Lektion 1A: Strukturen Show

Plurals

• In German dictionaries and vocabulary lists, singular nouns are listed along with a notation that indicates how to form the plural. There are five main patterns for forming plural nouns. (see table for examples)
• 

Plurals: Masculine and Neutral

• Most masculine and neutral nouns form the plural by adding -e or -er. Plurals with the -er ending always add an Umlaut when the vowel in the singular form is an a, o or u.
• der Tag (day) ---> die Tage
• das Buch ---> die Bücher
• If the singular form of a noun ends in -el, -en or -er, there is no additional plural ending, but an Umlaut is added to the stem vowel a, o or u.
• der Apfel (apple) ---> die Äpfel
• das Zimmer (room) ---> die Zimmer

Plurals: Feminine

• For feminine nouns ending with -in, add -nen to form the plural.
• die Freundin ---> die Freundinnen
• die Studentin ---> die Studentinnen
• For most other feminine nouns, add -n if the singular form ends in -e, -el or -er. Add -en if it does not. Note that feminine plurals with these endings never add an Umlaut.
• die Blume (flower)---> die Blumen
• die Frau ---> die Frauen

Plurals: Borrowed Words

• The -s ending is added to most words borrowed from other languages and to most nouns ending with vowels other than e.
• das Sofa ---> die Sofas
• das Auto ---> die Autos
• das Baby ---> das Babys