Plural in German

Plural in German

For English speakers, the plural in German is exasperating. We are happy to just add a simple “–s”. In German it’s much more complicated. Get into fighting mode; we think you’ll need to. Here’s our explanation:

Summary of the most common plurals

Because this subject is pretty complicated, we’ve made a small table with the most common suffixes for making the plural depending on the gender: Some nouns do not have a plural form in German:

• Names of countries, rivers, cities:

  Example	Meaning
  die Türkei	Turkey
  die Wolga	the Volga
  München	Munich

• Abstract concepts:

  Example	Meaning
  die Zweisprachigkeit	bilingualism
  die Abgespanntheit	exhaustion
  die Zuvorkommenheit	courtesy
  die Wut	rage

General rules that are applicable to all genders

Constructing the plural with “-s”

Just like in English it’s normal to construct the plural with the ending “–s”. In German, however, only a few adopted foreign words have this plural.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Kamara	die Kamaras	camera
der Gorilla	die Gorillas	gorilla
das Auto	die Autos	car

The plural for feminine nouns

The construction of the plural for feminine nouns is the easiest in German: The possibilities are: The large majority of feminine nouns that do not end in “-e” make their plural with “-en”:Adding “-en”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Datei	die Dateien	file
die Wohnung	die Wohnungen	apartment
die Fabrik	die Fabriken	factory

The following endings which guarantee that the noun is feminine should be emphasized: “-ei”, “-ung”, “-heit”, “-keit”, “-ion”, “-schaft”, “-ik”, “-eur”, “-enz”, “-tät”, “-itis”, “-sis”.

Adding “-n”

If a feminine noun ends in “-e”, its plural is always constructed with “-n” (Note: Not all nouns ending with “-e” are feminine. For example: der Käse)

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Lampe	die Lampen	lamp
die Fantasie	die Fantasien	fantasy
die Narzisse	die Narzissen	narcissus

The following endings guarantee that the noun is feminine and their plural is with “-n” : -ie , -ade, -age, -ere, -ine, -isse, -ive, -se,

Adding “-nen”

The feminine nouns that end in “-in” make their plural with “-nen”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Chefin	die Chefinnen	boss

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

A few feminine nouns add [Umlaut] + “-e”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Kraft	die Kräfte	force
die Angst	die Ängste	fear

Plural: “-a” ➜ “-en”

Some words not from German origin ending in “-a” make their plural with “-en”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Firma	die Firmen	company
die Skala	die Skalen	scale

Plural: “-sis” ➜ “-sen”

Nouns ending in “-sis” construct their plural with “-sen”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Analysis	die Analysen	analysis

Plural: “-xis” ➜ “-xien”

The plural for nouns ending with “-xis” are constructed with “-xien”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Galaxis	die Galaxien	galaxy

Plural: “-itis”➜ “-iden”

The feminine nouns ending with “-itis” construct their plural with -den

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Cellulitis	die Cellulitiden	cellulitis

Plural: “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

Feminine nouns ending in “-nis” construct their plural by adding the ending “-se”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Befugnis	die Befugnisse	authorization

Plural: “-aus” ➜ “-äuse”

Feminine nouns ending with “-aus” add an Umlaut over the “a” and add the ending “e”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Maus	die Mäuse	mouse

Adding [Umlaut]

There are two feminine nouns that construct their plural with Umlaut: “Mutter” and “Tochter”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Mutter	die Mütter	mother
die Tochter	die Töchter	daughter

Adding [Umlaut] + “-en”

A plural form that is not very common is the [Umlaut] + “–en” that practically is used only with the word “Werkstatt”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
die Werkstatt	die Werkstätten	workshop

Plural for masculine nouns

Many masculine nouns form their plural with “-e”.

The endings that guarantee the use of this plural are:

“-ich”, “-ig”, “-ling”, “-är” (only those coming from French)

and “-eur”.Adding “-e”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Teppich	die Teppiche	carpet
der König	die Könige	king
der Schmetterling	die Schmetterlinge	butterfly
der Veterinär	die Veterinäre	veterinarian
der Friseur	die Friseure	barber

Adding [Umlaut] + “-e”

Some nouns form the plural with [Umlaut] + “-e”. We emphasize the following:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Platz	die Plätze	seat
der Kuss	die Küsse	kiss
der Hals	die Hälse	neck
der Arzt	die Ärzte	doctor
der Fluss	die Flüsse	river

