FormNomen + -e (Umlaut bei vielen maskulinen Nomen)
Meaning and usage
Many German nouns form their plural with -e. Most of them are masculine, and some of those also take an umlaut: der Tag becomes die Tage and der Freund becomes die Freunde, but der Stuhl becomes die Stühle. Feminine nouns with this plural usually take the umlaut: die Hand becomes die Hände, die Stadt becomes die Städte.
You cannot tell from the singular whether a noun takes -e or an umlaut, so learn each noun with its plural: der Tag, die Tage. A common mistake is the singular after a number: zwei Tag instead of zwei Tage.
Examples 5
Wie viele Tage warst du im Krankenhaus?
How many days were you in the hospital?
Du musst deine Hände immer sauber halten.
You must always keep your hands clean.
Ihre Freunde warteten auf sie am Tor.
Her friends waited for her by the gate.
Ihre Hände waren so kalt wie Eis.
Her hands were as cold as ice.
Du hast viel mehr Schuhe als ich.
You have a lot more shoes than I do.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Ich habe zwei in Berlin.
Show answer
Correct answer: Freunde
The number zwei shows that more than one person is meant, so the noun needs its plural form. der Freund is a masculine noun and takes the ending -e without an umlaut: die Freunde.
- Freunden is the dative plural, which needs a dative context such as mit or bei; here the noun is the accusative object of habe.
- Freundin is a singular feminine noun meaning a female friend, so it does not match the plural meaning.
- Freund is the singular form and cannot follow the number zwei.
In this topic: Plurals
- die + Plural the plural article for every noun
- -e: Tage, Stühle Plural in -e, often with umlaut
- -(e)n: Frauen, Lampen Plural in -n or -en, no umlaut
- -er: Kinder, Bücher Plural in -er, often with umlaut
- -s: Autos, Hotels Plural in -s for many loanwords and vowel-final nouns
- Lehrer → Lehrer, Vater → Väter Same noun, sometimes with umlaut, in the plural
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.