Learn German A1: Plurals & Practice Exercises Lesson 51. The Language introduced in this free course is centered around realistic everyday situations. While, the emphasis is first and foremost on using German, but we also aim to give you an idea of how the language works, so that you can create sentences your own.
Learn German A1: Plurals & Pronunciation Lesson 11
While, you will learn how to make plurals in German and how to pronounce.
Table of Contents
Tricks to make Plurals
There are no specific rules to make plurals in German. So we use few tricks to make plurals in German.
Write the correct plural form for the following nouns.
- der Teppich ? die Teppiche (Nouns ending with ”ich” , ”ling” , ”ig” normally end in the plural with ”e.” )
- die Oma ? die Omas (Nouns ending with a, e, i, o, u and y normally end with s in plurals.)
- das Haus ? die Häuser. (Neuter nouns often end with ”er” in plurals and usually take and umlaut.)
- der Administrator ? die Administratoren (Nouns with the endings ent, and, ant, ist and or end in the plural with en.)
- die Strecke ? die Strecken. (Nouns ending with e normally take n in the end of plurals.)
- der Lehrer ? die Lehrer (Masculine nouns ending with el, en and er usually do not take a plural ending.)
- die Schülerin ? die Schülerinnen. (Feminine nouns with ending in take nen at the ending of plurals. )
- die Nacht ? die Nächte (Feminine nouns sometime just take e to make plurals by adding umlaut.)
- das Kaninchen ? die Kaninchen. (Neuter Nouns with ending chen & lein do not have plural ending.)
- der Mechanismus ? die Mechanismen. (Foreign words with ending us normally replace us with en for plurals. )
- die Party ? die Partys (Nouns ending with a, e, i, o, u and y normally end with s in plurals.)
- der Spezialist ? die Spezialisten (Nouns with the endings ent, and, ant, ist and or end in the plural with en.)
- das Buch ? die Bücher (Single noun syllable neuter nouns often take er to make plural and change in umlaut.)
- die Schwierigkeit ? die Schwierigkeiten (Feminine nouns ending with keit often take en to make plurals.)
- der Flüchtling ? die Flüchtlinge. (Masculine nouns ending with ling take extra e to make plurals.)
Plurals with Umlauts
The following nouns make plurals by changing umlauts and also have endings.
der Topf (the pot) – die Töpfe (the pots)
der Schrank (the cup board) – die Schränke (the cup boards)
das Haus (the house) – die Häuser (the houses)
der Block (the block) – die Blöcke (the blocks)
das Dach (the roof) – die Dächer (the roofs)
die Hand (the hand) – die Hände (the hands)
die Kuh (the cow) – die Kühe (the cows)
das Blatt (the leaf) – die Blätter (the leaves)
das Tal (the valley) – die Täler (the valleys)
Nouns without change in plural
Masculine and neuter nouns with the endings -el, -er, -en, and -lein, do not change in their plural forms.
| das Fenster (window) | die Fenster |
| der Fehler (mistake) | die Fehler |
| der Löffel (spoon) | die Löffel |
| das Mädchen (girl) | die Mädchen |
| das Zeichen (sign / symbol) | die Zeichen |
| das Zimmer (room) | die Zimmer |
German nouns that do not change in their plural forms
Masculine and neuter nouns with the endings -el, -er, -en, and -lein, do not change in their plural forms.
