Template:de-adecl/documentation

Introduction
This template should be used to decline all German adjectives, in preference to any other, older template that may still exist. (Eventually these will all be eliminated.)

Uncomparable adjectives
In its simplest usage, no arguments are supplied. This suffices for most adjectives that don't have comparative or superlative forms. For example, for the adjective, use:

which produces

Comparable adjectives
Comparable adjectives (those with comparative and/or superlative forms) generally take a single argument. For most adjectives, it should just consist of the word, which indicates that comparative and superlative forms exist and should be generated by the default algorithm (which works for most adjectives). For example, for, use:

which produces

The default algorithm knows about many special cases of adjectives. For example, adjectives ending in have a positive and comparative stem ending in -abl but a superlative stem in -abel. The default algorithm handles this automatically. For example, for, use:

which produces

Another such case is, which drops the -e to form the stem, e.g. positive forms , , , ...; comparative ; and superlative müdest- (here, the superlative ending -est rather than -st is used after a stem ending in -d). The module handles this uatomatically:

which produces

Specifying an explicit comparative or superlative stem
To explicitly specify the comparative and/or superlative stems, use  and/or. For example, for, use:

which produces

Some comments:
 * 1) Each expression like   or   is termed an indicator. If multiple indicators need to be specified, separate them with a period/dot.
 * 2) You can specify multiple comparative and/or superlative stems separated by a colon; see examples below.
 * 3) If you specify only the comparative or only the superlative, the other is inferred appropriately.
 * 4) To suppress either the comparative or superlative while including the other, use   or.
 * 5) The expression   is equivalent to , which requests the default comparative stem (derived from the positive stem; see below for how to specify this stem explicitly).

An individual comparative or superlative specification can be one of the following: Note that when constructing forms from the positive stem, if there are multiple positive stems, there will correspondingly be multiple forms constructed.
 * 1) An explicit form, such as   or , as in the above example. The form given should be the comparative or superlative stem, onto which endings are added.
 * 2) The value   to request the default comparative or superlative stem. The default comparative stem just adds -er onto the positive stem, while the default superlative stem is derived according to the algorithm described in  below.
 * 3) A value such as   to request that the specified ending be added onto the positive stem.
 * 4) The value   to request the umlauted variant of the default comparative or superlative stem (i.e. apply umlaut to the positive stem and then generate the comparative or superlative stem using the normal default rules).
 * 5) A value such as   to request that the specified ending be added onto the umlauted variant of the positive stem.
 * 6) The value   to request that an infixed -e- in the endings -el, -em, -en -or -er be removed. See  below for more info.
 * 7) The value   to suppress the comparative or superlative entirely.

As an example, the adjective has two superlatives, one based on the stem aufrechtest- and the other, which is uncommon, based on the stem aufrechtst-. Specify as follows:

which produces

Note here the bracketed qualifier following the second form. Any form can have such a qualifier added; in declension tables it is displayed as a footnote, while in the headword it is displayed as an italicized qualifier preceding the form in question.

Another example is, which has two comparatives, and. Specify as follows:

which produces

Here we use the  value to suppress the final -e-. As described below, when this spec is used with the positive or comparative, the -e- is restored in the superlative, producing in this case abgeschlossenst-.

An example of suppressing a form is, which has a superlative , typically referring to a monarch, but lacks a comparative. Use the following:

which produces

Specifying an explicit positive stem
For some adjectives, the lemma form (which is usually the same as the predicative form) is different from the stem that is used to derive the positive attributive inflected forms. Examples from above are, which uses the stem akzeptabl- in inflected forms, and , which uses the stem müd-. The module automatically handles both these cases; but there are other cases that can't be handled automatically. One such example is, which uses the stem fitt-. To specify the stem in such a case, use:

which produces

The same stem fitt- is used in the comparative and superlative fittest-, which will be derived automatically (and superlative -est in place of -st is used automatically after -tt).

Another example is, which uses the stem simpl- to derive the positive (, , , ...) and comparative , but the lemma to derive the superlative simpelst-. You could explicitly specify both stem and superlative, but a shortcut is provided:

which produces

The use of  in the stem requests a stem where infixed -e- is removed from lemmas ending in -el, -em, -en -or -er. The original lemma is remembered, though, and used as the superlative stem.

