Lesson 6: Plural
In this lesson you will learn how to build the plural of German nouns!
Building the Plural Form
First of all, bad news: The German plurals are build through different, often not really predictable patterns. It often is the best idea to look up the plural to be sure you did it correct.
I will present you the most common ways to build the plural:
Adding -e
The most masculine and feminine nouns, als well as some neuter nouns, build their plural like this. Some examples:
Der Hund dog
Die Hunde dogs
Der Tag day
Die Tage days
Das Schaf sheep
Die Schafe sheep (pl.)
Das Pferd horse
Die Pferde horses
More bad news: Many german nouns get an Umlaut when you change them into plural! Actually, all feminine nouns that use -e as plural form, as well as most masculine. However, neuter ones with -e as ending never get an Umlaut!
Die Maus mouse
Die Mäuse dogs
Die Angst fear
Die Ängste fears
Der Plan plan
Die Pläne plans
Der Koch cook
Die Köche cooks
Adding -(e)n
Masculine and neuter nouns ending with -e normally get a -n as plural form. Additionally, many feminine nouns as well as some neuter nouns get -(e)n:
Die Frau woman
Die Frauen women
Die Idee idea
Die Ideen ideas
Das Auge eye
Die Augen eyes
Das Bett bed
Die Betten beds
Der Junge boy
Die Jungen boys
Der Drache dragon
Die Drachen dragons
Maybe you remember the last two examples from a few chapters earlier: There we talked about n-declension. That is actually the same as the plural form of those nouns!
Also note that nouns in this group usually don't get an Umlaut in their plural.
Adding -er
The most neuter nouns build their plural like this, as well as some masculine nouns. In this group, if the singular noun contains an a, o or u, they change into an Umlaut in the most cases:
Das Buch book
Die Bücher books
Das Haus house
Die Häuser houses
Der Mann man
Die Männer men
Das Wort word
Die Wörter words
Adding -s
Nouns ending with vowels other than -e, as well as many foreign words and all names build their plural with -s. They don't get an Umlaut in the plural form.
Das Auto car
Die Autos cars
Das Kino cinema
Die Kinos cinemas
Das Team team
Die Teams teams
Die Oma grandma
Die Omas grandmas
No change
With some nouns (mostly masculine and neuter nouns ending with -er, -en, -el, -chen, -lein), the plural form don't get any ending. But often a, o and u change into an Umlaut!
Das Mädchen girl
Die Mädchen girls
Der Fehler mistake
Die Fehler mistakes
Der Garten garden
Die Gärten gardens
Der Vogel bird
Die Vögel birds
Some Grammar Notes
Articles
Like you already saw, the plural article without anny case is always die. However, that changes in the dative:
Nominativ (Subject)
Akkusativ (Direct Object)
Dativ (Indirect Object)
Pretty easy compared to normal articles!
The Plural and the Dative
In the dative, plural forms that don't end with -s get an additional -n, if they don't already end with this letter. Look at the following sentences:
Singular
Plural
Sentece with dative
Das Kind child
Die Kinder children
Ich helfe den Kindern. I help the children.
Der Vogel bird
Die Vögel birds
Wir geben den Vögeln Brot. We give bread to the birds.
Exercises
1. Build the plural of the following words
Don't be frustrated if you don't get a lot right at the beginning. German plurals can be very random xD
a) der Stift the pencil
die Stifte
b) der Tisch the table
die Tische
c) die Mutter the mother
die Mütter
d) der Stuhl the chair
die Stühle
e) der Sohn the son
die Söhne
f) der Vater the father
die Väter
g) die Tochter the daughter
die Töchter
h) das Tier the animal
die Tiere
i) der Mensch the human
die Menschen
j) das Fahrrad the bike
die Fahrräder
k) das Handy the mobile phone
die Handys
l) das Auto the car
die Autos
m) der Mensch the human
die Menschen
n) der Frosch the frog
die Frösche
2. Translate the sentences
a) Die Kinder geben den Hunden die Spielzeuge.
The children give the toys to the dogs.
b) We buy books.
Wir kaufen Bücher.
c) Die Hunde spielen mit den Katzen.
The dogs play with the cats.
d) Die Kinder helfen den Tieren.
The children help the animals.
e) Die Vögel beobachten die Hunde.
The birds watch the dogs.
f) I buy apples, bananas, oranges, kiwis, pears and carrots.
Ich kaufe Äpfel, Bananen, Orangen, Kiwis, Birnen und Karotten.
g) Wir brauchen Karotten, Zwiebeln, Pilze und Kartoffeln für das Curry.
For the Curry we need carrots, onions, mushrooms and potatoes.
g) Frösche sind die besten Tiere.
Frogs are the best animals.
3. Find the mistakes in the following sentences and write down the correct one.
a) Er sehen die Tiere.
Conjugation is wrong: Er sieht die Tiere.
b) Die Kinder kochen die Kartöffeln.
Kartoffel (potato) gets no Umlaut in the plural: Die Kinder kochen die Kartoffeln.
c) Die Hunde spielen mit die Katzen.
Wrong article since the cats are in the dative here after the preposition mit: Die Hunde spielen mit den Katzen.
d) Die Kinder helfen den Tiere.
Wrong plural for Tier: Die Kinder helfen den Tieren.
e) Die Vogeln beobachten die Hunde.
Wrong plural for Vogel: Die Vögel beobachten die Hunde.