adjektivböjningsmönster

Adjektivböjning, or adjective inflection, is a grammatical phenomenon found in many languages where adjectives change their form to agree with the noun they modify. This agreement typically occurs in terms of gender, number, and case. For example, in German, the adjective "gut" (good) would change its ending depending on whether it describes a masculine, feminine, or neuter noun, and whether that noun is singular or plural, and in which grammatical case it appears. This is known as strong, weak, or mixed inflection, depending on the presence or absence of a definite article.

In languages like English, adjective inflection is much less pronounced. While adjectives do not change their form based on gender or number (e.g., "a big dog," "two big dogs"), remnants of case inflection can be seen in archaic forms or specific constructions. For instance, possessive adjectives like "his" and "her" can be considered inflected forms.

The purpose of adjective inflection is to provide clearer grammatical relationships within a sentence, ensuring that the listener or reader can easily identify which adjective is modifying which noun. This system helps to avoid ambiguity and contributes to the overall structure and flow of the language. The complexity of adjective inflection varies greatly across languages, with some having extensive systems and others having very limited or no inflection at all.