Another, more complex, example is, which has two stems rosan- (, , , ...) and rosa- (, , , ...), along with a single comparative and superlative stems rosanst- and rosast-. Specify as follows:

which produces

Here, if  or   were used, we'd get two comparatives,  and, based on the two possible stems.

Specifying umlaut
Some adjectives have umlaut in the comparative and/or superlative. To specify this, use  as the comparative stem. An example is, with comparative and superlative längst-:

which produces

If there are two stems, with and without umlaut, specify them both, separated by a colon, e.g. for :

which produces

Here,  explicitly requests the default comparative.

A more complex example is, which positive forms based off of the stem dunkl- and alternative (Austrian) comparative forms with umlaut, but no umlaut in the superlative. Specify as follows:

which produces

Additional indicators
Besides the indicators,  ,   and  , other supported indicators are as follows:
 * : override the predicative form
 * : change -ß to -ss before an ending beginning with a vowel (as is common in pre-1996 spellings)
 * : adjective is indeclinable (mostly useful in the headword, using )
 * : adjective is predicate-only (mostly useful in the headword, using )
 * : syncopate endings in -en (i.e. use the ending -n in place of -en)
 * : syncopate endings in -em and -en
 * : syncopate endings in -em, -en and -es

Overriding the predicative is useful especially to suppress it entirely. An example where this is applicable is :

which produces

Default superlative algorithm
NOTE: Relative references in a superlative specification (e.g.,  ,  ) build on top of the positive stem(s). If no value is given for the superlative, however, the superlative is derived from the comparative stem(s) by removing final -er and constructing the default superlative according to the below algorithm. This means that an explicit  is NOT the same as omitting the superlative (the former applies the default superlative algorithm to the positive stem(s), while the latter applies it to the comparative stem(s)).

The following algorithm produces the default superlative from the positive or comparative stem (see preceding paragraph):
 * 1) If the stem was generated using the   spec, which removes -e- from a lemma or stem ending in -el, -em, -en or -er, the e is restored and then -st is added. For example, if the lemma is  and the spec   was given, deriving the positive stem simpl- and comparative stem simpler, the superlative stem will be simpelst, with restored infixed -e-. In addition, if the indicator   was given (which declines an adjective using pre-1996 spelling conventions concerning the use of ß), alternations between ss and ß will be properly handled. For example, if the lemma is  and the spec   was given, the positive stem will be abgeschloßn- and the comparative stem abgeschloßner, but in the superlative both the original ss and infixed -e- will be restored, producing abgeschlossenst-.
 * 2) Otherwise, we check for the following special cases:
 * 3) If the stem ends in -groß or -größ (or the Swiss variants ending in -ss), just a -t is added. For example, for the lemma, if the spec   is given, the comparative will be  (with umlaut), and from this the superlative stem flächengrößt- will be derived.
 * 4) If the stem ends in -hoh or -höh, this is replaced with -höchst. For example, for the lemma, if the spec   is given, the positive stem will be ranghoh-, the comparative will be  (with umlaut), and from this the superlative stem ranghöchst- will be derived.
 * 5) If the stem ends in -nah or -näh, this is replaced with -nächst. For example, for the lemma, if the spec   is given, the comparative will be  (with umlaut), and from this the superlative stem citynächst- will be derived.
 * 6) Otherwise, if the stem ends in a vowel + -h, two superlatives will be derived, one in -st and the other in -est. For example, the lemma  with the spec   will have two superlatives frohst- and frohest- generated.
 * 7) Otherwise, if the stem looks like a present or past participle with unstressed ending, -st is added to form the superlative stem. Occasional non-participial adjectives with the same endings will typically need special casing. We specifically check for the following:
 * 8) Present participles in -end, -ernd or -elnd. A few adjectives such as, /, and  will need special casing.
 * 9) Past participles in -et, -ert or -elt (but excluding the stressed endings -iert, -ielt and -wert). A few adjectives such as, , ,  and  will need special casing.
 * 10) Past participles in -igt (but excluding the stressed ending -eigt, e.g. in ). A fes adjectives such as  and  will need special casing.
 * 11) Otherwise, if the stem ends in a diphthong, such as, , , , /, two superlatives will be derived, one in -est and the other in -st.
 * 12) Otherwise, if the stem ends in any of -s, -z, -x, -ß, -d, -t or -sk (cf., , , , , etc.), -est is added.
 * 13) Otherwise, if the stem ends in -sch but not -sch (cf., , , , , , , , , , , etc.), two superlatives will be derived, one in -est and the other in -st.
 * 14) Otherwise, -st is added.

