Plurals
In English the most common way of making a noun plural is to add -s to the end of a word.
However, there are a number of different plural endings in German, and the definite article for all plural nouns is die.
| Ending | Noun | Plural |
| no ending (-) | der Finger - finger | die Finger - fingers |
| add umlaut (no ending) | der Vogel - bird | die Vögel - birds |
| add -e | der Arm - arm | die Arme - arms |
| add umlaut + -e | die Hand - hand | die Hände - hands |
| add -er | das Kind - child | die Kinder - children |
| add umlaut + -er | der Wurm - worm | die Würmer - worms |
| add -n | die Schlange - snake | die Schlangen - snakes |
| add -en | die Frau - woman | die Frauen - women |
| add -s | das Auto - car | die Autos - cars |
| Ending | no ending (-) |
|---|---|
| Noun | der Finger - finger |
| Plural | die Finger - fingers |
| Ending | add umlaut (no ending) |
|---|---|
| Noun | der Vogel - bird |
| Plural | die Vögel - birds |
| Ending | add -e |
|---|---|
| Noun | der Arm - arm |
| Plural | die Arme - arms |
| Ending | add umlaut + -e |
|---|---|
| Noun | die Hand - hand |
| Plural | die Hände - hands |
| Ending | add -er |
|---|---|
| Noun | das Kind - child |
| Plural | die Kinder - children |
| Ending | add umlaut + -er |
|---|---|
| Noun | der Wurm - worm |
| Plural | die Würmer - worms |
| Ending | add -n |
|---|---|
| Noun | die Schlange - snake |
| Plural | die Schlangen - snakes |
| Ending | add -en |
|---|---|
| Noun | die Frau - woman |
| Plural | die Frauen - women |
| Ending | add -s |
|---|---|
| Noun | das Auto - car |
| Plural | die Autos - cars |
Working out the plural
Here are some rules for working out which plural ending to use for specific noun endings.
Masculine and neuter nouns that end in -er, -en, -el, -chen, -lein have plurals which are the same as the singular form, or they simply add an umlaut.
- der Apfel > die Äpfel - the apples
- das Brötchen > die Brötchen - the bread rolls
- der Wagen > die Wagen - the cars
All feminine nouns ending in -ei, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung have the plural suffix -en:
- die Bäckerei > die Bäckereien - the bakeries
- die Freundschaft > die Freundschaften - the friendships
- die Krankheit > die Krankheiten - the illnesses
- die Wohnung > die Wohnungen - the apartments
Feminine nouns ending in -in add -nen in the plural form. These never add an umlaut:
- die Freundin > die Freundinnen - the girlfriends
- die Lehrerin > die Lehrerinnen - the teachers
Nearly all masculine and feminine nouns ending in -e and some neuter nouns ending in -e add -n in the plural form:
- das Auge > die Augen - the eyes
- die Blume > die Blumen - the flowers
- der Name > die Namen - the names
The -s plural suffixA word ending. is added to:
Nouns derived from English, French, and Dutch:
- das Menü > die Menüs - the menus
- der Park > die Parks - the parks
Abbreviations used as nouns:
- die DVD > die DVDs - the DVDs
- die CD > die CDs - the CDs
- der PKW > die PKWs - the cars
Names of people:
- der Müller > die Müllers - the Müllers
- der Schmidt > die Schmidts - the Schmidts