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German · Grammar · A1 to B1

German plurals: the five endings, the umlaut, and how to guess them

Five plural patterns · pick one
Almost all feminine nouns, and masculine nouns ending in -e. Never an umlaut.

Short answer: German has five plural endings: -e, -er, -(e)n, -s, and no ending at all; some also add an umlaut (the two dots over a, o or u: der Apfel → die Äpfel). The article is always die in the plural, whatever the gender. Learn each noun with its plural, as dictionaries show it: der Tisch, -e. Patterns help: almost all feminine nouns add -(e)n (die Frau → die Frauen), and nouns from English or ending in a vowel other than -e take -s (das Auto → die Autos).

Rules of thumb

Gender and ending predict the plural

die · feminineder · masculinedas · neuter -(e)n-e / ¨-e¨-er / -e die Frau → Frauendie Lampe → Lampender Tag → Tageder Stuhl → Stühledas Kind → Kinderdas Haus → Häuser over 90 % of casesthe most common patternshort words especially
Feminine is the safest bet: die + -(e)n almost every time. Masculine and neuter vary more, so learn those plurals word by word.
The article is always die
die Männer,the mendie Frauen,the womendie Kinderthe children
dee ME-ner, dee FRAU-en, dee KIN-der · “the men, the women, the children”Why: Masculine, feminine and neuter all take die in the plural.
Umlaut only on a, o, u, au
der Vaterthe father→→die Väterthe fathers
dair FAA-ter, dee FAY-ter · “father, fathers”Why: The umlaut changes the vowel sound: a → ä (like “e” in “bed”).
-in becomes -innen
die Lehrerinthe teacher (f.)→→die Lehrerinnenthe teachers (f.)
dee LAY-re-rin, dee LAY-re-ri-nen · “female teacher, female teachers”Why: Double the n, then add -en.
Some nouns have no plural
das Obstthe fruitistisfrisch.fresh
das OHPST ist FRISH · “The fruit is fresh.”Why: Mass nouns like Obst, Milch and Geld have no plural; for kinds, use -sorten: Obstsorten.
The extra -n in the dative plural

mit den Kindern

The dative case (used after mit, von, zu and for indirect objects) adds an extra -n to the plural noun, unless it already ends in -n or -s.

PluralDative pluralExample
die Kinderden Kindernmit den Kindern (with the children)
die Freundeden Freundenvon meinen Freunden (from my friends)
die Frauenden Frauenalready ends in -n: no change
die Autosden Autos-s plurals: no change
One word, two plurals

Banken or Bänke?

A few nouns have two plurals with different meanings.

Plural-only words

Die Eltern, die Leute

Parents
MeinemyElternparentswohnenlivein Köln.in Cologne
MAI-ne EL-tern VOH-nen in KÖLN · “My parents live in Cologne.”Why: No singular: one parent is ein Elternteil.
People
VielemanyLeutepeoplesindarehier.here
FEE-le LOY-te zint HEER · “Lots of people are here.”Why: Leute is always plural.
Holidays
Die Ferienthe holidaysbeginnenbeginmorgen.tomorrow
dee FAY-ree-en be-GI-nen MOR-gen · “The school holidays start tomorrow.”Why: die Ferien = school holidays; der Urlaub = your own holiday.
Groceries
IchIkaufebuyLebensmittel.food-items
ikh KAU-fe LAY-bens-mi-tel · “I’m buying groceries.”Why: Usually plural.
Keep going

Related guides

Gender and articles →der, die, das and how to guess them.der TischCases →When the dative applies.den KindernWord formation →-in, -chen and other endings.-chenCore vocabulary →Nouns to practise on.das Haus