This algorithm is rather complex but handles the vast majority of cases correctly.

Angle-bracket notation and alternants
An alternative notation is available, which specifies the lemma explicitly along with the declension. E.g. for, the following could be used:

Since the lemma here is the same as lemma attached to the angle brackets, it can be omitted:

Both notations are equivalent to the following, which is the usual notation:

For single-word terms, angle brackets aren't usually needed, but they become necessary with multiword expressions (see below) and alternants. Alternants are used when a given word or expression has multiple possible declensions, in a way that can't easily be specified using the available possibilities for specifying multiple positive, comparative or superlative stems. An example of this is, which has alternative forms with syncopated endings, used especially in speech but sometimes found in writing. Essentially there are two possible declensions: one without syncopated endings and one where -em and -en are syncopated to -m and -n, respectively. To specify multiple declensions, use a syntax like this:  where each alternant must have angle brackets in it. For, use the following:

which produces

We can unpack this specification as follows:
 * 1) There are two alternants, each of which is indicated using angle-bracket notation, as described above, where the lemma   is omitted (although it could as well be given).
 * 2) The first alternant is  . This alternant works as follows:
 * 3) It specifies two positive stems ander- and andr-, the latter with an attached footnote/qualifier "mostly in speech" (see  above).
 * 4) In addition, the predicative form is suppressed, since it is impossible to say something like #.
 * 5) There are no comparative or superlative forms specified, so none will be included. (It is impossible to say #"he is more other" or #"he is most other" in English; likewise in German.)
 * 6) The second alternant is  . This alternant works as follows:
 * 7) It specifies a positive stem ander-, with an attached footnote/qualifier "mostly in speech".
 * 8) In addition, the predicative form is suppressed, as in the first alternant.
 * 9) Finally, the indicator   causes the -em and -en endings to be syncopated to -m and -n, respectively. Since this indicator is contained within an alternant with a single positive stem ander-, the syncopated endings will be added only onto this stem, not onto the stem andr- found in the first alternant. And since the positive stem has an attached footnote, that footnote will be displayed along with the syncopated endings. Finally, note that forms containing the endings -er, -e and -es will also be generated and added onto the positive stem ander-; but the resulting forms, ,  duplicate those generated by the first alternant, so they will be suppressed.

Multiword expressions
Multiword expressions can be specified using the same syntax as for nouns (see Template:de-ndecl), although they are somewhat less common and useful when applied to adjectives.

Overrides
You can override a particular case/number/gender combination using the indicator, where   specifies the particular slot to override, e.g.   for the mixed nominative masculine singular,   for the superlative strong dative plural and   for the comparative predicative. The possibilities for  are the same as described above under : an explicit form; the value   to request the default; a value like   to add an ending onto the positive stem(s); umlaut variants; the value   to suppress an infixed -e-; and the value   to suppress the form entirely. Bracketed footnotes/qualifiers can be attached to the end of of a value, as for positive, comparative or superlative stems.

In fact, the common indicator  to suppress the predicative is just a special case of an override.

Recognized slot names are as follows:
 * 1) Positive-form slot names of the format  . Here:
 * 2)   is one of   (strong),   (weak) or   (mixed);
 * 3)   is one of   (nominative),   (genitive),   (dative) or   (accusative);
 * 4)   is one of   (masculine singular),   (feminine singular),   (neuter singular) or   (plural).
 * 5) Comparative/superlative-form slot names of the format , where   is either   (comparative) or   (superlative), and the remaining parts are as above.
 * 6) Predicative slot names: one of   (positive predicative),   (comparative predicative) or   (superlative predicative).
 * 7) Gendered predicative slot names: one of   (positive gender-specific predicative),   (comparative gender-specific predicative) or   (superlative gender-specific predicative), where   is one of ,  ,   or  , as above.