Quality assured by the ALL Connect project (2015) Forming Plurals in English The usual way to form a plural is to add an -s, e.g. dogs, popes. If the word ends in -ch, --s, -sh, -x, -z, then add -es, e.g. branches, masses, bushes, boxes, chintzes. Most words that end in -f or -fe change the ending to -ves (e.g. wives, calves), although there are exceptions (e.g. beliefs, chiefs, dwarfs, gulfs, proofs, roofs). For words that end in a vowel + y, add -s, e.g. days, boys. If a word ends in a consonant + y, change the -y to -ies, e.g. babies, spies. Pupils were asked to research this for homework. The intention was to make them see that English plurals aren’t exactly straightforward when listed like this. It will hopefully prepare them to be a little more receptive about German plural formations. I’ve tried to make it seem like there’s almost less to learn for the German, although, as we know, there are more exceptions to the rules than we would like! Words that end in -o normally just add -s, but there is a group of words that add -oes: these include buffaloes, dominoes, echoes, goes, grottoes, haloes, heroes, mangoes, mosquitoes, potatoes, tomatoes, tornadoes, torpedoes, vetoes, and volcanoes. Quality assured by the ALL Connect project (2015)

Quality assured by the ALL Connect project (2015) Forming Plurals in German The words der/das/die all become ‘die’ in the plural (represented in green rather than in red). der das die add Umlaut and final -e add final -(e)n if 1 syllable das: add Umlaut and final -er For words that end in –i or –o, or are French or English in origin, add a final –s, e.g. Kulis, Kinos, Restaurants, Tickets. These notes will be in pupils’ vocabulary booklets. Locate them and make sure that pupils know they should refer to these if in doubt. der/das words that end in -el or -en or -er do NOT change spelling in the plural, e.g. Spiegel, Mädchen, Manager. Exceptions must simply be learnt! Quality assured by the ALL Connect project (2015)

+ = + = + = der der die Fußball Fußball Fußbälle das das die die die Geschenk Geschenk Geschenke Examples of when the rules work! Pupils should refer to their notes on plurals to predict the correct form. die die die + = Banane Banane Bananen

+ = + = + = Äpfel Zebras Nüsse Ausnahmen Examples of where the rules don’t work. Pupils must realise that the only shortcut is learning the rule 100% and then only learning the exceptions to the rule. This would be a good time to discuss how and where pupils might check plural forms of nouns, e.g. back of text book, in vocabulary booklet, in dictionary, online. + = Nüsse

1 die Frau (woman) 2 die Torte (cake) 3 die Frage (question) 4 PLURAL FORMING Follow the rules to form the plurals of the following words: 1 die Frau (woman) 2 die Torte (cake) 3 die Frage (question) 4 die Schule (school) 5 die Woche (week) 6 die Sache (thing) 7 die Person (Person) 8 der Platz (place) 9 der Grund (reason) 10 der Kopf (head) 11 der Sohn (son) 12 das Bild (picture) 13 das Leben (life) 14 das Wort (word) 15 das Haus (house) die Frauen (women)

die Fragen (questions) PLURAL FORMING Follow the rules to form the plurals of the following words: 1 die Frau (woman) 2 die Torte (cake) 3 die Frage (question) 4 die Schule (school) 5 die Woche (week) 6 die Sache (thing) 7 die Person (Person) 8 der Platz (place) 9 der Grund (reason) 10 der Kopf (head) 11 der Sohn (son) 12 das Bild (picture) 13 das Kind (child) 14 das Wort (word) 15 das Haus (house) die Frauen (women) die Torten (cakes) die Fragen (questions) die Schulen (schools) die Wochen (weeks) die Sachen (things) die Personen (persons) die Plätze (places) die Gründe (reasons) die Köpfe (heads) die Söhne (sons) die Bilder (pictures) die Kinder (children) die Wörter (words) die Häuser (houses)

1 die Frau (woman) 2 die Torte (cake) 3 die Frage (question) 4 PLURAL FORMING Follow the rules to form the plurals of the following words: 1 die Frau (woman) 2 die Torte (cake) 3 die Frage (question) 4 die Schule (school) 5 die Woche (week) 6 die Sache (thing) 7 die Person (Person) 8 der Platz (place) 9 der Grund (reason) 10 der Kopf (head) 11 der Sohn (son) 12 das Bild (picture) 13 das Kind (child) 14 das Wort (word) 15 das Haus (house)