaffee bleibt kalt.	The coffee stays cold.

Sein describes what something is like now. Werden focuses on a change into a new state. Bleiben emphasizes that the state does not change.

The linking verb must still be conjugated (changed to match its subject and tense):

Subject	With sein	With werden	With bleiben
ich	ich bin müde	ich werde müde	ich bleibe ruhig
du	du bist müde	du wirst müde	du bleibst ruhig
er/sie/es	er ist müde	er wird müde	er bleibt ruhig
wir/sie/Sie	wir sind müde	wir werden müde	wir bleiben ruhig
ihr	ihr seid müde	ihr werdet müde	ihr bleibt ruhig

Notice that müde and ruhig never change. Only the verb changes.

No agreement ending

German nouns have grammatical gender, and they can be singular or plural. They also appear in different cases (forms that show a noun’s role in a sentence). None of those features gives a predicate adjective an ending.

Subject type	Predicate adjective
masculine: Der Tisch ist ...	groß
feminine: Die Wohnung ist ...	groß
neuter: Das Haus ist ...	groß
plural: Die Gebäude sind ...	groß

Do not add -e, -er, -es, or -en. The dictionary form is enough.

Predicate and attributive position

Position changes the grammar:

Use	German	What happens?
predicate	Der Film ist langweilig.	langweilig has no ending
attributive	Das ist ein langweiliger Film.	langweilig takes -er before the noun
predicate	Die Tasche ist neu.	neu has no ending
attributive	Sie kauft eine neue Tasche.	neu takes -e before the noun

English provides a useful parallel: “a boring film” versus “the film is boring.” However, English adjectives barely change anywhere, whereas German adjectives before nouns normally do. The practical question is therefore: Does the adjective stand directly before a noun? If not, and it follows a linking verb, use the endingless predicate form.

Negation

To negate the quality, use nicht before the predicate adjective:

• Der Film ist nicht langweilig. — The movie is not boring.
• Das Essen wird nicht kalt. — The food is not getting cold.
• Sie bleibt nicht lange allein. — She does not remain alone for long.

In the simple pattern, think of nicht + adjective as one unit near the end of the clause.

Questions and subordinate clauses

The adjective remains endingless when word order changes:

• Ist die Wohnung teuer? — Is the apartment expensive?
• Warum wird er nervös? — Why is he getting nervous?
• Ich glaube, dass die Wohnung teuer ist. — I think that the apartment is expensive.

In a subordinate clause (a clause that depends on another part of the sentence), the conjugated verb often moves to the end. The adjective normally comes before it: ..., weil das Zimmer zu klein ist (“... because the room is too small”).

Examples in Context

German	English	Note
Das Wetter ist schön.	The weather is nice.	Basic description with sein
Der Film war langweilig.	The movie was boring.	Past tense; still no adjective ending
Sie ist müde.	She is tired.	Feminine subject does not change müde
Die Kinder sind hungrig.	The children are hungry.	Plural subject; adjective unchanged
Mein Kaffee wird kalt.	My coffee is getting cold.	Change of state with werden
Nach dem Spaziergang werden wir ruhig.	After the walk, we become calm.	Plural subject with werden
Trotz des Problems bleibt er freundlich.	Despite the problem, he remains friendly.	Continuing state with bleiben
Die Geschäfte bleiben heute geschlossen.	The shops remain closed today.	A participle used as a description
Ist das Hotel teuer?	Is the hotel expensive?	Yes/no question
Nein, es ist nicht teuer.	No, it is not expensive.	nicht negates the adjective
Warum bist du so leise?	Why are you so quiet?	so strengthens or points to the quality
Ich hoffe, dass das Essen noch warm ist.	I hope the food is still warm.	Verb-final subordinate clause
Der rote Pullover ist bequem.	The red sweater is comfortable.	rote is attributive; bequem is predicate
Die roten Schuhe sind bequem.	The red shoes are comfortable.	Attributive ending changes; predicate form does not
Im Winter werden die Tage kürzer.	In winter, the days get shorter.	Comparative form in predicate position

Common Mistakes

Adding an ending after sein

• Wrong: Die Wohnung ist große.
• Right: Die Wohnung ist groß.
• Why: Groß is predicate after ist, so it takes no agreement ending. The feminine gender of Wohnung does not require -e here.

Removing an ending before a noun

• Wrong: Das ist ein groß Haus.
• Right: Das ist ein großes Haus.
• Why: Here the adjective stands directly before Haus. It is attributive, not predicate, so it needs an ending.

Treating werden as simply “will”

• Misleading: Sie wird müde = “She will tired.”
• Right meaning: Sie wird müde. = “She is getting tired.”
• Why: Before an adjective, werden usually means “become” or “get.” German does use werden to build the future, but that construction also contains an infinitive (the basic verb form): Sie wird schlafen (“She will sleep”).

