German plurals: the ultimate guide

Here’s your essential guide to how to make German plurals. Plurals? Well, we’re talking “nouns”. That’s to say, naming words for a living being, place, thing or idea. “Noun” in German is das Hauptwort, das Nomen or das Substantiv.  If you’re just referring to one Nomen (being, thing and so on), you use the singular form (der Singular).  Refer to more than one and you’ll need the noun’s plural (der Mehrzahl). 

In English we usually simply add an -s (or -es) to form the plural: dog > dogs, idea > ideas and so on. There are only a few irregular noun plurals (child > children; sheep > sheep). 

If you’re not a complete beginner in the language, you’ve probably noticed that there are a variety of ways of making a noun into a plural in German. You might need to add an ending (-e, -en, -er) or modify the vowels a, o, u, au with an Umlaut to give ä, ö, ü, äu or both add an ending and an Umlaut. Then there are some nouns that have identical singular and plural forms and some loanwords that have foreign plurals.    

Good news is that there are only four basic noun plural patterns in German.

Below, we’ll set those out and then flag some unexpected plurals. 

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Plural articles in German

I’ve given most of the noun examples below the definite article – the – which is der, die or das in German, depending whether the grammatical gender of the noun is masculine, feminie or neuter respectively. Sometimes, I’ve used the indefinite article a / an (ein, eine in the nominative singular). 

Most of the examples are in the nominative case. The good news is that the definite article in the nominative plural is the same for all three genders: die. It’s also fixed in the other cases: die again in the accusative, den in the dative and der in the genitive.  

In English we have the plural indefinite article some. German doesn’t have an equivalent but they do have keine for any in the negative. Again, this is used for all three genders in the nominative plural: I do not have any friends – ich habe keine Freunde; There aren’t any trees in the town – Es gibt keine Bäume in der Stadt and so on). 

Like articles, adjectives also have plural endings that differ according to case (but not gender). 

But for more on all that, check out my overview of the case system.  

Now, let’s look at the four most common ways of making a noun plural. 

The four ways of making a German noun into a plural

Don’t try to learn all the theory or even the individual plurals at this stage. Instead, get a feel for the system and relative likelihood of each pattern. Then notice plurals as you go through your German course and interact more widely in the language. 

Plural Type One: add final -e (sometimes add Umlaut to earlier a, o or u)

Most masculine and about three quarters of neuter nouns (most one syllable) are in this group.

The masculines usually add an Umlaut to a, o or u earlier in the word: 

• der Ball (ball) > die Bälle
• der Fluss (river) > die Flüsse
• der Hut (hat) > die Hüte
• der Sohn (son) > die Söhne
• der Stuhl (chair) > die Stühle
• der Wunsch (wish) > die Wünsche

Here are some common masculine plurals in -e where, as you develop a “feel” for German plurals, you will need to resist the temptation to modify the vowel with an Umlaut. Nein!

• der Arm (arm) > die Arme
• der Beruf (profession) > die Berufe
• der Monat (month) > die Monate
• der Schuh (shoe) > die Schuhe
• der Tag (day) > die Tage
• der Ort (place) > die Orte

Except for the relatively uncommon word das Floss (raft) > die Flösse, neuters in this group do not modify the vowel: 

• das Bein (leg) > die Beine
• das Boot (boart) > die Boote
• das Haar (hair) > die Haare
• das Jahr (year) > die Jahre
• das Paar (pair) > die Paare
• das Schaf (sheep) > die Schafe
• das Schiff (ship) > die Schiffe
• das Tier (animal) > die Tiere

One quirk is das Knie (knee). The plural is die Knie, pronounced die Knie-e.

All neuter and feminine nouns that end in -nis and -sal also belong to this group. The ones ending -nis double the s in the plural belong to this group. 

About thirty other common feminine nouns (these all gain an Umlaut). Common examples: 

• die Frucht (fruit) > die Früchte
• die Kuh (cow) > die Kühe
• die Hand (hand) > die Hände
• die Nacht (night) > die Nächte
• die Stadt (town) > die Städte
• die Wurst (sausage) > die Würste

Plural Type Two: add -n or -en (never add Umlaut)

Over 90 per cent of feminine nouns fall in this group:

• die Frau (woman) > die Frauen
• die Gruppe (group) > die Gruppen
• die Lampe (lamp) > die Lampen
• die Tür (door) > die Türen
• die Uhr (clock) > die Uhren

When the feminines end in –in, they double the -n: die Studentin > die Studentinnen. 

Die Werkstatt (workshop) has an irregular plural: die Werktstätten.

