Plural forms that take an ‑er, ‑s or no ending
There are several different ways of forming the plural:
no ending:
- masculine and neuter nouns ending in ‑el, ‑en, ‑er;
der Vater - die Väter
the father ‑ the fathers
das Fenster - die Fenster
the window ‑ the windows
- nouns ending in the diminutive ‑chen or ‑lein.
das Brötchen - die Brötchen
the bread roll ‑ the bread rolls
das Tischlein - die Tischlein
the little table ‑ the little tables
-(e)r:
- many neuter nouns with one syllable;
das Wort - die Wörter
the word ‑ the words
das Haus - die Häuser
the house ‑ the houses
- some masculine nouns.
der Mann - die Männer
the man ‑ the men
-s:
- some foreign words, and nouns ending in a vowel.
das Auto - die Autos
the automobile ‑ the automobiles
das Hobby - die Hobbys
the hobby ‑ the hobbies
Notes:
- Some other plural forms take the endings ‑e, ‑en and ‑nen.
- The vowels a, o, u, au often take an umlaut in the plural to become ä, ö, ü, äu.
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