Exercise 9: Plural of Nouns (Plural der Nomen)

📚 Theory: Singular and Plural

When nouns refer to only one item grammatically they are in the singular form. If you talk about more than one item you use the plural: ein Auto (a car, singular) → zwei Autos (two cars, plural).

Adding -e

The great majority of masculine nouns form their plural by just adding -e:

Umlaut + -e

Often an umlaut is added when the original stem vowel is a, o or u:

No change (nouns ending in -er, -el, -en)

Nouns ending in -er, -el or -en have no change or sometimes add an umlaut:

Adding -n or -en

The huge majority of feminine nouns add -n or -en:

Umlaut + -e

A number of commonly used feminine nouns add umlaut + -e:

Adding -e

Most neuter nouns add -e but no umlaut:

Umlaut + -er

Another common ending is -er, with an umlaut where the original stem vowel is a, o or u:

No change (-chen, -lein)

Nouns ending in -chen or -lein do not change (these are diminutives):

Adding -s

Foreign words which are 'imported' into German from English or French usually add -s:

📖 How to Read Dictionary Entries

If you do not know the plural form of a noun you can look it up in a dictionary. The plural form is usually given in third place following the gender and the genitive ending of the noun:

📝 Summary of Plural Endings