GermanFluent

A1 · Plurals

Lehrer → Lehrer, Vater → Väter

Same noun, sometimes with umlaut, in the plural

FormNomen (oft -er, -el, -en, -chen) → gleiche Form, manchmal mit Umlaut

Meaning and usage

Some German nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural. They take no plural ending. Many of these nouns end in -er, -el, -en or -chen, for example Lehrer, Fenster, Mädchen and Koffer. A smaller group adds an umlaut in the plural and changes the vowel: Vater becomes Väter, Tochter becomes Töchter, Bruder becomes Brüder. You learn the plural together with each noun.

The article, a verb or a number word often shows whether the noun is singular or plural: der Lehrer and die Lehrer, ein Fenster and zwei Fenster. With umlaut nouns the noun itself also changes. Learners often add an ending that does not belong, for example die Lehrers or die Fensters, or forget the umlaut and say zwei Vater.

Examples 6

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Meine zwei wohnen in Berlin.

    Show answer

    Correct answer: Brüder

    The plural of der Bruder takes no ending but an umlaut: die Brüder. After zwei the noun must be plural.

    • Bruder is the singular and cannot follow zwei.
    • Bruders is a genitive singular form, as in des Bruders.
    • Brüdern is the dative plural, and here the noun is the subject.

In this topic: Plurals

  1. die + Plural the plural article for every noun
  2. -e: Tage, Stühle Plural in -e, often with umlaut
  3. -(e)n: Frauen, Lampen Plural in -n or -en, no umlaut
  4. -er: Kinder, Bücher Plural in -er, often with umlaut
  5. -s: Autos, Hotels Plural in -s for many loanwords and vowel-final nouns
  6. 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.