Noun plurals
der Plural
The German plural is the form a noun takes to name more than one thing: die Bücher, die Autos.
Saying “die Hundes” instead of “die Hunde” is a very common slip. English has one plural ending, -s, and it leaks into German. German has five types.
Why it looks so messy
ShortcutWords that take die almost always form their plural with -(e)n. That one rule rescues most everyday vocabulary.
In English the plural is an ending: book → books, house → houses. Add -s and you are done (apart from the odd child → children). In German the plural is a matter of vocabulary — the ending depends on the word, and sometimes the vowel inside the word changes too.
das Buch → die Bücher
an ending was added and the u inside changed
das Auto → die Autos
just -s (the one that looks like English)
das Fenster → die Fenster
nothing changed, like English sheep
The good news: this mess is not random. A noun’s article largely tells you which ending it leans towards. Once you have the table below in your head, you can make an accurate guess even with a word you have never seen.
In the plural the article is always die — whatever the word’s gender in the singular. So der Mann → die Männer, das Kind → die Kinder.
Five types — the table to save
| Type | Typical gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -(e)n | die — almost a rule | die Frau → die Frauen · die Lampe → die Lampen · die Blume → die Blumen · die Tür → die Türen · die Zeitung → die Zeitungen |
| -e (sometimes + Umlaut) | mostly der | der Tisch → die Tische · der Tag → die Tage · der Hund → die Hunde · der Stuhl → die Stühle · die Stadt → die Städte |
| -er (+ Umlaut if possible) | das and some der | das Kind → die Kinder · das Buch → die Bücher · das Ei → die Eier · der Mann → die Männer · das Haus → die Häuser |
| no ending (sometimes + Umlaut) | words ending in -er · -el · -en | der Lehrer → die Lehrer · das Fenster → die Fenster · der Onkel → die Onkel · der Apfel → die Äpfel · das Mädchen → die Mädchen |
| -s | foreign words · words ending in a vowel | das Auto → die Autos · das Hotel → die Hotels · die Oma → die Omas · das Handy → die Handys · das Team → die Teams |
You do not have to memorise the table. On day one, just the first row: words that take die almost always form their plural with -(e)n. That one rule rescues most everyday vocabulary.
- Do not learn a word on its own. Look it up as a set in the dictionary: das Buch, ¨-er → article + plural together.
- If you do not know a word’s plural and it takes die, say -(e)n. Your chance of being wrong is low.
- A word that has taken the diminutive endings -chen or -lein does not change at all in the plural.
Umlaut — where it can appear, where it never does
The umlaut (ä · ö · ü) is not decoration; it is part of the plural. But not every word can have one: only words with a · o · u · au in the stem. If the stem has e or i, there is no chance of an umlaut — those vowels do not have one.
| Vowel in the stem | Umlaut possible? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | possible → ä | der Mann → die Männer |
| o | possible → ö | der Sohn → die Söhne |
| u | possible → ü | das Buch → die Bücher |
| au | possible → äu | das Haus → die Häuser |
| e · i | never | das Kind → die Kinder (no umlaut) |
In the -er type, if an umlaut is possible it appears almost every time: Buch → Bücher · Haus → Häuser · Mann → Männer. In the -e type it varies: Stuhl → Stühle but Tag → Tage.
The rule everyone forgets: dative plural -n
You built the plural correctly, put it in a sentence — and it was still wrong. The reason: in the dative plural, one more -n is added to the end of the word. The article also becomes den.
Ich spiele mit den Kindern.
I’m playing with the children. — mit takes the dative, so -n was added to the plural
Ich spiele mit den Kinder.
no -n
| Plural form | Dative plural | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| die Kinder | den Kindern | -n added |
| die Bücher | den Büchern | -n added |
| die Frauen | den Frauen | already ends in -n, nothing added |
| die Autos | den Autos | no -n after an -s plural |
In short: if the plural does not already end in -n or -s, add an -n in the dative.
What you just learned
___ Lampen sind sehr hell.
Show the answer
Die, die — Die. In the plural, whatever the word’s gender, the nominative article is always die.
«Ich spiele mit den Kinder.» is correct.
Show the answer
False. The preposition mit takes the dative. In the dative plural, one more -n is added to the end of the word (if it does not already end in -n or -s): mit den Kindern.
das Buch → plural?
Show the answer
die Bücher. It is the -er type, and because the stem has a u, the umlaut comes too.
Three traps
Using -s the way English does
The English reflex sticks an -s on every word: die Buchs · die Manns ❌. In German, -s belongs to a narrow group: foreign words (das Hotel · das Team) and words ending in a vowel (die Oma · das Handy). The correct forms are die Bücher · die Männer.
“Mädchen” does not change in the plural
Every word ending in -chen or -lein stays the same in the plural: das Mädchen → die Mädchen · das Brötchen → die Brötchen. Only the article changes. There is no such thing as die Mädchens.
Mistaking the accusative plural for the dative
The dative plural adds -n, but in the accusative plural nothing changes: Ich sehe die Kinder. (acc.) · Ich helfe den Kindern. (dat.). Only the dative earns the extra -n.
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- Five patterns, one article
-e · -er · -(e)n · -s · no change — whichever it is, the nominative plural article is die.
die Bücher · die Lampen · die Autos
- Feminine nouns mostly take -(e)n
die Frau → Frauen · die Lampe → Lampen. The safest guess.
die Zeitungen
- Umlaut only if there is an a·o·u
If the stem has no a, o or u, there is no umlaut either: das Kind → die Kinder (i never takes an umlaut).
der Apfel → die Äpfel
- Dative plural adds -n
mit den Kindern · seit zwei Jahren. If the plural already ends in -s or -n, nothing is added: den Autos.
mit den Kindern
die Apfels
die Äpfel
The -s plural belongs to foreign words; most native masculine nouns take an umlaut.
der Bücher (in the plural)
die Bücher
The nominative plural article is always die.
mit den Kinder
mit den Kindern
The dative plural adds -n to the noun.
die Mädchens
die Mädchen
Words ending in -chen do not change in the plural.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
das Buch → plural?
die Lampe → plural?
das Mädchen → plural?
Ich fahre mit Kindern. (die Kinder)
I’m going with the children.
In which word can there be NO umlaut?
das Auto → dative plural?
Practice done — –
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Plural pocket card
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
der · die · das
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the full article table
Accusative vs dative: what actually changes, and what never moves at all.
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