Plural forms in German
In English most nouns form their plural by adding ‘-s’ to the singular form. In German, there are several ways of forming the plural.
However, there are patterns and clues that might help you to predict the plural endings:
A few masculinenouns add -er andan umlaut wherever possible. They include:
der Mann ® die Männer der Wald ® die Wälder
Plural endings with -s
Foreign nouns which don’t add an -s in the plural include: der Manager
In English most nouns form their plural by adding ‘-s’ to the singular form. In German, there are several ways of forming the plural.
However, there are patterns and clues that might help you to predict the plural endings:
• there are five main types of plural endings(listed below)
• nouns tend to take certainendings according to their gender.
Plural endings for masculine nouns
Most take -e or -¨ e endings
Most masculine nouns take -e or -¨e in their plural forms:
Most masculine nouns take -e or -¨e in their plural forms:
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-e or
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® der Arm
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– die Arme der Schuh – die Schuhe
|
|
–¨ e
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der Ball
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– die Bälle der Fuß – die Füße
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In addition, there are two more main plural endings for masculine nouns:
no ending → der Onkel – die Onkel der Spiegel – die Spiegel
or
+ umlaut der Apfel – die Äpfel der Vater – die Väter
-(e)n → This ending applies to so-called weak nouns usually
referring to male people or animals:
der Junge → die Jungen der Elefant → die Elefanten
or
+ umlaut der Apfel – die Äpfel der Vater – die Väter
-(e)n → This ending applies to so-called weak nouns usually
referring to male people or animals:
der Junge → die Jungen der Elefant → die Elefanten
Other endings
A few masculinenouns add -er andan umlaut wherever possible. They include:
der Mann ® die Männer der Wald ® die Wälder
Plural endings for feminine nouns
Most take -(e)n
A few feminine nouns only add an umlaut to their plural forms. The most important are: die Mutter ® die Mütter and die Tochter ® die Töchter.das Bein – die Beine dasJahr – die Jahre das Regal – die Regale das Stück – die Stücke
A few neuter nouns have -(e)n in the plural.They include:
Most feminine nouns take the plural ending -(e)n. This applies to all nouns ending in -e, -ei, –heit,-ion, -keit, -schaft, -tät, -ung or -ur:
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-(e)n
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® die Blume die Bäckerei
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– die Blumen
– die Bäckereien
|
|
die Tasche die Zeitung
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– die Taschen
– die Zeitungen
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In addition, there are two more commonlyused endings with feminine nouns:
-e + ® This ending applies to many feminine nouns consisting
umlaut of one syllable:
die Frucht – die Früchte die Hand – die Hände
die Nacht – die Nächte die Stadt – die Städte
-nen ® Female nouns with the ending -in add -nen:
dieFreundin ® die Freundinnen
Other endings
A few feminine nouns only add an umlaut to their plural forms. The most important are: die Mutter ® die Mütter and die Tochter ® die Töchter.
Plural endings for neuter nouns
Most take -e
Here are the three main plural endings for neuter nouns:
-e ® This ending is the most common with neuter nouns:
das Bein – die Beine dasJahr – die Jahre das Regal – die Regale das Stück – die Stücke
-er or ® das Kind – die Kinder das Kleid – die Kleider
–¨er (when das Gehalt – die Gehälter das Glas – die Gläser
possible)
no change ® There is no change for most neuter nouns ending in
–el, -er, chen and -lein:
–el, -er, chen and -lein:
das Segel – die Segel das Mädchen– die Mädchen das Messer – die Messer
das Männlein – die Männlein
Other endings
A few neuter nouns have -(e)n in the plural.They include:
das Auge ® die Augen, das Bett ® die Betten, das Interesse ® die Interessen.
Plural endings with -s
All three genders have some plural endings with -s. However, this type of ending is mainly used for words imported from foreign languages, in abbreviations and names:
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das Hotel
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®
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die Hotels
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der PC
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®
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die PCs
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Herr und Frau Schmidt
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®
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die Schmidts
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Foreign nouns which don’t add an -s in the plural include: der Manager
® die Manager, der Computer® die Computer.
Also note that words from the English which end in ‘–y’ have the German plural form -ys: die Party ® die Partys.