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Lesson 6

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35 views3 pages

Lesson 6

Uploaded by

rythm643
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1–8: Plurals

So far, you have learned that German nouns have a grammatical gender (der, die or
das). Now you will learn how to make them plural. In English, we usually add an –s
or –es to the end of the word:

book→books
computer→computers
hobby→hobbies
In German, however, there are several different endings to form plurals. You will
need to learn the plural form when you learn new words. The dictionary form of
German nouns will show letters that come after the noun. These should be added to
the word to form the plural.

75-90% of masculine and neuter nouns add -e

der Tisch, -e→die Tische


das Papier, -e→die Papiere
das Heft, -e→die Hefte
der Filzstift, -e→die Filzstifte
Occasionally, these words will add an umlaut in addition to –e.

der Stuhl, –¨e→die Stühle


der Rucksack, -¨e→ die Rucksäcke
75-90% of feminine nouns add –n or –en.

die Tafel, -n→die Tafeln


die Uhr, -en→die Uhren
die Landkarte, –n→die Landkarten
die Tür→die Türen
die Tasche→die Taschen
Occasionally, these words will add an umlaut in addition to –n or –en.

die Maus, -¨e→die Mäuse


die Wand, -¨e→die Wände
Feminine words ending in –in that denote people also add –en or –n but add an extra
–n- between the noun and the plural ending.

die Professorin, -nen→die Professorinnen


die Studentin, –nen→die Studentinnen
die Lehrerin, –nen→die Lehrerinnen
Shortened forms and borrowed words tend to add an –s.

das Handy→die Handys


der Kuli→die Kulis
der Laptop→die Laptops
der Gummi→die Gummis
das Hobby→die Hobbys
das Auto→die Autos
Masculine and neuter words that end in –er often do not add anything to form the
plural, especially words denoting people.

der Lehrer, — →die Lehrer


der Wischer, — →die Wischer
der Kugelschreiber, — →die Kugelschreiber
das Poster, — →die Poster
der Computer, — →die Computer
A smaller percentage will simply have to be memorized. As always, the dictionary
entry will show how to make the plural.
der Professor, –en→die Professoren
der Student, –en→die Studenten
das Buch, –¨er→die Bücher
Note that the definite article of every German plural automatically becomes die,
whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter.

der Tisch BUT die Tische


A: Wie viele haben wir? Make a tally of how many of the following things you see in
the room. Then form a complete sentence using the verb haben, the number, and the
plural form of the item. If you have none of the items, write the word “keine” in
front of the noun plural, i.e. “no items.”

Beispiel: der Bleistift

→Wir haben fünfzehn Bleistifte.

der Laptop

→Wir haben keine Laptops.

der Stuhl
der Tisch
das Fenster
die Uhr
das Buch
das Heft
die Wand
die Tafel
der Student
das Heft
der Kuli
der Bleistift
der Computer
Ex. B: Wir üben! Give both the singular and plural forms of the words below,
including the definite articles.

Beispiel: board

→die Tafel, die Tafeln

table
door
paper
cell phone
chair
pencil
pen
notebook
backpack
book
board
window
clock
computer
laptop
mouse
eraser (on a pencil)
poster
map
professor (male)
professor (female)
student (male)
student (female)
wall
whiteboard eraser
purse/bag

Die Familie. Here are some words denoting family members and their plurals.
Practice making plurals with them.

die Mutter, —¨ (mother)


die Schwester, –n (sister)
der Vater, —¨ (father)
der Bruder, —¨ (brother)
die Tochter, —¨ (daughter)
der Sohn, —¨e (son)
der Onkel, — (uncle)
die Tante, — n (aunt)

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