German Plurals: Five Patterns and How to Learn Them

The main ways German nouns form their plurals, with tendencies by gender, the role of umlauts, and why you should learn the plural with every noun.

English mostly adds -s. German has several ways to make a plural, and there's no single rule. But five patterns cover almost every noun, and some tendencies make guessing easier.

The plural article

In the plural, the article is always die, whatever the gender: der Mann → die Männer, die Frau → die Frauen, das Kind → die Kinder. That's one small mercy.

Pattern 1: no ending (sometimes with umlaut)

Common for masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el, -en, and for diminutives:

der Lehrer → die Lehrer
der Onkel → die Onkel
das Mädchen → die Mädchen
der Vater → die Väter (umlaut)
der Bruder → die Brüder
der Apfel → die Äpfel

Pattern 2: add -e (often with umlaut)

Common for masculine and some neuter nouns of one syllable:

der Hund → die Hunde
das Jahr → die Jahre
der Tag → die Tage
die Stadt → die Städte (umlaut, feminine)
der Stuhl → die Stühle
der Baum → die Bäume
die Hand → die Hände

Pattern 3: add -er (with umlaut where possible)

A small group of mostly neuter and some masculine nouns:

das Kind → die Kinder
das Haus → die Häuser
das Buch → die Bücher
das Bild → die Bilder
der Mann → die Männer
das Land → die Länder

Pattern 4: add -n or -en

Very common for feminine nouns, and for masculine nouns that decline like der Student:

die Frau → die Frauen
die Zeitung → die Zeitungen
die Lampe → die Lampen
die Schule → die Schulen
der Student → die Studenten
der Mensch → die Menschen
das Auge → die Augen

Most feminine nouns take -n or -en, which makes them the easiest to predict.

Pattern 5: add -s

Mostly for foreign words, abbreviations and names:

das Auto → die Autos
das Hotel → die Hotels
das Handy → die Handys
das Foto → die Fotos
der Park → die Parks
die Oma → die Omas

Special cases

das Museum → die Museen
das Thema → die Themen
die Firma → die Firmen
das Datum → die Daten
der Bus → die Busse
das Auge → die Augen
das Herz → die Herzen
Some nouns have no singular (die Eltern, die Leute, die Ferien) or no plural (die Milch, das Wetter).

Tendencies

Gender	Typical plural
Feminine	-n / -en for the great majority, or -e with umlaut for a few
Masculine	-e (with or without umlaut), or no ending
Neuter	-e, -er (with umlaut), or no ending
Loanwords	-s

How dictionaries show it

Dictionaries give the plural ending after the noun:

der Hund, -e
das Kind, -er
die Frau, -en
der Vater, ¨-
das Haus, ¨-er
das Auto, -s

The tilde or dash indicates the ending, and the double dots indicate an umlaut.

Dative plural

In the dative plural, add -n to the noun unless it already ends in -n or -s: mit den Kindern, mit den Freunden.

Learning routine

Learn plural with the noun, as a triple: das Haus, die Häuser.
Group by pattern.
Use flashcards with singular on one side and plural on the other.
Notice tendencies for gender.
Say plurals aloud to build rhythm.

Common mistakes

Adding -s to everything, like English.
Forgetting umlauts.
Using the singular article.

Check German plural forms with English German Dictionary →