Not adding any ending

Many masculine nouns ending with “-er” and “-el” do not add any ending.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Schüler	die Schüler	student
der Würfel	die Würfel	dice

Adding [Umlaut]

Many masculine nouns ending with “-er” and “-el” add just an Umlaut.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Vater	die Väter	father
der Mantel	die Mäntel	overcoat

Adding “-n” [according to the N-Deklination]

Many masculine nouns ending with “-e” are declined according the “N-Deklination”.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	der Kunde	die Kunden
Accusative	den Kunden	die Kunden
Dative	dem Kunden	den Kunden
Genitive	des Kunden	der Kunden

Examples of nouns that follow the “N-Deklination”:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Name	die Namen	name
der Buchstabe	die Buchstaben	letter

There are many exceptions that do not follow the “N-Deklination” such as:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Käse	die Käse	cheese
der See	die Seen	lake

Advice: If you have to take a German test, learn the gender and plural of “der Käse” as it’s one of professors’ favorite words.

Adding “-en” [according to the N-Deklination]

Words with a Greek or Latin ending in “-at”, “-ant”, “-ent” and “–ist” are declined according to the “N-Deklination”.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	der Pianist	die Pianisten
Accusative	den Pianisten	die Pianisten
Dative	dem Pianisten	den Pianisten
Genitive	des Pianisten	der Pianisten

Examples of nouns that follow the “N-Deklination”:

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Student	die Studenten	student
der Soldat	die Soldaten	soldier
der Liferant	die Liferanten	supplier
der Violinist	die Violinisten	violinist

Adding “-en” [no “N-Deklination”]

Although it is not very common, there are also nouns that construct the plural with “-en” without “N-Deklination”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Staat	die Staaten	state
der Doktor	die Doktoren	doctor

Adding “-er”

Very few masculine nouns construct the plural with “-er”. It is a plural construction that is much more common with neuter nouns.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Leib	die Leiber	body

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

A few masculine nouns’ plural form is made with [Umlaut] + “-er”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Mann	die Männer	man
der Gott	die Götter	God

Adding “-ten”

One the rarest masculine nouns is constructed with the suffix “-ten”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Anbau	die Anbauten	annex

Plural: “-us” -> “-usse”

Most of the masculine nouns ending with “-us” add “-se”, meaning that an extra –s is added.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Zirkus	die Zirkusse	circus
der Bus	die Busse	bus

Plural: “-us” -> “-i”

There are a few masculine nouns that come from Latin and end with “us”, forming the plural with “i”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
der Modus	die Modi	mode
der Ficus	die Fici	ficus

The plural for neuter nouns

Adding “-e”

The most common plural form for neuter nouns is constructed with the ending “-e”

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Alphabet	die Alphabete	alphabet
das Protokoll	die Protokolle	record

No ending added

Almost all of the neuter nouns ending with “-er” or “-el” or “-en”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Leder	die Leder	leather
das Kabel	die Kabel	cable
das Abkommen	die Abkommen	agreement

Adding “-er”

Many neuter nouns construct the plural with “-er”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bild	die Bilder	picture
das Lied	die Lieder	song

Adding [Umlaut] + “-er”

The plural [Umlaut] + “-er” is very common with neuter nouns.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Fahrrad	die Fahrräder	bicycle
das Blatt	die Blätter	leaf
das Haus	die Häuser	home

Adding “-en”

A few neuter nouns add “-en” to construct the plural.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bett	die Betten	bed
das Verb	die Verben	verb

Adding “-ien”

The plural formed with the suffix “-ien” is not very common.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Adverb	die Adverbien	the adverb
das Prinzip	die Prinzipien	the principle

Plural “-nis” ➜ “-nisse”

For nouns ending with “-nis”, a suffix, “-se”, is added (another –s is added).

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Ergebnis	die Ergebnisse	result
das Geheimnis	die Geheimnisse	secret

Plural “-um” ➜ “-a”

A few nouns originating from Latin ending with “-um” construct their plural with “-a”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Antibiotikum	die Antibiotika	antibiotic
das Analgetikum	die Analgetika	analgesic

Plural “-um” ➜ “-en”

Most nouns originating from Latin ending with “-um” construct their plural with “-en”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Aquarium	die Aquarien	aquarium
das Ministerium	die Ministerien	ministry

Plural “-o” ➜ “-en”

Another rare plural form is that of the neuter nouns ending in “-o”.

Noun	Plural	Meaning
das Bankkonto	die Bankkonten	bank account

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