German Plural

German Plural Nouns (Pluralbildung)

Let's start with some good news:

In German Plural you don’t have to think about the German Gender - masculine, feminine, or neuter anymore: THERE IS ONLY ONE FORM, regardless of the gender.

Now the bad news:

There are six different plural endings you have to decide between: „n/en“, „-r/-er“, „e“ and „s“. There is even the possibility that the noun doesn’t change at all and you just have to change the article.

And once again: There is no universal rule that works in all cases.

Plural ending with „n/en“

Masculine nouns that end in „-ent“, „-ant“, „-and“, „-or“, „-ist“:

• der Student - die Studenten
• der Polizist - die Polizisten

Feminine nouns that end in „-in“, „-ion“, „-ik“, „-ung“, „-tät“, „-schaft“, „-keit“, „-heit“:

• die Universität - die Universitäten
• die Organisation - die Organisationen

99% of all nouns that end in „-e“:

• die Flasche - die Flaschen
• die Tasse - die Tassen

Plural ending with „e“

Many masculine nouns:

• der Baum - die Bäume
• der König - die Könige

Many one-syllable feminine nouns:

• die Nacht - die Nächte
• die Hand - die Hände

Plural ending with „r/er“

Many neuter, one-syllable nouns:

• das Haus – die Häuser
• das Glas - die Gläser
• das Kind - die Kinder

An umlaut is usually added.

Plural ending with „s“

All nouns that end in a, i, o, u, or y:

• das Sofa – die Sofas
• das Auto – die Autos
• die Omi – die Omis
• das Hobby – die Hobbys

Many foreign words:

• das Team – die Teams
• der Job - die Jobs

Family names:

• die Meiers (= Familie Meier)
• die Müllers (= Familie Müller)

Plural without a special ending

If we don’t add an ending, then an umlaut is usually required for the letters „a“, „o“ and „u“ to „ä“, „ö“ und „ü“.

Masculine and neuter words with the endings „-el“, „-er“ and „en“:

• der Apfel – die Äpfel
• der Vater – die Väter
• das Brötchen – die Brötchen

Plural of Foreign Words

Words taken from English usually use their English version with "s".

• der Laptop - die Laptops
• die E-Mail - die E-Mails

Words taken from Latin or Greek often have a special form:

• das Museum – die Museen
• das Praktikum – die Praktika

No Plural Form Possible

Some words exist in Singular only:

• das Obst  →  no plural form possible
• die Milch  → no plural form possible
• der Durst  → no plural form possible

In these cases, the singular word already talks about a group of something or is uncountable (Be careful, because uncountable nouns in English are not always uncountable in German).

No Singular Form Possible

Some words do not have a singluar form:

• die Leute  →  no singular form possible
• die Eltern  → no singular form possible
• die Ferien → no singular form possible

Those words can’t have a singular form due to their meaning.