157. Noun Plurals

157.  Noun Plurals   

German noun plurals are a little on the tricky side, which for an English speaker can be somewhat confusing. However, just as with noun genders where we saw it is important to learn the der, die or das with each noun, the same applies with the plurals. You simply just have to learn them! Notice that all nouns in the plural, whether feminine, masculine or neuter get 'die' 

A  Feminine Noun Plurals:  

1  For noun ending in 'e' add 'n': die Dame,Tasche, Lampe = Damen,Taschen, Lampen

2  If it doesn't end in 'e', add 'en':  die Frau, Tür, Uhr =  Frauen, Türen, Uhren

3  If it ends in 'in', add 'nen': die Studentin, Lehrerin = Studentinnen, Lehrerinnen

4 A handful of feminine nouns change to the plural like masculine nouns " + 'e' 

   e.g.  die Stadt  -  Städte,  die Maus  -  Mäuse,  die Hand  -  Hände,  die Wand  -  Wände

B  Masculine Nouns

1  Usually these nouns add Umlaut (if possible) and 'e' to the singular form.... 

    e.g.  der Sohn,  Stuhl,  Arzt  =   die  Söhne,  Stühle,  Ärzte

2  If the noun has 'e'  or 'i' in the stem, it can't take an Umlaut so it just adds 'e' ... e.g.

    der Tisch,  Berg,  Wein  =  Tische,  Berge,  Weine

3  Nouns ending in 'er', 'el', or 'en' only add an Umlaut if possible and no 'e'... e.g.

    der Vater, Finger, Sessel, Garten =  Väter,  Finger,  Sessel,  Gärten

4  Some masculine nouns add 'n' or 'en' like feminine nouns .... 

    eg.  der Junge, Name, Mensch =  die  Jungen, Namen, Menschen

5  Some masculine nouns add Umlaut +  'er' like neuter nouns .... 

    e.g. der Mann, Wurm, Wald  =  die Männer,  Würmer,  Wälder

C   Neuter Nouns

1.  Usually neuter nouns add Umlaut (for a, o, u) and 'er' to the stem ... 

     e.g. das Buch, Land, Bild, Ei, Kind  =  die Bücher, Länder, Bilder, Eier, Kinder

2   Nouns ending in 'er', 'el' or 'en'  only add an Umlaut if possible and no 'er' ... 

     e.g. das Leben, Drittel, Fenster -  die Leben,  Drittel,  Fenster

3   Some neuter nouns just add an 'e' to the stem like masculine nouns ... 

     e.g. das Bein,  Pedal,  Papier  =  die  Beine,  Pedale,  Papiere

4   Foreign words, usually neuter, mostly add 's' like their foreign forms .... 

     e.g. das Cafe,  Kino,  Radio  =  die Cafes,  Kinos,  Radios.

***  2 things ….

a)  there are many irregular forms, and so you just have to learn each word's plural.

b)  when a noun is written in a dictionary, the convention is, after the noun,  to use a bracket with a dash indicating the basic word. This dash may have an Umlaut over it (it will take an Umlaut in the plural) and then the ending is given. It will look like this:  der Sohn ("e) -  Söhne is the plural;  die Mutter (") - Mütter is plural;  der Finger (-)  -  Finger is both plural and singular (it can't take an ending as it ends in 'er')

Heidelberg Castle bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Germany's most famous poet, writer