Using sein when a change is meant

• Less accurate: Das Wetter ist kalt. when you mean that it is turning cold.
• Better: Das Wetter wird kalt.
• Why: Ist kalt describes a state; wird kalt describes movement into that state.

Putting nicht in the wrong place

• Wrong: Der Film nicht ist interessant.
• Right: Der Film ist nicht interessant.
• Why: In a normal main clause, the conjugated verb occupies the second position. Nicht stands before the predicate adjective it negates.

Mistaking comparative -er for an adjective ending

• Wrong conclusion: kürzer in Die Tage werden kürzer has an agreement ending.
• Correct analysis: kürzer is the comparative form, “shorter.”
• Why: The -er expresses comparison, not gender or case. It remains kürzer with every subject: Der Tag ist kürzer; die Nacht ist kürzer; die Tage sind kürzer.

Usage Notes

Many common descriptions use sein + adjective: fertig sein (“to be ready/finished”), krank sein (“to be ill”), frei sein (“to be free/available”), and sicher sein (“to be certain/safe”). Learn these as short phrases rather than as isolated words.

English and German do not always choose the same construction. German often uses an adjective where English uses a verb or another phrase:

• Ich bin fertig. — I’m finished / I’m ready.
• Bist du sicher? — Are you sure?
• Mir ist kalt. — I’m cold.

The last pattern is special. In Mir ist kalt, mir means roughly “to me,” and there is no ordinary nominative subject. This is the usual German way to describe feeling cold. By contrast, Ich bin kalt normally describes the person as physically cold or emotionally cold, not simply as experiencing cold weather.

Some words can function as both adjectives and adverbs (words that describe how an action happens), and German usually uses the same uninflected form for both:

• Das Auto ist schnell. — The car is fast. (predicate adjective)
• Das Auto fährt schnell. — The car drives fast. (adverbial use)

The forms look identical, but their jobs differ: the first describes das Auto through sein; the second describes the manner of driving.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will meet later.

Comparatives stay uninflected in predicate position

Comparative and superlative ideas can also appear after linking verbs:

• Dieses Zimmer ist größer. — This room is bigger.
• Der Zug wird schneller. — The train is getting faster.
• Diese Lösung ist besser. — This solution is better.
• Diese Strecke ist am kürzesten. — This route is the shortest.

The comparative marker -er and the superlative pattern am ...-sten belong to comparison itself. They are not adjective agreement endings. Before a noun, further endings are added: ein größeres Zimmer.

Participles can behave like predicate adjectives

A participle is a verb form that can also describe a state, such as English “closed” or “broken.” German commonly uses such forms without endings after linking verbs:

• Die Tür ist geschlossen. — The door is closed.
• Das Fenster bleibt geöffnet. — The window remains open.
• Die Gäste sind überrascht. — The guests are surprised.

Some sentences can be understood either as a state or as part of a passive construction, depending on context. For everyday learning, the same visible rule helps: after sein or bleiben, the form has no adjective agreement ending.

Other verbs can support predicate descriptions

Beyond the core trio, an adjective can describe an object after verbs such as finden (“to find/consider”) and machen (“to make”):

• Ich finde den Film langweilig. — I find the movie boring.
• Die Musik macht mich glücklich. — The music makes me happy.
• Wir streichen die Wand blau. — We are painting the wall blue.

Here langweilig, glücklich, and blau describe the object rather than the subject. They are still used without agreement endings. This is sometimes called an object predicative: a description linked to the object of the verb.

Adjectives used as nouns are different

An adjective can be turned into a noun and refer to a person or thing: der Alte (“the old man”), etwas Neues (“something new”). Such nominalized adjectives (adjectives used as nouns) are capitalized and do take endings. They are not predicate adjectives, even if an English translation looks similar.

Practice Tips

1. Build three-part sets. Choose an adjective and say a state, a change, and a continuation: Die Suppe ist warm. Die Suppe wird kalt. Die Suppe bleibt kalt. This makes the meanings of sein, werden, and bleiben clear.
2. Transform noun phrases. Change ein teures Hotel into Das Hotel ist teuer, or eine interessante Frage into Die Frage ist interessant. Say aloud which form needs an ending and why.
3. Vary the subject without changing the adjective. Practice Der Mann ist freundlich; die Frau ist freundlich; das Kind ist freundlich; die Leute sind freundlich. This trains you to change the verb, not the predicate adjective.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Verb sein (Present) — provides the essential forms bin, bist, ist, sind, and seid for basic descriptions.
• Next step: Comparative Forms — shows how forms such as größer, schneller, and besser express comparison, including in predicate position.