Search results
To form plural nouns in German, we can add -n/-en, -e, -r/-er, or -s to the end of the noun. The rules for plural noun formation in German grammar are listed below. Learn everything you need to know about the formation of plural nouns in German on Lingolia and test your knowledge in the exercises.
May 4, 2024 · There are several ways of forming plurals in German. The first thing to remember is that the definite article changes in the plural, as shown in the table below: Case. Masculine Singular. Feminine Singular. Neuter Singular. All Genders Plural. Nominative. der.
People also ask
How do you make a noun a plural in German?
Does German have a plural?
How do you write a noun in German?
Does German have an equivalent?
- What You Need to Know
- How Plural Nouns Work in English
- How Plural Nouns Work in German
- Plurals Guidelines
- Digging Deeper
- German Plurals According to Category
- Plurals According to Gender
- Plurals According to Hierarchical Rules
- Oddball Plurals
- Main Takeaways
Whenever we learn a language — whether our 1st or our 10th — we usually start by learning nouns so that we can label things: table, floor, glass, plate, man, child, dog, tree. Of course, to get anywhere with a language, you can’t just talk about one table, floor, glass, plate, etc. We need to be able to talk about any number of men, children, trees...
Most English noun plurals are formed just by adding an -(e)s: table → tables, glass → glasses. Sometimes we have to change letters, such as ‘y’ to ‘i’ as in baby → babies before adding on the -(e)s plural. Some (but not all — just to keep us on our toes) ‘f’s also change to ‘v’s: wife → wives, wolf → wolves. Then, of course, we have some plurals th...
Most German noun plurals are formed based on how the singular noun sounds. This can be a matter of … 1. spelling (i.e. which suffix the noun has) 2. which syllable is emphasized/accented 3. how long the noun is (e.g. single syllable vs. multi-syllable) For example: 1. most nouns ending in -el, -en, or -erdon’t change in their plural forms 2. most n...
If you memorize a smattering of rules/guidelines and some short lists of key exceptions, you can be a master of German plurals! 1. 80% masculine and 75% neuter nouns take the -e plural 2. 90% feminine nouns take the -(e)n plural. 3. Know the noun’s gender and you’ll know the correct plural form ~80% of the time! Certain suffixes (i.e. endings) alwa...
In this section, we’ll look at noun plurals arranged according to category, gender, and rules AND also delve into the oddballs: 1. nouns without a plural form 2. nouns that exist only as plurals 3. nouns with multiple plurals that mean different things 4. plural nouns that don’t have English equivalents 5. foreign-word plurals
We can examine German noun plurals several different ways (and we will), but one of them is to break things down according to plural type. Which nouns typically take which plural forms? As I mentioned earlier, the number of German noun plurals categories can be interpreted differently. For our purposes here, I will list 6 categories and some except...
Another way to look at German noun plurals is through the lens of each gender. It’s the same information, just organized differently. NOTE: I will exclude the add -scategory from this analysis and talk about it later HERE.
This is my favorite way to think about plurals because, here, we lump nouns together functionally, which crosses gender lines. Here are the fewest number of rules that still cover the vast majority of plurals (if you memorize the short lists of common exceptions, too, we’d be getting pretty darn close to 100%!). Think of these rules as being ‘train...
Since you clearly want to master German noun plurals, let’s cover some other special situations and you will be SET! In the following sections, you’ll learn about 1. foreign word plurals 2. countable vs. uncountable nouns 3. when German vs. English prefers the singular or plural version of a given noun 4. what happens in English & German when no re...
There are 6 main types German plurals: -e, -(e)n, -er, -e + umlaut, -s, and no change.If you know the gender of the singular noun, you can accurately predict the correct plural about 80% of the time (<-- very good reason to learn nouns with their genders!)Certain suffixes (<-- always on polysyllabic nouns) always* take the same plural, regardless of the noun’s gender:With these 4 hierarchical rules, you’ll have German plurals wrapped up!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).
Plural in German. For English speakers, the plural in German is exasperating. We are happy to just add a simple "–s". In German it’s much more complicated. Get into fighting mode; we think you’ll need to. Here’s our explanation: Summary of the most common plurals.
In English, noun plurals are generally formed by adding – s or – es, but there are some exceptions such as men, geese, oxen, children, fish, and deer where respectively we have: changed a stem vowel; added – en; added -ren; or – as in the last two examples – where we have made no change at all.
Translation for 'Donald' using the free English-German dictionary by LANGENSCHEIDT -– with examples, synonyms and pronunciation.
