Luxembourgish Adjective Endings give a lot of learners a headache. And for good reason. The ending you have to put to an ADJECTIVE depends on … first the gender of a noun, the number (singular or plural) and the case. But I will show you in this lesson that it is not as difficult as you might think.
WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE
- a describing word
- gives information about something or someone
- describes a noun (a person, thing or a place)
D’ Monster ass gréng, ellen a geféierlech! – The monster is green, ugly and dangerous.
gréng, ellen & geféierlech are describing words.
Other Examples of Adjectives:
kleng (small) – schéin (beautiful) – nervös (nervous) – seriö (serious) – rout (red) – laang (long) – schlecht (bad) – séier (fast) – roueg (quiet) – frëndlech (friendly) – jonk (young) ……..
THE PLACE OF THE ADJECTIVE
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Adjective AFTER Noun
⇒Den Hond (masc. noun) ass grouss (adjective) – The dog is big.
⇒D’Kaz (fem. noun) ass grouss (adjective). – The cat is big.
⇒D’Haus (neut. noun) ass grouss (adjective). – The house is big.
⇒D’Kanner (plur. noun) si grouss (adjective). – The children are tall.
As you can see the ADJECTIVE does NOT change when it comes AFTER the noun.
2. Adjective BEFORE Noun (Nominative & Accusative)
⇒Ech hunn e groussen Hond (masc. noun) – I have a big dog.
⇒Meng Noperen hunn eng grouss Kaz (fem. noun). – My neighbours have a big cat.
⇒Mir hunn e grousst Haus (neut. noun). – We have a big house.
⇒Mir hu grouss Kanner (plur. noun). – We have tall children.
When the ADJECTIVE comes BEFORE the noun we add the following endings to the adjective:
- en when the noun is masculine: e groussen Hond
- t when the noun is neuter: e grousst Haus
- no ending when the noun is feminine & plural: eng grouss Kaz / grouss Kanner
Beispiller (examples)
Ech hunn den neien Auto (masc) an d’Garage gestallt. – I put the new car in the garage.
Mir mussen haut frëscht Uebst (neut) akafen. – We must buy fresh fruits today.
Mir hunn eng al awer ganz léif Nopesch (fem). – We have an old but very nice neighbour.
Sonndes moies iesse mir gär waarm Bréidercher (pl). On Sunday mornings we like to eat hot buns.
3. Adjective BEFORE Noun (Dative)
Let’s first have the sentence WITHOUT adjective and then the same sentence WITH an adjective:
Hien seet dem Verkeefer (masc) Merci. – He thanks the seller.
⇒Hien seet dem frëndleche(n) Verkeefer (masc) Merci. – He thanks the friendly seller.
Hien seet der Verkeeferin (fem) Merci. – He thanks the seller (female).
⇒Hien seet der frëndlecher Verkeeferin (fem) Merci. – He thanks the seller.
Hatt gëtt dem Meedchen (neut) e Croissant. – She gives the girl a croissant.
⇒Hatt gëtt dem klenge(n) Meedchen (neut) e Croissant. She gives the little girl a croissant.
Mir hëllefen eisen Noperen. – We are helping our neighbours.
⇒Mir hëllefen eisen alen Noperen. – We are helping our old neighbours.
Why are we using here the dative case? Well because verbs such as soen – ginn – hëllefen require the dative.
In the Dative we add the following endings to the adjective:
- en when the noun is masculine or neuter or plural
- er when the noun is female
Beispiller (examples)
Mir wunnen an engem klengen Haus (neut). – We live in a small house.
If you are wondering why we use the dative case in that example then I recommend that you read this lesson – preposition + the dative case.
Ech gi mat mengem alen Hond (masc) bei den Déierendokter. – I’m going to the doctor’s with my old dog.
Ech drénken e Béier op enger gemittlecher Terrasse (fem). – I’m drinking a beer on a cosy terrace.
ÜBUNG
Watch the video or get the pdf to practice along with me:
I hope you liked it and found it useful. And …. why not sharing this lesson with your friends:-)