There are also a small number of masculines and neuters:

• der Herr (gentleman) > die Herren
• der Junge (boy) > die Jungen
• der Neffe (nephew) > die Neffen
• der Schmerz (pain) > die Schmerzen
• der See (lake) > die Seen (pronounced See-en)
• der Staat (state, as in country, not state of mind/health) > die Staaten
• der Löwe (lion) > die Löwen
• der Vetter (male cousin) > die Vetten
• der Zeh (toe) > die Zehen
• das Auge (eye) > die Augen
• das Bett (bed) > die Betten
• das End (end) > die Enden
• das Hemd (shirt) > die Hemden
• das Ohr (ear) > die Ohren
• das Verb (verb) > die Verben

Plural Type Three: no ending 

All masculines ending in -er, -el, -en and all neuters in -chen, -lein or starting with Ge- and ending with -e. Plus some other masculines and neuters. 

Most of the masculines don’t add an Umlaut:

• der Fahrer (drive) > die Fahrer
• der Lehrer (teacher) > die Lehrer
• der Löffel (spoon) > die Löffel

Some important masculines do modify the vowel:

• der Apfel (apple) > die Äpfel
• der Bruder (brother) > die Brüder
• der Garten (garden) > die Gärten
• der Laden (shop, store) > die Läden
• der Schwager (brother-in-law) > die Schwäger
• der Vater (father) > die Väter
• der Vogel (bird) > die Vögel

Only one neuter modifies the vowel: das Kloster > die Klöster. Otherwise, for example:

• das Fenster (window) > die Fenster
• das Gebäude (building) > die Gebäude
• das Mädchen (girl) > die Mädchen
• das Messer (knife) > die Messer

There are only two feminine nouns in the “no ending” group. Both are words that you need to know and both add an Umlaut:

• die Mutter (mother) > die Mütter
• die Tochter (daughter) > die Töchter

Plural Type Four: add final -er (always add Umlaut to earlier a, o, u) 

All the neuter monosyllables that don’t just add -e: 

• das Buch (book) > die Bücher
• das Dach (roof) > die Dächer
• das Haus (house) > die Häuser
• das Kind (child) > die Kinder
• das Schild (sign, e.g. a road sign) > die Schilder

All nouns that end in -tum (-tum nouns are neuter except der Irrtum, der Reichtum). 

A handful of masculine, including: 

• der Mann (man) > Männer
• der Wald (forests) > die Wälder

Now we’ve seen the four main patterns, all that’s left to do is mop up!

We need to look at the plural of foreign loan words in German.

We also need to focus in on some of the differences between German and English occurrences and usage of singular and plural nouns. For example, there are some German nouns that don’t have a plural form where English ones do (and the other way round) and each language sometimes prefers a plural or singular when the other begs to differ.

Plurals of German loan words

Some loan words from other languages retain the foreign plural.

Look out for French and English loan words that add -s, such as der Balkon > die Balkons, die Couche > die Couches, das Hotel > die Hotels, der Klub > die Klubs, der Tunnel > die Tunnels.

Talking of the -s plural, German words ending with a vowel other than e add an -s: das Auto > die Autos, die Mutti > die Muttis, as do abbreviations der PKW > die PKWs and family names Herr und Frau Müller are die Müllers.

With English loan words in -y, you’ll come across both the English plural and a fake “Denglish” plural -ys: die Party > die Parties or die Partys, das Baby > die Babys (not Babies).

Then there are Latin- or Greek derived words, where the plural ending is often -en or –ien:

• der Genius (genius) > die Genien
• das Museum (museum) > die Museen
• das Visum (visa) > die Visen
• die Firma > die Firmen
• das Adverb > die Adverbien
• das Prinzip > die Prinzipien

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Nouns with different plurals for different meanings

Look out for nouns with different plurals for different meanings.  For example:

• die Bank (bench or bank) > die Bänke (benches), die Banken (banks)
• die Mutter (mother or nut, as in nuts and bolts) > die Mütter (mothers), die Muttern (nuts)
• der Rate (piece of advice, council, as in local government) > die Ratschläge (pieces of advice), die Räter (councils)
• das Wort (word) > die Wörter (words, in isolation, e.g. list of words), die Worte (something said, written, sayings).

An added twist comes from words that are the same apart from gender:

• der Band (book, volume) > die Bände)
• das Band (ribbon) > die Bände
• das Gehalt (wages, salary) > die Gehälter
• der Gehalt (content) > die Gehalte
• der Schild (shield, as in protection) > die Schilde
• das Schild (notice, sign) > die Schilder

Difference in the use of the singular and plural between German and English

It would be easy to assume that when we use a singular or plural in English, you’ll need it in German. That’s usually the case but we’d better look at the exceptions that might catch you out!  

