im Plural Deutsche Substantive webgerman.com/Animated/plural Lizz Caplan-Carbin, Ph.D.

das Blatt die Blätter

das Hemd die Hemden

Plural endings 1 --, -- 2 -e, -e 3 -er, -er 4 -en, -n, -nen 5 -s .. .. There are five types of plural markers. The first has no ending at all. The second type has an –e ending. It is the most common, so it should be your first guess. The third type has ending -er. For all of the first three markers, an umlaut should be added IF the noun has only ONE SYLLABLE with stem-vowel a, o, or u. The fourth type of plural marker, using at least one –n, does not add an umlaut. There are no single syllable words that form the plural with an –n. The fifth type of plural marker, with an –s, is used for words ending in vowels –i, –o, and –u (Taxi, Auto, Tabu). The –s ending is also used for foreign words as they are added to the German language (Handys, Hotels, Hobbys).

Plural endings --, -- .. das Poster Poster Fenster Amerikaner Rechner die das Fenster die der Amerikaner die The first type of plural marker is only for masculine and neuter words . It uses no ending at all. Words ending with “-er” often use the first type. EXCEPTION: die Mauer, -n Simply by changing the article from “der” or “das” to “die,” a word may be marked as plural. der Rechner die die Väter der Vater

Plural endings -e, -e -er, -er .. .. der Stift die Stifte das Haus das Buch das Lied das Licht der Wald die Häuser der Schuh die Schuhe Bücher der Rock die Röcke Lieder The second and third types of endings are also typical for masculine and neuter nouns – especially the one-syllable words. EXCEPTIONS: die Wand, die Wände; die Stadt, die Städte When a one-syllable masculine word has stem-vowel a,o,or u, add an umlaut EXCEPTIONS: der Ort, der Tag A one-syllable neuter word adds an umlaut for –er plurals, but not for –e plurals. (-e plural is most common for masculine nouns, -er plural is most common for neuter nouns.) der Baum die Bäume Lichter das Jahr die Jahre Wälder

Plural endings -n, -en, -nen die Lampe die Lampen die Tafel die Tafeln die Frau die Frauen The fourth type of plural marker is most common for feminine words, but is also used for many masculine an neuter words too. ( A feminine noun ending in –e or -l, only needs an –n to show plural. A noun signifying a person, with an –in suffix for the feminine counterpart, will use the –nen ending to show plural. This is the only use of the -nen ending. No nouns of any gender add an umlaut with the –n, -en, -nen plural marker. die Prüfung die Prüfungen die Lehrerin die Lehrerinnen

Plural ending -s das Auto Autos Taxis Hotels Radios die das Taxi die das Hotel die The last type of plural marker “–s” is only used for borrowed words of foreign origin, especially when they end in vowel. Borrowed words are usually neuter nouns, but there are exceptions (eg. der Club, die Niveau). Also, there are a few words which are German in origin, but still take the “-s” marker (eg. das Büro, der Kuli). What most of the “-s” marked nouns have in common is that they end in vowels. “Kuli” is short for Kugelschreiber (pl. die Kugelschreiber, die Kulis). When used as a plural marker, the “-s” is still pronounced as the /s/ in “das.” It does not change to a /z/ as it does in English. das Radio die die Hobbys das Hobby die Clubs der Club

der Hut die Hüte der Ballon die Ballons das Pferd die Pferde

der Briefkasten die Briefkasten das Glas das Haus die Gläser die Häuser die Flasche die Flaschen

die Dose die Steckdose die Dosen die Steckdosen die Katze die Katzen die Birne die Glühbirne die Birnen die Glühbirnen

: : : der Kienapfel, - der Baum, -e das Werkzeug, -e die Karotte, -en die Paprikaschote, -n die Blume, -n der Bleistift, -e When you learn a new word, you should always learn its gender and plural form at the same time. The plural marker follows the noun, separated by a comma. die Nuss, -e der Pilz, -e die Erbse, -n der Stein, -e :

die Fliege, -n die Wolke, -n die Wolke, -n der Schmetterling, -e das Auto, -s der Fisch, -e die Rose, -n der Würfel, - die Pappschachtel, -n die Karte, -n

das Messer, - die Gabel, -n der Löffel, - das Schloss, -er : das Taschenmesser, - der Schlüssel, - der Kleiderbügel, - das Streichholz, -er : die Wäscheklammer, -n das Fenster, - die Saugglocke, -n

German Plurals

Das Ende der Sack, -e die Puppe, -n der Junge, -n der Plakat, -e webgerman.com der Sack, -e Das Ende This program was created by Lizz Caplan-Carbin, Ph.D. If you are a German teacher, feel free to use this in your classes and to change it as you wish. Please notify me if you find any errors. caplan@webgerman.com die Puppe, -n der Junge, -n der Plakat, -e