The plural endings ‑e, ‑en and ‑innen in German
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The plural endings ‑e, ‑en and ‑innen
Here are a few common plural endings in German, and the kind of nouns they are generally used with:
-e:
- most masculine and neuter nouns;
das Brot - die Brote
the bread ‑ the breads
der Stuhl - die Stühle
the chair ‑ the chairs
- feminine nouns with one syllable.
die Hand - die Hände
the hand ‑ the hands
‑nen:
- feminine nouns ending in ‑in.
die Freundin - die Freundinnen
the girlfriend ‑ the girlfriends
-(e)n:
- most feminine nouns;
die Übung - die Übungen
the exercise ‑ the exercises
die Tante - die Tanten
the aunt ‑ the aunts
die Zwiebel - die Zwiebeln
the onion - the onions
- foreign words (ending in ‑ma, ‑um, ‑us);
das Thema - die Themen
the topic ‑ the topics
- masculine nouns ending in ‑e or ‑ent.
der Löwe - die Löwen
the lion - the lions
Notes:
- Some other plural forms take the endings ‑(e)r or ‑s, or have no ending.
- The vowels a, o, u, au often take an umlaut in the plural to become ä, ö, ü, äu.
- For compound words, only the last word changes in the plural.
die Sonnenbrille - die Sonnenbrillen
the pair of sunglasses - the pairs of sunglasses
der Liegestuhl - die Liegestühle
the deckchair - the deckchairs
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