How to form German adjectives + The TEKAMOLO rule explained easily
- Ananya
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
Welcome back to the engaging and insightful Learn German with LearnningTree series Part 9 📚🇩🇪.
German learners, rejoice! Today, we're diving into two exciting parts of the language:
Let’s break both topics down clearly so you can start using them right away.
How to Form German Adjectives (With Examples)
German is famous for building compound words and yes, you can build your own adjectives too! Think of it like cooking: mix two ingredients (words), and boom new adjective!
There are 3 easy "recipes" you can follow:
🥣 Recipe 1: Combine Two Adjectives
Just put two adjectives together to create a new compound adjective.
Adjective 1 | Adjective 2 | New Adjective | English Meaning |
hell (bright) | rot (red) | hellrot | bright red |
alt (old) | modisch (trendy) | altmodisch | old-fashioned |
süß (sweet) | sauer (sour) | süßsauer | sweet and sour |
✅ In English, we often separate these with a hyphen. In German, it's just one word!
🥣Recipe 2: Add a Prefix to an Adjective
This is called a derivation (Ableitung). Use a prefix to slightly change the meaning.
Prefix | Adjective | New Word | Meaning |
ur (pre) | alt (old) | uralt | ancient |
un (not) | höflich (polite) | unhöflich | impolite/rude |
über (over) | qualifiziert (qualified) | überqualifiziert | overqualified |
🥣Recipe 3: Turn Nouns or Verbs into Adjectives with Suffixes
You can also turn nouns or verbs into adjectives using suffixes.
🧸 Noun → Adjective
Noun | Suffix | New Adjective | Meaning |
Glück (happiness) | -lich | glücklich | happy |
Witz (joke) | -ig | witzig | funny |
Kind (child) | -isch | kindisch | childish |
⚙️ Verb → Adjective
Verb | Suffix | New Adjective | Meaning |
misstrauen (to distrust) | -isch | misstrauisch | suspicious/wary |
tolerieren (to tolerate) | -ant | tolerant | tolerant |
essen (to eat) | -bar | essbar | edible |
Bonus: Try out fun words like:
blitzschnell (lightning-fast)
fehlerfrei (error-free)
Be creative, forming adjectives can be fun and powerful for your vocabulary!
The TEKAMOLO Rule – Master German Word Order Easily
So, you've built cool adjectives but how do you place them correctly in a sentence?
Here comes the magic of TEKAMOLO.
🤔 What Is TEKAMOLO?
TEKAMOLO is a simple rule to remember the correct order of information in a German sentence.
TEmporal → KAusal → MOdal → LOkal
(When → Why → How → Where)
Question | TEKAMOLO | Information |
When? For how long? (wann? wie lange?) | TEmporale Angabe | Time |
Why? (warum?) | KAusale Angabe | Reason (cause) |
How? (wie?) | MOdale Angabe | How something is or takes place |
Where? To where? From where? (wo? wohin? woher?) | LOkale Angabe | Place and/or direction (location) |
🧭 How It Works
Let’s use a simple sentence:
➡️ Peter ist gefahren. (Peter went.)
Now let’s add detail:
➡️ Peter ist am Montag wegen eines Meetings mit dem Zug nach München gefahren.
(Peter took the train to Munich for a meeting on Monday.)
Let’s break it down:
Element | Word(s) | Question it answers |
Temporal | am Montag | When? |
Kausal | wegen eines Meetings | Why? |
Modal | mit dem Zug | How? |
Lokal | nach München | Where? |
🧠 Think of TEKAMOLO as a neutral structure: use it when nothing needs emphasis.
🔄 Changing the Emphasis
Want to focus on the reason?
- Warum ist Peter in München?
(Why is Peter in Munich?)
- Er ist wegen eines Meetings (am Montag mit dem Zug) nach München gefahren.
He went to Munich (on Monday on the the train) because of a meeting.
You can move parts around to emphasize them,
BUT REMEMBER: the LOcal information (relative to place or direction) must ALWAYS be at the end of the sentence!
🧠 Final Thoughts
With just these two tools; adjective composition and TEKAMOLO word order, your German becomes:
more natural
more expressive
and a lot more fun
Next time you want to say "bright red," "edible," or "sweet-sour," build it yourself. And when you speak or write a sentence, use TEKAMOLO to make it sound just right!
Join the right institute to learn German : LearnningTree
✅ Online Live and Interactive classes +Recordings access.
✅ Learn with your favourite movies, songs and TV shows.
✅ Our certificates are recognized and valid, and we provide additional training for language proficiency exams
✅Our learners have consistently scored 80+ in GOETHE and TELC exams!
✅ C1/C2 Certified Trainers.
✅ 4.9/5 ratings on Google