Guide
German Plurals: The Five Patterns and How Common Each Is
German plurals are usually taught as a list of five endings with no indication of which matters. This table is that list weighted by reality: every one of the 8,320 nouns in the A1–C2 vocabulary, classified by how it forms its plural.
| Pattern | Nouns | Share | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| -en | 1,856 | 22% | die Uhr → die Uhren; die Million → die Millionen; die Zeit → die Zeiten |
| -n | 1,454 | 17% | das Ende → die Enden; die Liebe → die Lieben; die Milliarde → die Milliarden |
| no change | 1,429 | 17% | der Einer → die Einer; das Weiß → die Weiß; der Artikel → die Artikel |
| -e | 1,375 | 17% | das Mal → die Male; das Prozent → die Prozente; das Jahr → die Jahre |
| other | 911 | 11% | das Haus → die Häuser; die Freundin → die Freundinnen; die Angst → die Ängste |
| -s | 697 | 8% | der Euro → die Euros; das Foto → die Fotos; der Dollar → die Dollars |
| umlaut + -e | 391 | 5% | die Nacht → die Nächte; der Platz → die Plätze; die Stadt → die Städte |
| umlaut + -er | 84 | 1% | der Mann → die Männer; das Land → die Länder; das Wort → die Wörter |
| -er | 84 | 1% | das Geld → die Gelder; das Bild → die Bilder; das Kind → die Kinder |
| umlaut only | 39 | 0% | der Vater → die Väter; die Mutter → die Mütter; der Bruder → die Brüder |
What gender tells you
- Feminine nouns take -(e)n in the overwhelming majority of cases, and never take -er. If you know it is die, the plural is close to predictable.
- Masculine nouns mostly take -e, often with an umlaut (der Stuhl → die Stühle).
- Neuter nouns take -e or -er; the -er plural is almost exclusively neuter and masculine.
- Nouns ending in -er, -el, -en usually do not change at all (der Lehrer → die Lehrer), so you tell singular from plural by the article alone.
- -s is the loanword plural: das Auto → die Autos, das Hotel → die Hotels. It is also what German reaches for with any new borrowing.
The dative plural -n
One rule that catches people out: every plural noun adds -n in the dative, unless the plural already ends in -n or -s.
die Kinder → mit den Kindern · die Freunde → mit den Freunden · die Autos → mit den Autos
Browse All 9,109 German nouns Each with its article, plural and genitive, ordered by frequency. Open the listA1 grammar points
6 points from this guide
- 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
Counts as A1 · Plurals in the grammar syllabus.
Common questions
How many plural forms does German have?
Five endings (no change, -e, -er, -(e)n and -s), each of which may also add an umlaut to the stem vowel. That gives about nine patterns in practice.
Can I predict a German plural?
Partly. Gender narrows it a lot: nearly all feminine nouns take -(e)n, and no feminine noun takes -er. Endings help too: nouns in -ung, -heit and -keit all take -en; nouns in -chen and -lein never change. The rest has to be learned with the word.
Why do some plurals add an umlaut?
It is a fossil of an old sound change: a following -i in Proto-Germanic pulled the stem vowel forward, and the -i then disappeared, leaving only the umlaut to mark the plural. Which is why it looks arbitrary now: the thing that caused it is gone.
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