1) Farbe, Colors
rod | red | geld | yellow |
schwarz | black | orange | orange |
weiß | white | rosa | pink |
grün | green | lila | purple |
blau | blue | grau | grey |
braun | brown | farblos | colorless |
dunkelgrün | darkgreen | hellgrün | lightgreen |
2) Antonym
jung | yong | alt | old |
groß | big | klein | Small |
hoch | high | niedrig | low |
tief | deep | flach | shallow |
sauber | clean | Schmutzig | dirty |
trocken | dry | nass | wet |
lang | long | kurz | short |
Dick | thick | dünn | thin |
schnell | quick | langsam | slow |
Klug / schlau | clever | dumm | stupid |
früh | early | spät | late |
laut | laud | leise | quiet |
fröhlich | joyful | traurig | sad |
satt | full | leer | empty |
heiß | hot | kalt | cold |
dunkel | dark | hell | bright |
schwer | heavy / difficult | leicht | light / easy |
fleißig | dilligent | faul | lazy |
warm | warm | kühl | cool |
anders | different | ähnlich | similar |
fleißig | diligent | faul | lazy |
glücklich | happy | wütend | angry |
zufrieden | satisfied | unzufrieden | unsatisfied |
3) Participles as adjectives
In English, the present participle is a verb form ending in -ing, which may be used as an adjective or a noun.
In German, you simply add -d to the infinitive of the verb to form the present participle, which may then be used as an adjective with all the usual endings.
Auf dem Tisch stand ein Foto von einem lachenden Kind. | There was a photo of a laughing child on the table. |
The past participle of a verb can also be used as an adjective.
Meine Mutter hat meine verlorenen Sachen gefunden. | My mother found my lost things. |
4) Adjectives preceded by the dative case
With many adjectives you use the dative case, for example:
Ähnlich = similar to | Er ist seinem Vater sehr ähnlich. | He’s very like his father. |
bekannt = familiar to | Sie kommt mir bekannt vor. | She seems familiar to me. |
dankbar = grateful to | Ich bin dir sehr dankbar. | I’m very grateful to you. |
Fremd = strange, alien to | Das ist mir fremd. | That’s alien to me. |
gleich = all the same to/like | Es ist mir gleich. | It’s all the same to me. |
leicht = easy for | Du machst es dir wirklich zu leicht. | You really make things too easy for yourself. |
nah(e) = close to | Unser Haus ist nahe der Universität. | Our house is near the university. |
peinlich = embarrassing for | Das war ihr aber peinlich. | She was really embarrassed. |
unbekannt = unknown to | Das war mir unbekannt. | I didn’t know that. |