Similar to the genders in German, there are certain rules for how to form the plural of nouns in the language, but they don’t apply consistently enough to explain all nouns. So the best strategy is to learn both the gender and the plural form with each noun. Below you find the most reliable patterns for how to form the plural of most German nouns.
Before we look at the pattern of endings, which may seem a bit complicated at first glance, let's start with some good news. German plurals have no grammatical gender and always share the same articles, irrespective of what the gender of the noun was in the singular.
NOMINATIVE | die Männer | die Frauen | die Autos |
ACCUSATIVE | die Männer | die Frauen | die Autos |
DATIVE | den Männern | den Frauen | den Autos |
GENITIVE | der Männer | der Frauen | der Autos |
The dative plural adds an -n to the noun, unless the plural form already ends in -n or -s.
Let's now look at the patterns of how to form the plural of German nouns. Where applicable, I combined gender and plural rules.
Most nouns that end on -e in the singular have the plural ending -en
This category includes the large majority of feminine nouns since they often end on -e as well as many of the masculine exceptions to this gender rule that belong to the category of weak nouns in German.
die Lampe- die Lampen
die Blume- die Blumen
die Fahne- die Fahnen
das Auge- die Augen
der Name- die Namen
Masculine nouns that end in -el, -er, -en and neuter nouns with the endings -chen and -lein don't change in the plural
This category includes most professions as they usually end in -er and the two diminutive endings in German -chen and -lein.
der Löffel- die Löffel
der Lehrer- die Lehrer
der Wagen- die Wagen
das Mädchen- die Mädchen
das Buch- das Büchlein
Feminine nouns ending in -el or -er have the plural ending -n
die Gabel- die Gabeln
die Schachtel- die Schachteln
die Feier- die Feiern
die Schwester- die Schwestern
die Feder- die Federn
Masculine nouns with one syllable have the plural ending in -e or Umlaut+ e
der Hund- die Hunde
der Arm-die Arme
der Schrank- die Schränke
der Stuhl- die Stühle
der Fuß- die Füße
Neutral nouns with one syllable have the plural ending -er or Umlaut +er
das Kind- die Kinder
das Kleid- die Kleider
das Buch- die Bücher
das Haus- die Häuser
das Dorf- die Dörfer
Feminine nouns with one syllable end in -en in the plural
die Frau- die Frauen
die Uhr- die Uhren
die Tür- die Türen
Feminine nouns ending in -ei, -heit, -tät-keit, -schaft, -ung have the plural ending -en
All nouns ending in these suffixes are feminine and have the same plural ending.
die Bäckerei- die Bäckereien
die Freundschaft- die Freundschaften
die Krankheit- die Krankheiten
die Fähigkeit- die Fähigkeiten
die Wohnung- die Wohnungen
Feminine nouns ending in -in have the plural ending -nen
This category includes all nouns ending in -in which are always feminine.
die Freundin- die Freundinnen
die Kollegin- die Kolleginnen
die Architektin- die Architektinnen
die Maklerin- die Maklerinnen
die Sekretärin- die Sekretärinnen
Nouns that end in vowels (-a, -e, -i, -o, -u) and many foreign words end in -s
das Auto- die Autos
der Park- die Parks
das Hotel- die Hotels
das Restaurant- die Restaurants
der Computer- die Computer
Like English, German also has nouns that only have a singular or plural form.
Measurements, so-called "uncountable masses", certain abstractions, and collective nouns are only used in the singular.
das Kilo
das Pfund (pound)
der Liter
die Milch (milk)
die Butter (butter)
der Staub (dust)
die Hitze (heat)
die Kälte (cold)
die Gegenwart (present)
das Publikum (audience)
der Adel (aristocracy)
der Lärm (noise)
Examples of noun for which there is no singular are
die Eltern (parents)
die Ferien (vacation)
die Geschwister (siblings)
die Leute (people)
die Daten (data)
On our German Language Blog "Auf Deutsch, bitte!" you will find explanations about all topics in German grammar- from adjective endings, the German articles, and prepositions to German word order, So check out our posts and leave us a comment.
