Nouns II — The Plural

The seven plural formations

33.German builds the plural of a noun in seven ways: with no change, with the Umlaut alone, with -e, with -e and the Umlaut, with -er, with -(e)n, and with -s. All seven take the one article die (¶26).

der Lehrer — die Lehrer

the teacher — the teachers — no change

der Vogel — die Vögel

the bird — the birds — the Umlaut alone

das Baby — die Babys

the baby — the babies — -s

The plural without a change

34.Masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el or -en keep their form in the plural, and the article alone shows the number.

der Lehrer — die Lehrer

the teacher — the teachers

der Löffel — die Löffel

the spoon — the spoons

der Wagen — die Wagen

the car — the cars

das Zimmer — die Zimmer

the room — the rooms

das Mädchen — die Mädchen

the girl — the girls

• [1] The diminutives in -chen and -lein, which are neuter whatever they denote (¶29), all belong here: das Mädchen — die Mädchen.

The plural with the Umlaut alone

35.Many nouns of that same shape take the Umlaut in the plural instead of an ending, so the stem vowel alone carries the number.

der Vogel — die Vögel

the bird — the birds

der Vater — die Väter

the father — the fathers

der Apfel — die Äpfel

the apple — the apples

der Bruder — die Brüder

the brother — the brothers

die Mutter — die Mütter

the mother — the mothers

• [1] Only a, o, u and au have an Umlaut to take — ä, ö, ü, äu (¶2, ¶4, ¶5, ¶11). A stem whose vowel is e or i cannot be marked this way, which is why der Lehrer stands unchanged (¶34).
• [2] die Mutter and die Tochter are the feminine nouns of this class.

The plural in -e

36.A plural is formed by adding -e, most often to a masculine or a neuter noun, and the stem vowel stays as it stands.

das Jahr — die Jahre

the year — the years

der Tag — die Tage

the day — the days

das Brot — die Brote

the loaf — the loaves

der Hund — die Hunde

the dog — the dogs

• [1] das Jahr and der Tag both have a stem vowel that could take the Umlaut (¶35); in this class it does not.

The plural in -e with the Umlaut

37.A second body of nouns adds -e and takes the Umlaut with it. The class holds masculine nouns and the feminine nouns that form their plural in -e at all.

der Stuhl — die Stühle

the chair — the chairs

der Sohn — die Söhne

the son — the sons

die Stadt — die Städte

the town — the towns

die Hand — die Hände

the hand — the hands

die Nacht — die Nächte

the night — the nights

• [1] A feminine noun of this class always takes the Umlaut. A masculine one may or may not: der Sohn — die Söhne beside der Tag — die Tage (¶36).

The plural in -er

38.A plural is formed by adding -er, and the stem vowel takes the Umlaut wherever it can. The class holds neuter nouns and a few masculine ones, and no feminine one.

das Kind — die Kinder

the child — the children

das Tal — die Täler

the valley — the valleys

das Buch — die Bücher

the book — the books

das Haus — die Häuser

the house — the houses

der Mann — die Männer

the man — the men

• [1] das Kind has no Umlaut in the plural because i has none to take (¶35), and not because the noun stands outside the class.

The plural in -(e)n

39.A noun ending in -e, -el or -er adds -n, and any other noun of this class adds -en. It is the plural of almost every feminine noun, and it never takes the Umlaut.

die Frau — die Frauen

the woman — the women

die Kartoffel — die Kartoffeln

the potato — the potatoes

die Katze — die Katzen

the cat — the cats

die Schwester — die Schwestern

the sister — the sisters

der Student — die Studenten

the student — the students

• [1] A feminine noun in -in (¶30) doubles the n before the ending: die Lehrerin — die Lehrerinnen.
• [2] The -el and -er that take -n here are feminine; the masculine and neuter nouns in those same endings stand unchanged instead (¶34). die Kartoffel — die Kartoffeln against der Löffel — die Löffel.

The plural in -s

40.A plural is formed by adding -s, chiefly to nouns taken from other languages and to shortened forms.

das Baby — die Babys

the baby — the babies

das Auto — die Autos

the car — the cars

das Hotel — die Hotels

the hotel — the hotels

der Chef — die Chefs

the boss — the bosses

• [1] The -s is written onto the noun without an apostrophe, and the stem is untouched: die Babys, not die Baby's and not die Bäbys.

The plural is a property of the noun

41.Which of the seven formations a noun takes follows neither from its shape nor from its gender, and two nouns alike in both may take different ones. A noun is therefore cited with its plural beside it, as der Tag, die Tage.

der Tag — die Tage

the day — the days — -e, no Umlaut (¶36)

der Stuhl — die Stühle

the chair — the chairs — -e with the Umlaut (¶37); same gender, same shape

der Lehrer — die Lehrer

the teacher — the teachers — unchanged (¶34)

der Bruder — die Brüder

the brother — the brothers — the Umlaut alone (¶35); both are masculines in -er

das Jahr — die Jahre

the year — the years — -e (¶36)

das Land — die Länder

the country — the countries — -er (¶38); both are neuters of one syllable

• [1] Gender narrows the choice without settling it: almost every feminine noun takes -(e)n (¶39), and no feminine noun takes -er (¶38).