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Topic test · B1

N-declension test

10questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
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One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

10 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

Ich frage den nach dem Weg.

I’m asking the policeman the way.

Polizist (-ist) belongs to the N-Deklination group. In the Akkusativ it takes -en.

Siehst du den dort?

Do you see the boy (Junge) over there?

Jungen — der Junge follows the N-declension: in every case except the Nominativ it takes -n. In the Akkusativ the article is den and the noun becomes Jungen.

Das ist der Schreibtisch des .

This is my colleague’s (Kollege) desk.

N-Deklination words take -n, not -s, in the Genitiv.

Ich spreche mit dem .

I’m talking to the student (Student).

Studenten — masculine nouns ending in -ent follow the N-declension and take -en in the Dativ. Both the article and the noun change, not just the article as you would expect from English “to him”.

Der Hund beißt den .

The dog is biting the neighbour (Nachbar).

Nachbar is one of the exceptions and follows the N-Deklination -> den Nachbarn.

Das Paket gehört Müller.

The parcel belongs to Mr Müller.

The word der Herr is special: it takes -n in the singular (Herrn) and -en in the plural (Herren).

Die Kamera des ist sehr teuer.

The tourist’s camera is very expensive.

Touristen — masculine nouns ending in -ist follow the N-declension: in the Genitiv they take -en, NOT the usual -s.

Wir besuchen heute einen alten (Mensch).

Today we are visiting an old person.

Mensch is one of the exception words and takes -en in the Akkusativ.

Build the sentence: I’m helping the customer (der Kunde).

Tap the pieces to build the sentence

helfen + Dativ (dem) -> the word Kunde takes -n through the N-Deklination.

Das Büro des Präsidentes — This usage is grammatically correct.

False. "Präsident" is an N-Deklination word, so in the Genitiv it must take "-en", not "-es": "des Präsidenten".
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. Only masculine and alive

    Almost all of these words have the article "der" and stand for a person or an animal (those ending in -e, -ent, -ist, -at).

    der Junge, der Student, der Polizist

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Ich frage den Kollege.

    Ich frage den Kollegen.

    Because it is the Akkusativ (den), the N-Deklination word needs an -n added.