Dative agreement?

Hi anyone who can answer this: :) In the RG grammar lesson 1.3 (p4) it says "Wir wohnen in einem kleinen Häuslein" Why the -en ending on kleinen if einem is dative? Should not einem and kleinem be both dative following in? I noticed another example of this ) ..can´t remember where but ...bei seinem dritten Versuch. Why don´t seinem and dritten agree? Also.. keine neuen Bücher. :? Alec

Hi Alec, "klein", "alt", "neu" are called adjectives. Adjectives always have the ending -en when you use them with an indefinite article in the dative form and a masculine or neuter noun. For example: "Wir wohnen in einem kleinen Häuschen" We live in a small house. "Häuschen" is neuter and "einem" is the indefinite article in the dative form. Therefore "klein" needs to have the ending -en - "kleinen". It's quite a straight forward rule, however it needs some time getting used to it. I hope that helps :D

Hi Nathalie, Ya, danke shön. Ich glaube ich verstehe. :idea: Alec