on German pluralization

There are many reasons to hate learning German. Here's one.

German has at least ten ways to render singular nouns plural.


1. Add an -en (or a consonant plus -en) to the end.

Examples:

der Student, die Studenten (male student)
die Studentin, die Studentinnen (female student)
der Herr, die Herren (sir/mister/man)
die Frau, die Frauen (woman, wife)


2. Add an umlaut to an internal vowel, plus an -e at the end.

Examples:

der Hund, die Hünde (dog)
die Hand, die Hände (hand)
der Fluß/Fluss, die Flüße/Flüsse (flow)


3. Add an umlaut to an internal vowel, plus an -er at the end.

Example:

der Mann, die Männer (man)


4. Simply add an -e to the end.

Example:

der Tisch, die Tische (table)


5. Simply add -er to the end.

Example:

das Kind, die Kinder (child)


6. Simply add an umlaut to an internal vowel.

Example:

die Mutter, die Mütter (mother)


7. Simply add an -s, as in English.

Example:

das Radio, die Radios (radio)


8. Change one ending (e.g., -us) to -en.

Examples:

der Radius, die Radien (radius)
der Kommunismus, die Kommunismen (communism)


9. Simply add -n to a noun ending in -e.

Example:

die Name, die Namen (name)


10. Make no change at all.

Example:

der Fahrer, die Fahrer (driver)


Have fun learning German!


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