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:

No plural

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.

The plural for feminine nouns

The construction of the plural for feminine nouns is the easiest in German:

The possibilities are:

Adding "-en"

The large majority of feminine nouns that do not end in "-e" make their plural with "-en":

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)

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".

Adding [Umlaut] + "-e"

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

Plural: "-a" ➜ "-en"

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

Plural: "-sis" ➜ "-sen"

Nouns ending in "-sis" construct their plural with "-sen"

Plural: "-xis" ➜ "-xien"

The plural for nouns ending with "-xis" are constructed with "-xien"

Plural: "-itis"➜ "-iden"

The feminine nouns ending with "-itis" construct their plural with -den

Plural: "-nis" ➜ "-nisse"

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

Plural: "-aus" ➜ "-äuse"

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

Adding [Umlaut]

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

Adding [Umlaut] + "-en"

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

Plural for masculine nouns

Adding "-e"

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 [Umlaut] + "-e"

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

Not adding any ending

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

Adding [Umlaut]

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

Adding "-n" [according to the N-Deklination]

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

Examples of nouns that follow the "N-Deklination":

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

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".

Examples of nouns that follow the "N-Deklination":

Adding "-en" [no "N-Deklination"]

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

Adding "-er"

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

Adding [Umlaut] + "-er"

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

Adding "-ten"

One the rarest masculine nouns is constructed with the suffix "-ten"

Plural: "-us" -> "-usse"

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

Plural: "-us" -> "-i"

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

The plural for neuter nouns

Adding "-e"

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

No ending added

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

Adding "-er"

Many neuter nouns construct the plural with "-er".

Adding [Umlaut] + "-er"

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

Adding "-en"

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

Adding "-ien"

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

Plural "-nis" ➜ "-nisse"

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

Plural "-um" ➜ "-a"

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

Plural "-um" ➜ "-en"

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

Plural "-o" ➜ "-en"

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

Practice Exercise

As you have seen, constructing the plural is very complicated. The best way to consolidate your knowledge is by practicing what you’ve learned. In GermanVeryEasy we have made a pretty fun exercise to practice the plural: Plural Exercise