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     Table of Contents Chapter 33 33.6 Declination of present participle
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Chapter 33: Participles, Gerund and Infinitive constructions

  33.6 Declination of present participle in adjectival use

When the German present participle is used as an adjective it is also declined as an adjective. A detailled description is to be found in the chapter Adjectives. As said before there is no difference between the declination of an adjective in attributive (before the noun) or predicative (after the noun) use or as substantivated adjective.

The tables below show the endings for the different declination types.

Without article
sächlich Singular Plural männlich Singular Plural weiblich Singular Plural
  Nominativ -es -e Nominativ -er -e Nominativ -e -e
  Genitiv -en -er Genitiv -en -er Genitiv -er -er
  Dativ -em -en Dativ -em -en Dativ -er -en
  Akkusativ -es -e Akkusativ -en -e Akkusativ -e -e

With indefinite article
sächlich Singular Plural männlich Singular Plural weiblich Singular Plural
  Nominativ -es -e Nominativ -er -e Nominativ -e -e
  Genitiv -en -er Genitiv -en -er Genitiv -en -er
  Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en
  Akkusativ -es -e Akkusativ -en -e Akkusativ -e -e

With definite article
sächlich Singular Plural männlich Singular Plural weiblich Singular Plural
  Nominativ -e -en Nominativ -e -en Nominativ -e -en
  Genitiv -en -en Genitiv -en -en Genitiv -en -en
  Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en
  Akkusativ -e -en Akkusativ -en -en Akkusativ -e -en

With possessive pronoun
sächlich Singular Plural männlich Singular Plural weiblich Singular Plural
  Nominativ -es -en Nominativ -er -en Nominativ

-e

 -en
  Genitiv -en -en Genitiv -en -en Genitiv -en -en
  Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en Dativ -en -en
  Akkusativ -es -en Akkusativ -en -en Akkusativ -e -en

Example 1:  
  The dreams of the sleeping (ones) are beautiful.  
  Die Träume der Schlafenden sind schön.

Which table to we need? The table that shows the declination with a definite article.
Which case is it? It is Genitiv, because we ask with whose? Whose dreams are beautiful?
Which gender and number is it? It is plural and the gender is masculine or feminine.
With all these information we find the right ending -en.

Example 2  
  I see a sleeping child.  
  Ich sehe ein schlafendes Kind.

Which table to we need? The table that shows the declination with a indefinite article.
Which case is it? It is Akkusativ, because we ask with whom? Whom do I see?
Which gender and number is it? It is singular and the gender is neutral.
With all these information we find the right ending -es.
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