Plurals
die Tische, die Frauen, die Kinder — five patterns, and die for all of them.
German has no single plural -s. There are several endings, and which one a noun takes is, again, part of the word. The good news is the article: every plural noun takes die, whatever its gender in the singular.
der Tisch, die Frau, das Kind → die Tische, die Frauen, die Kinder. Gender stops mattering in the plural.
| Ending | Singular | Plural | Typical of |
|---|---|---|---|
| -e | der Tisch | die Tische | many masculine nouns |
| -e + umlaut | die Stadt | die Städte | short feminine nouns |
| -(e)n | die Frau | die Frauen | almost all feminine nouns |
| -er | das Kind | die Kinder | many short neuter nouns |
| — (no change) | das Fenster | die Fenster | -er, -en, -el endings |
| -s | das Auto | die Autos | borrowed words |
The most reliable one: feminine nouns take -n or -en. Die Wohnung → die Wohnungen. Die Kollegin → die Kolleginnen (the -in doubles its n). If you know a noun is feminine, you can usually build its plural without having learned it.
Ich habe zwei Kinder.
I have two children.
Die Wohnungen sind klein.
The flats are small.
Meine Freunde kommen am Samstag.
My friends are coming on Saturday.
Die Züge fahren heute nicht.
The trains are not running today.
der Zug → die Züge, with umlaut
Ich spreche mit den Kollegen.
I am talking to the colleagues.
dative plural: den, and the noun takes -n
One extra rule worth having: in the dative plural the article is den and the noun itself adds -n if it has not got one — mit den Freunden, mit den Kindern.
Ich habe zwei Kind.Ich habe zwei Kinder.
German marks the plural on the noun even after a number. Unlike the article, this part is never optional.
Words from this topic
- der Freundfriend (m)
- die Frauwoman, wife
- der Zugtrain
- das Buchbook
- die Wohnungflat
- der Kollegecolleague (m)
- der Terminappointment
- die Nachrichtmessage