what is it?
When a noun is used without any article or determiner — no ein, kein, der, etc. — the adjective before it must carry the ending that would otherwise appear on the article. This is called strong declension (starke Deklination). The ending signals the noun's gender, number, and case, so the listener or reader still knows the grammatical role of the noun even without an article. Strong endings closely mirror the definite-article endings (der, die, das, dem, des …), with one exception in the masculine and neuter genitive singular.
when to use it
Strong declension applies whenever an adjective directly precedes a noun and no article or determiner is present. Typical situations:
Food and drink used in a general or uncountable sense: frisches Brot, kalte Milch, heißer Kaffee.
Materials and substances without a quantity: mit kaltem Wasser, aus hartem Holz.
Plurals without an article expressing a general category: kleine Kinder, alte Bücher.
After a preposition when no article follows: trotz guten Wetters, mit frischem Salat.
formation
Take the adjective stem and add the strong ending from the table below. The endings match the corresponding definite-article form in almost every cell. The only exception is the masculine and neuter genitive singular, which takes -en (not -es), because the noun itself already carries the genitive -s/-es marker.
| case | masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | frisch-er (Fisch) | frisch-e (Milch) | frisch-es (Brot) | frisch-e (Säfte) |
| accusative | frisch-en (Fisch) | frisch-e (Milch) | frisch-es (Brot) | frisch-e (Säfte) |
| dative | frisch-em (Fisch) | frisch-er (Milch) | frisch-em (Brot) | frisch-en (Säften) |
| genitive | frisch-en (Fisches) | frisch-er (Milch) | frisch-en (Brotes) | frisch-er (Säfte) |
Memory shortcut: the strong ending is almost always identical to the definite article for that slot — der → -er, die → -e, das → -es, dem → -em, des → -en. Only the masculine and neuter genitive swap -es for -en.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Leaving the adjective uninflected. Without an article, the adjective cannot stay in its base form. *kalt Milch is wrong; the adjective must carry the case ending: kalte Milch. Think of the ending as doing the job the article would normally do.
Using weak endings where strong endings are required. Learners sometimes apply the weak ending -en to every slot. In the dative, for example, *mit kalten Wasser is wrong because there is no article to carry the dative signal. The adjective must take the strong dative neuter ending: mit kaltem Wasser. Check the table: dative neuter → -em.
A quick self-check: if there is no article before the noun, ask yourself which definite-article form would appear in that slot (der, die, das, dem, des …). Strip the initial d- and you have the strong ending — except for masculine/neuter genitive, where des becomes -en on the adjective.
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Ich trinke jeden Morgen ___ Orangensaft. (frisch)
Fill in the blank with the correct form of the adjective in parentheses. (Strong adjective declension — no article.)