Plural of nouns
Plural
der Tag → die Tage, die Kuh → die Kühe, das Kind → die Kinder …
German has several plural endings, and you learn them with the noun. A dictionary writes der Tag, -e, which means die Tage. The plural article is always die.
Plural patterns
| ending | singular | plural | often for |
|---|---|---|---|
| -e | der Tag | die Tage | many masculine nouns |
| ¨ + -e | die Kuh | die Kühe | short masculine and feminine nouns |
| -er, ¨ + -er | das Kind · das Haus | die Kinder · die Häuser | many neuter nouns |
| -n, -en | die Blume · die Frau | die Blumen · die Frauen | most feminine nouns |
| -s | das Café · das Auto | die Cafés · die Autos | words from English or French, and words ending in -a, -o |
| no ending, or ¨ | der Lehrer · der Vogel | die Lehrer · die Vögel | masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el, -en |
- In the Dativ plural, add -n unless the plural already ends in -n or -s: mit den Kindern.
- Some nouns have no plural (die Milch, das Gold); some are only plural (die Leute, die Eltern).
Examples from the stories
Die Diebe hören alles.The thieves hear everything.
Tenali Rama und die Diebe · Kapitel 1Max isst zwei Teller.Max eats two plates.
Rohans Montag · Kapitel 2Nach dem Gebet laufen die Kinder zum Markt.After the prayer the children run to the fair.
Idgah · Kapitel 2Das Kalb weint und die anderen Kühe weinen auch.The calf cries and the other cows cry too.
Punyakoti, die Kuh · Kapitel 2
See also
Practise it with stories
Every example comes from a DeutschKatha story. On DeutschKatha you can hear each sentence and see which case every word is in.