Case
Masculine
declension I (Mann) declension II (Junge)
Neuter
Feminine
Plural
Nominative
Accusative
Dative
Genitive
In masculine there are two types of declension. Only a few nouns are declined according to that declension II, mainly those which have the same endings as in the following examples: der Junge, der Biologe, der Prsident, der Praktikant, der Sozialist, der Philosoph, der Biograph.
See the red endings. They are the signal endings for the cases according to gender and number. You should memorize them. See the blue adjective endings. All the adjectives end on -en, with exception of those with the blue background which end on -e. So: What is really declined are the articles (der, die, das) or the adjectives. The nouns (Mann, Frau, Kind, Leute) remain unchanged, except those with the yellow background.
A noun can be accompanied also by a pronoun instead of an article. Then, it is called "Artikelwort". The declension above is used also for the following "Artikelwrter": dieser, jener, derjenige, derselbe, jeder, welcher For derjenige and derselbe exists a peculiarity: Der behaves like an article and -jenige, -selbe behave like adjectives.
Feminine
Neuter
Plural
Nominative
gute Leute
Accusative
gute Leute
Dative
guten Leuten
Genitive
guter Leute
Here are valid the same rules: 1. The articles have the signal endings. 2. The adjectives end always on -en, less those with the blue background which end on -e. But here a third rule is added: 3. If the article doesn't have the signal ending, the adjective must have it. And this is the case in plural, because there is no plural form of ein/eine, and it is the case, when the article is ein. The "Artikelwrter" which pertain to this second type of declension are: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, ihr (these are the possessive pronouns ) and irgendein, kein. Attention: In contrast to ein the possessive pronouns and kein do have a plural and in plural they are declined like definite articles.. Finally, there is a third declension type: The one without any article. Sometimes, nouns don't have an article. Then, the adjectives assume the signal endings except those which have a yellow background. There, the signal ending is in the noun.
Case Nominative Accusative Dative Genitive Masculine guter Wein guten Wein gutem Wein guten Wein(e)s Feminine gute Suppe gute Suppe guter Suppe guter Suppe Neuter gutes Bier gutes Bier gutem Bier guten Bier(e)s Plural gute Getrnke gute Getrnke guten Getrnken guter Getrnke
The following table shows all three types of declension together. See, in which cases the adjectives assume the signal endings:
Case
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter
Plural
Nominative
Accusative
Dative
Genitive