German singular instead of English plural

There are some words that are plural in English but singular in German: eine Brille is a pair of glasses, eine Hose is a pair of trousers.  So you say “Ich habe eine neue Brille gekauft”. So, zwei Hose means two pairs of trousers.  

Other nouns for objects with “two parts” that we think of as plural and the Germans treat as singular are der Pyjama (pyjamas), eine Schere (scissors), eine Waage (weighing scales), eine Zange (tongs). 

In English we talk of the contents of a book, Germans say der Inhalt. We talk about wages, they say der Lohn. We say stairs or steps, they say die Treppe / eine Treppe (singular). Das Aussehen is looks (appearance), der Besitz is possessions, das Archiv is usually archives in the plural in English.  

These words have plural forms, but they’re used differently, if at all. For example:

Der Chef hat meinen Lohn noch nicht bezahlt – The boss still hasn’t paid my wages

Die Löhne im Osten sind im durchschnitt niedriger als im Westen – Wages in the East are on average lower than in the West (emphasis on people’s wages in general). 

German nouns that are mainly plural only

Parents are die Eltern. If you want to talk about one parent, you’d normally use die Mutter or der Vater but you might say das Elternteil. Holidays are die Ferien. A holiday would be der Feiertag (e.g. religious or public holiday) or der Ferientag (a vacation day). These also have their own plurals (Elternteile, Feiertage, Ferientage). 

English singular/plural pairs not found in German

There are some nouns that are commonly found in the singular and plural in English but which usually stay singular in German. There may be a way of expressing the plural in German, but with a different (if related) word. 

For example: love is die Liebe but loves would be die Liebschaften. Das Obst is fruit, fruits are die Obstsorten. Breath is der Atem, breaths: die Atemzüge; der Sport, die Sportarten.  

German singular/plural pairs not found in English

Just as English has plurals with no easy direct translation into German, there are some German nouns that are freely used in the singular and plural where English is a bit more tricksy: die Auskünfte (plural) is information but for die Auskunft (singular), we’d have to say a piece of information. Die Hausaufgabe (singular or plural) could be homework meaning a number of tasks or just one piece of homework. Die Möbel (plural) is furniture, das Möbel is a piece of furniture.  Die Kenntnis (singular) is a piece of knowledge, die Kenntnisse (plural) is knowledge. 

German plurals and numerals, units of measurement, expressions of quantity or size

Just like in English, German nouns following a number will usually be in the plural: zwei Hunde, fünfzehn Äpfeln. 

However, masculine or neuter words that indicate quantity, size, value and that come after a number (or after an adjective indicating number) stay in the singular: zwei Stück (two pieces), fünfzehn Kilo (fifteen kilos), zwanzig Euro, drei Glas Rotwein (three glasses of red wine), ein paar Schluck Kaffee (a few mouthfuls of coffee). 

Notice that feminine nouns like this do become plural:  drei Flaschen Bier; sechs Tassen Tee.

Key takeaways and tips to master German noun plurals

So there we are. There’s a lot to pay attention to but the key is to keep cool, you can do it!

Here are some parting takeaways and tips on how to master German plurals:

• When you come across a new word, note (and regularly revise) the plural as well as the gender.
• It’s good to learn new words in the context of a short phrase (a chunk) of language. Make sure you include examples of the word in the plural.
• Keep an eye on the big-picture patterns and percentages. Focus in on the big four groups that we’ve seen in this post. Within the groups, keep an eye out for surprising plurals: Mann is one of the few masculines that forms the plural with – er,  die Mutter and die Tochter are the only two feminines that are in the -er group, and so on.
• Notice the plurals of loan words as you come across them.
• Be aware of differences in usage between German and English. In one language there may be a plural / singular when the other language only has one or the other. Even if both forms exist, one language may prefer a plural when the other prefers a singular.
• If you do all this, you’ll notice plurals more and more as you listen and read. Keep listening and reading and you’ll reinforce what you’ve learned and develop a feel for which plural sounds right.
• Get feedback on your written German to flush out any recurring errors with the plurals of words that are relevant to your life.
• If you have to guess, add -en to feminines ending in a consonant and -n to feminines ending in -e and to one-syllable masculines and neuters that end in a consonant and the odds are in your favour. Can’t remember the gender? Just add an -e (or -en after a consonant) and hope for the best!
• Don’t forget that case endings are as important (or more so) than plural endings in making clear what you’re saying. For more on those, check out my overview post on the case system. 

I hope you’ve found this post on German plurals helpful. Don’t hesitate to share your comments and questions below and do check out some related posts here on the Howtogetfluent blog.

Discover how YOU can use Dr P's free Weekly Workout Routine to get ready for more confident German conversations in a matter of weeks. Click here to get the training !

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