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 plural | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
– (no ending) | der Lehrer teacher | die Lehrer teachers |
.. (no ending, with Umlaut) | der Vogel bird | die Vögel birds |
-e | der Arm arm | die Arme arms |
..e (add -e, with Umlaut) | der Stuhl chair | die Stühle chairs |
-er | das Kind child | die Kinder children |
.. er (add -er, with Umlaut) | das Tal valley | die Täler valleys |
-en | die Frau woman | die Frauen women |
-n | die Wiese meadow | die Wiesen meadows |
-nen | die Lehrerin (woman) teacher | die Lehrerinnen teachers |
-s | das Auto car | die Autos cars |
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:
% | MASCULINE | FEMININE | NEUTER |
---|---|---|---|
Common | -e ..e – | -en -n -nen | -e – |
Less | -en -n .. | ..e | -er ..er |
⭐ 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:
SUFFIX | Plural 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:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
arm | der Arm | die Arme |
dog | der Hund | die Hunde |
foot | der Fuß | die Füße |
chair | der Stuhl | die Stühle |
attempt | der Versuch | die Versuche |
⭐ Most masculine nouns ending in -el, -en, and -er form their plural without an ending or just Umlaut:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
uncle | der Onkel | die Onkel |
baker | der Bäcker | die Bäcker |
hook | der Haken | die Haken |
computer | der Computer | die Computer |
⭐ Some masculine nouns ending in -el, -en or -er form their plural solely by umlauting the stressed vowel:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
apple | der Apfel | die Äpfel |
bow | der Bogen | die Bögen |
garden | der Garten | die Gärten |
father | der Vater | die Väter |
brother | der Bruder | die Brüder |
bird | der Vogel | die Vögel |
⭐ Some masculines have a plural in -er or ..er.
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
God | der Gott | die Götter |
forest | der Wald | die Wälder |
mouth | der Mund | die Münder |
body | der Leib | die Leiber |
man | der Mann | die Männer |
worm | der Wurm | die Würmer |
mistake | der Irrtum | die Irrtümer |
⭐ Some masculine nouns have the plural -en or -n:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
person | der Mensch | die Menschen |
student | der Student | die Studenten |
bear | der Bär | die Bären |
monkey | der Affe | die Affen |
Feminine Noun Plurals
⭐ Over 90% of all feminine nouns have the plural -en or -n:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
work | die Arbeit | die Arbeiten |
load | die Last | die Lasten |
meadow | die Wiese | die Wiesen |
rule | die Regel | die Regeln |
⭐ About a quarter of feminine monosyllables have a plural in ..e:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
hand | die Hand | die Hände |
night | die Nacht | die Nächte |
mouse | die Maus | die Mäuse |
cow | die Kuh | die Kühe |
wall | die Wand | die Wände |
city | die Stadt | die Städte |
⭐ Feminine nouns in -nis and -sal have the plural -e:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
knowledge | die Kenntnis | die Kenntnisse |
hardship | die Mühsal | die Mühsale |
❗ Just two feminine nouns have the plural Umlaut:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
mother | die Mutter | die Mütter |
daughter | die Tochter | die Töchter |
Neuter Noun Plurals
⭐ Roughly 75% of all neuter nouns have the plural -e:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
leg | das Bein | die Beine |
vessel | das Gefäß | die Gefäße |
year | das Jahr | die Jahre |
sheep | das Schaf | die Schafe |
⭐ About 25% of neuter nouns have the plural ..er or -er:
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
sheet | das Blatt | die Blätter |
village | das Dorf | die Dörfer |
valley | das Tal | die Täler |
child | das Kind | die Kinder |
⭐ Neuter nouns ending in -el, -en, -er, diminutives in -chen and -lein have the plural –
Words | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|---|
girl | das Mädchen | die Mädchen |
booklet | das Büchlein | die Büchlein |
Unusual Plural Forms in German
Several words, particularly those borrowed into German from other languages, have retained unusual plural forms.
SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|
der Genius | die Genien |
das Museum | die Museen |
das Aroma | die Aromen |
das Drama | die Dramen |
das Komma | die Kommata |
die Razzia | die Razzien |
die Villa | die 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 |