The plural in German is a tricky subject. There is no exact consensus on how many different ways it can be formed. In order to write this guide for you, I ended up delving down a veritable rabbit hole of German morphology. I pulled out old textbooks from college and browsed through various sources from my library’s holdings. I was able to observe that there are many predictable patterns of German plurals. I have included all this knowledge for you in a nutshell in this article.
In addition, I’ve prepared tips and tricks on how best to learn (or guess!) the correct plural.
Enjoy!
Plural nouns in German
We use the plural noun when we want to express that we are talking about more than one person, object, idea, etc. You will want to use it, for example, to order food for yourself and your friend or to buy two movie tickets at the theater.
In German, we form the plural by slight modifications to the noun, such as:
- adding or changing the suffix,
- adding an umlaut,
- and, of course, changing the article, so characteristic of the German language.
Different ways of forming the plural exist to make pronunciation easier. Most German plural nouns are formed precisely on the basis of the sound of the singular noun. This can be a matter of:
- spelling (i.e., what suffix the noun has),
- which syllable is accented,
- the length of the noun (monosyllabic vs. multisyllabic).
For example:
- Most nouns ending in -el, -en or -er do not change in the plural, e.g.: der Computer – die Computer (computer, computers).
- Most nouns that have an accented last syllable will take the ending -e in the plural, e.g. das Getränk – die Getränke (drink, drinks).
- Most monosyllabic nouns will take the ending -e + umlaut in the plural, e.g. der Traum – die Träume (dream, dreams).
It is possible to present the categories of German plural nouns in different ways, but in this article we will assume that there are 5 main categories, since they cover most nouns:
- ending -e
- ending -(e)n
- ending -s
- ending -er
- no ending.
However, there is one golden rule to keep in mind when forming plurals: plural nouns always use die as a definite article (and the indefinite article in plurals does not exist). You’ll notice this as you review all the examples in this article!
Five main ways to form plurals
Now let’s take a close look at each of the ways to form plural nouns. However, before I give you all the rules, I’d like you to keep one thing in mind: there are quite a few of these rules. They’re useful for understanding and illustrating to yourself how plurals function in German, but it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to consciously apply them all when speaking German. It would simply take too long. You won’t have time to stop and analyze during a conversation.
Imagine, for example, that the word Gebäude (building) appears in your sentence. You would have to stop and think: first remember what kind of genitive it has, then recall the rules and decide which category the word belongs to in order to choose the right ending. You’ve already done all the structural analysis, and all you wanted to do was say the sentence… Learning a language doesn’t work that way.
You must strive to develop an intuition for the speech apparatus and act automatically. How do you do it? Learn pairs of words by heart at once, e.g. der Hund, die Hunde (dog, dogs). The best way is to learn new nouns together with the genitive and plural and in this way repeat them until they become fixed in your long-term memory. It is in this form that I have prepared the examples for you in this article.
Remember that regularity in language learning is key. It’s better to study a little bit each day than to do it sporadically for longer hours. Regular repetition allows you to retain knowledge in the long run by transferring information from short-term to long-term memory. This means you’ll be more likely to recall material in the future and use new words in conversation. Studies show that five to seven repetitions are usually enough to consolidate and permanently memorize vocabulary. In our app, ready-made repetitions developed on the principle of Spaced Repetition are waiting for you. If you learn German vocabulary using this method regularly, the probability of remembering new information will be 90–95%. In a year, this means that you will learn 10,000 vocabulary words in a foreign language. How is this possible? Don’t delay, start learning today!
-e suffix
Adding the ending -e is the most common way of forming plural nouns in German. As many as 80% of masculine nouns and 75% of neuter nouns take the ending -e.
So if you’re just a beginner, take advantage of this knowledge and when you’re not sure how to form the plural, add the ending -e until you become fluent. Later, as you learn, you will gradually develop more and more habits.
However, if a noun ends in a vowel, you can be sure that the ending of its plural is neither -e nor -en, because two vowels never occur next to each other, e.g. die Autoe, die Autoen. It would just be very awkward to pronounce.
- It can be said that the ending -e is adopted by almost all nouns of the masculine and neuter gender:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Tag, die Tage | day, days |
| der Fuß, die Füße | foot, feet |
| das Jahr, die Jahre | year, years |
| das Beispiel, die Beispiele | example, examples |
- All masculine nouns with the endings -eur, -ich, -ig, -ling:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Friseur, die Friseure | hairdresser, hairdressers |
| der Ingenieur, die Ingenieure | engineer, engineers |
| der Teppich, die Teppiche | carpet, carpets |
| der König, die Könige | king, kings |
| der Lehrling, die Lehrlinge | apprentice, apprentices |
- Nouns of the neuter gender ending in -nis receive an additional -s before the -e ending:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Erlebnis, die Erlebnisse | experience, experiences |
| das Ergebnis, die Ergebnisse | result, results |
| das Bedürfnis, die Bedürfnisse | need, needs |
| das Zeugnis, die Zeugnisse | certificate, certificates |
- Many monosyllabic nouns:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Arm, die Arme | arm, arms |
| der Weg, die Wege | road, roads |
| die Nacht, die Nächte | night, nights |
| die Hand, die Hände | hand, hands |
| die Stadt, die Städte | city, cities |
| die Haut, die Häute | skin, skins |
*Note that all monosyllabic feminine nouns receive an Umlaut in addition to the ending -e to simplify pronunciation.