| Singular | Plurals |
| das Fenster (window) | |
| der Fehler (mistake) | |
| der Löffel (spoon) | |
| das Mädchen (girl) | |
| das Zeichen (sign / symbol) | |
| das Zimmer (room) |
German nouns that add umlauts in their plural forms
Some Masculine nouns with the endings -er and -el, add an umlaut to their vowels to form plural nouns.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| der Apfel (apple) | die Äpfel |
| der Mantel (coat (in dress)) | die Mäntel |
| der Vater (father) | die Väter |
| der Vogel (bird) | die Vögel |
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| der Apfel (apple) | |
| der Mantel (coat (in dress)) | |
| der Vater (father) | |
| der Vogel (bird) |
Nouns that add an ending -e and/or an umlaut to their plural forms
These are variety of nouns with no specific endings. Some just add ending -e and some also add an umlaut along with the ending -e.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| die Hand (hand) | die Hände |
| der Ball (ball) | die Bälle |
| der Beruf (profession / job) | die Berufe |
| das Boot (boat) | die Boote |
| die Kuh (cow) | die Kühe |
| der Pass (passport) | die Pässe |
| das Telefon (telefone) | die Telefone |
| der Tag (day) | die Tage |
| der Tisch (table) | die Tische |
| die Nacht (night) | die Nächte |
Plural formation by adding endings -n and -en
Masculine and neuter nouns with the endings -ant, -e, -ent, -or and -ist, often form their plurals by adding an ending “-n” or “-en”. The plural form in this group is almost always formed “without adding an umlaut”.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| der Junge (boy) | die Jungen |
| das Auge (eye) | die Augen |
| der Löwe (lion) | die Löwen |
| das Bett (bed) | die Betten |
| der Student (student) | die Studenten |
| das Ohr (ear) | die Ohren |
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| der Junge (boy) | |
| das Auge (eye) | |
| der Löwe (lion) | |
| das Bett (bed) | |
| der Student (student) | |
| das Ohr (ear) |
Feminine nouns with endings -au, -e, -heit, -in, -ion, -ik, -keit, -schaft, -tät and -ung form their plurals by adding endings “-n” and “-en”.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| die Frau (woman / wife) | die Frauen |
| die Frage (question) | die Fragen |
| die Idee (idea) | die Ideen |
| die Straße (street / road) | die Straßen |
| die Nation (nation) | die Nationen |
| die Kassette (cassette) | die Kassetten |
| die Universität (university) | die Universitäten |
| die Schönheit (beauty) | die Schönheiten |
| die Klarheit (clarity) | die Klarheiten |
Nouns that form plurals by adding the ending -er
The majority of neutral nouns as well as some masculine nouns, form their plurals by adding the suffix “-er”. If there is a vowel that can have the umlauted form (a, o, and u), often an “umlaut is added” to it.
Feminine nouns do not form plurals with ending -er.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| das Buch (book) | die Bücher |
| das Bild (picture) | die Bilder |
| das Lied (song) | die Lieder |
| das Tuch (cloth) | die Tücher |
| das Handtuch (towel) | die Handtücher |
| das Haus (house) | die Häuser |
| das Land (country) | die Länder |
| das Licht (light) | die Lichter |
| das Kind (child) | die Kinder |
| das Wort (word) | die Wörter |
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| das Buch (book) | |
| das Bild (picture) | |
| das Lied (song) | |
| das Tuch (cloth) | |
| das Handtuch (towel) | |
| das Haus (house) | |
| das Land (country) | |
| das Licht (light) | |
| das Kind (child) | |
| das Wort (word) |
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| das Auto (car) | |
| das Taxi (taxi) | |
| das Foto (photo) | |
| der Opa (grandfather) | |
| die Oma (grandmother) | |
| die Party (party) | |
| das Sofa (sofa) | |
| die Kamera (camera) | |
| das Hobby (hobby) | |
| das Handy (mobile phone) |
Nouns that add ending -s to their plural forms
Nouns that end in vowels a, i, o, u, and borrowed nouns from the English language, form their plurals by adding “-s” at the end of the noun.
For example:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| das Auto (car) | die Autos |
| das Taxi (taxi) | die Taxis |
| das Foto (photo) | die Fotos |
| der Opa (grandfather) | die Opas |
| die Oma (grandmother) | die Omas |
| die Party (party) | die Partys |
| das Sofa (sofa) | die Sofas |
| die Kamera (camera) | die Kameras |
| das Hobby (hobby) | die Hobbys |
| das Handy (mobile phone) | die Handys |
Weiter so! (Keep it up!)
Learn German A1: describe a city & pronunciation Lesson 8
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