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Plural in German (der Plural)

In this lesson, you will learn how to form plural nouns in German.

Plural in German

Although some nouns are irregular (man ➡️ men, mouse ➡️ mice), we usually make nouns plural by simply adding “-s” to the end (dog ➡️ dogs, cat ➡️ cats) in English. However, there is no similar general rule in German as in English, so German learners are advised to learn the plural of each noun with the noun.

Good news: Although nouns have different endings in their plural, they all have the article “die” in their plural forms in German.

The most common ways of forming noun plurals in German are shown in Table 1.1:

FORMATION of pluralSINGULARPLURAL
– (no ending)der Lehrer
teacher
die Lehrer
teachers
.. (no ending, with Umlaut)der Vogel
bird
die Vögel
birds
-eder Arm
arm
die Arme
arms
..e (add -e, with Umlaut)der Stuhl
chair
die Stühle
chairs
-erdas Kind
child
die Kinder
children
.. er (add -er, with Umlaut)das Tal
valley
die Täler
valleys
-endie Frau
woman
die Frauen
women
-ndie Wiese
meadow
die Wiesen
meadows
-nendie Lehrerin
(woman) teacher
die Lehrerinnen
teachers
-sdas Auto
car
die Autos
cars
Plural in German (der Plural)

Another way to quickly find the plural form of nouns in German is to know their grammatical gender. Because the gender of a noun gives a clue as to how it forms its plural, as shown in Table 1.2:

%MASCULINEFEMININENEUTER
Common-e
..e
-en
-n
-nen
-e
Less-en
-n
..
..e-er
..er
Table 1.2

⭐ Gender Rules:

➡️ 80% of masculine take the -e plural.
➡️ Over 90% of all feminine nouns take the -(e)n plural.
➡️ About 25% of feminine monosyllable nouns take the ..e plural.
➡️ 75% of neuter nouns take the -e plural.

⭐ Suffix Rules:

Certain suffixes (i.e. endings) always take the same plural, regardless of noun gender. These suffixes are shown in Table 1.3:

SUFFIXPlural form
-nis, -ling, -ig, -ich-e
-tum.. er
-chen, -lein
-er, -el, -en
-e(e)n

Masculine Noun Plurals

⭐ Most masculine nouns have a plural in -e or umlaut + -e:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
armder Armdie Arme
dogder Hunddie Hunde
footder Fußdie Füße
chairder Stuhldie Stühle
attemptder Versuchdie Versuche

⭐ Most masculine nouns ending in -el, -en, and -er form their plural without an ending or just Umlaut:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
uncleder Onkeldie Onkel
bakerder Bäckerdie Bäcker
hookder Hakendie Haken
computerder Computerdie Computer

⭐ Some masculine nouns ending in -el, -en or -er form their plural solely by umlauting the stressed vowel:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
appleder Apfeldie Äpfel
bowder Bogendie Bögen
gardender Gartendie Gärten
fatherder Vaterdie Väter
brotherder Bruderdie Brüder
birdder Vogeldie Vögel

⭐ Some masculines have a plural in -er or ..er.

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
Godder Gottdie Götter
forestder Walddie Wälder
mouthder Munddie Münder
bodyder Leibdie Leiber
mander Manndie Männer
wormder Wurmdie Würmer
mistakeder Irrtumdie Irrtümer

⭐ Some masculine nouns have the plural -en or -n:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
personder Menschdie Menschen
studentder Studentdie Studenten
bearder Bärdie Bären
monkeyder Affedie Affen

Feminine Noun Plurals

Over 90% of all feminine nouns have the plural -en or -n:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
workdie Arbeitdie Arbeiten
loaddie Lastdie Lasten
meadowdie Wiesedie Wiesen
ruledie Regeldie Regeln

⭐ About a quarter of feminine monosyllables have a plural in ..e:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
handdie Handdie Hände
nightdie Nachtdie Nächte
mousedie Mausdie Mäuse
cowdie Kuhdie Kühe
walldie Wanddie Wände
citydie Stadtdie Städte

⭐ Feminine nouns in -nis and -sal have the plural -e:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
knowledgedie Kenntnisdie Kenntnisse
hardshipdie Mühsaldie Mühsale

❗ Just two feminine nouns have the plural Umlaut:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
motherdie Mutterdie Mütter
daughterdie Tochterdie Töchter

Neuter Noun Plurals

⭐ Roughly 75% of all neuter nouns have the plural -e:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
legdas Beindie Beine
vesseldas Gefäßdie Gefäße
yeardas Jahrdie Jahre
sheepdas Schafdie Schafe

⭐ About 25% of neuter nouns have the plural ..er or -er:

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
sheetdas Blattdie Blätter
villagedas Dorfdie Dörfer
valleydas Taldie Täler
childdas Kinddie Kinder

⭐ Neuter nouns ending in -el, -en, -er, diminutives in -chen and -lein have the plural –

WordsSINGULARPLURAL
girldas Mädchendie Mädchen
bookletdas Büchleindie Büchlein

Unusual Plural Forms in German

Several words, particularly those borrowed into German from other languages, have retained unusual plural forms.

SINGULARPLURAL
der Geniusdie Genien
das Museumdie Museen
das Aromadie Aromen
das Dramadie Dramen
das Kommadie Kommata
die Razziadie Razzien
die Villadie Villen

Nouns that exist only as plurals in German

Since some words in German do not have singular forms, they are only used in plural form:

Plural
die Eltern
die Flitterwochen
die Pocken
die Zinsen
die Geschwister
die Kosten
die Immobilien
die Memorien
die Lebensmittel
die Personalien
die Zutaten
die Möbel

Nouns without a plural form in German

Since some words in German do not have a plural form, they are only used in the singular.

SINGULAR
das Eisen
das Essen
die Liebe
das Obst
der Hunger
der Sport
der Tod
das Glück
das Unglück
die Wärme
der Atem
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