Umlauts, or “overvowels,” are the replacement of the vowels “a,” “o” and “u” with “ä,” “ö,” “ü.” Not sure how to pronounce German umlauts? Take a look at the article: German alphabet – all letters with phonetic notation.
-(e)n suffix
Another piece of good news: The -(e)n ending is adopted by about 90% of feminine nouns!
- All nouns with a feminine article suffix (e.g. -ung, -schaft, -tät, -ion, -keit, -ur)
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Bildung, die Bildungen | education, education |
| die Freundschaft, die Freundschaften | friendship, friendships |
| die Aktivität, die Aktivitäten | activity, activities |
| die Station, die Stationen | station, stations |
| die Möglichkeit, die Möglichkeiten | opportunity, opportunities |
| die Kultur, die Kulturen | culture, cultures |
- Nouns ending in -in double the ‘n’ before adding the ending -en:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Studentin, die Studentinnen | schoolgirl, schoolgirls |
| die Freundin, die Freundinnen | girlfriend, girlfriends |
| die Ärztin, die Ärztinnen | female doctor, female doctors |
| die Lehrerin, die Lehrerinnen | female teacher, female teachers |
- 99% of all nouns ending in -e receive the ending -n (without the additional -e):
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Katze, die Katzen | cat, cats |
| der Junge, die Jungen | boy, boys |
| der Kunde, die Kunden | client, clients |
| der Name, die Namen | name, names |
- Masculine nouns ending in -ent, -ant, -or, -ist (usually referring to professions):
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Student, die Studenten | student, students |
| der Assistent, die Assistenten | assistant, assistants |
| der Professor, die Professoren | professor, professors |
| der Polizist, die Polizisten | policeman, policemen |
-s suffix
The ending -s is usually given to words of foreign origin (a very large proportion of them are Anglicisms):
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Klub, die Klubs | club, clubs |
| das Auto, die Autos | car, cars |
| die Kamera, die Kameras | camera, cameras |
| das Restaurant, die Restaurants | restaurant, restaurants |
| das Detail, die Details | detail, details |
-er suffix
- This applies to many monosyllabic nouns of the neuter kind:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Licht, die Lichter | light, lights |
| das Gesicht, die Gesichter | face, faces |
| das Bild, die Bilder | picture, pictures |
| das Kind, die Kinder | child, children |
- Most of them also receive an umlaut:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Buch, die Bücher | book, books |
| das Haus, die Häuser | house, houses |
| das Wort, die Wörter | word, words |
| das Glas, die Gläser | glass, glasses |
No suffix
Some plural nouns do not receive any suffix. Only the article changes. These include:
- All nouns ending in -chen, -lein:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Mädchen, die Mädchen | small girl, small girls |
| das Häuschen, die Häuschen | little house, little houses |
| das Fräulein, die Fräulein | lady, ladies |
| das Tännlein, die Tännlein | spruce, spruces |
- Nouns of the masculine and neuter gender ending in: -er, -en, -el (most of them receive an inflection):
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Garten, die Gärten | garden, gardens |
| der Bruder, die Brüder | brother, brothers |
| der Apfel, die Äpfel | apple, apples |
| der Vater, die Väter | father, fathers |
Interesting fact: Not all languages have plural nouns. For example, they do not exist in Indonesian, which has no morphology at all. Because of this, there is no modification of the noun. So there is no special form for the plural, like “die Bücher” in German. Instead, they use the same word for one thing and for many things. For example:
- buku – means “book”
- buku buku – books
- dua buku – “two book”
- banyak buku – “many book”
Instead of conjugating nouns in Indonesian, we repeat the word, e.g. “buku buku,” give a specific number, add the word “banyak” (many/big) or use the context of the sentence to tell whether we are talking about one thing or many things. Interesting, right?ajemy konkretną liczbę, dodajemy słowo “banyak” (wiele/dużo) lub korzystamy z kontekstu zdania, aby powiedzieć, czy mówimy o jednej, czy wielu rzeczach. Interesujące, prawda?
Nouns that have only the singular number
Some nouns in German are used only in the singular. They do not have a proper plural form. This is because these nouns are uncountable (e.g. die Liebe – love) or are treated as collective terms (e.g. das Obst – fruit).
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Obst | fruit |
| das Gemüse | vegetables |
| die Milch | milk |
| die Liebe | love |
| das Geschirr | dishes |
| der Hunger | hunger |
| das Fleisch | meat |
| das Rauchen | cigarette smoking |
Nouns that have only plurals
Some nouns, on the other hand, do not have a singular number. They occur only in the plural. The creation of the singular is impossible in their case due to the collective meaning of nouns (e.g. die Geschwister – siblings):
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Eltern | parents |
| die Geschwister | siblings |
| die Ferien | vacations |
| die Leute | people |
| die Finanzen | finance |
Learn plurals with the Taalhammer app
Is it possible to learn grammar in an enjoyable way? Yes! For example, by listening to podcasts or songs in German. How is this possible? As I mentioned earlier, a great deal of grammar rules are related to phonetics, and they exist to make pronunciation easier. That’s why getting used to the language you’re learning is so important. Listening to content in German will help you train your intuition of the speech apparatus. It’s worth taking advantage of this on a regular basis. In addition to listening to music, try our Taalhammer app. There you will find many sound recordings with words you are currently learning. This will help you immediately learn the pronunciation of new words and engage more of your senses in learning, which will further benefit memorization. Good luck with learning German!
