Plural Feminine Nouns

Plural Nouns

Forming the plural of English nouns follows mostly the same pattern. In most cases you have to add -s to the end of the noun.

For example:
credit card ⇨ credit cards
customer ⇨ customers

There are some nouns in English that are irregular and do not follow this rule.

For example:
information ⇨ information
tooth ⇨ teeth

In German, on the other hand, are different ways of making a noun plural. Which way to use mainly depends on the gender and the ending of a noun. Let’s look at the feminine nouns more closely.

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Feminine Nouns

Most feminine nouns add -n, -en or -nen to the singular noun to form their plural.

Feminine nouns ending in -e just add -n to form their plural.

For example:
die Katze ⇨ die Katzen

Feminine nouns ending in -in add -nen to form their plural.

For example:
die Kundin ⇨ die Kundinnen

Most other feminine nouns end in -en in their plural form.
For example:
die Rechnung ⇨ die Rechnungen

Table: Feminine Nouns ending in -n, -en and -nen:

Singular Noun	Plural Noun	Singular Noun	Plural Noun
die Tasche	die Taschen	die Metzgerei	die Metzgereien
die Münze	die Münzen	die Meinung	die Meinungen
die Schule	die Schulen	die Freiheit	die Freiheiten
die Aufgabe	die Aufgaben	die Freundin	die Freundinnen

There are only a few feminine nouns that have an umlaut ä, ö or ü in their plural. These nouns often have one syllable only.

For example:
die Kuh (cow) ⇨ die Kühe
die Hand (hand) ⇨ die Hände

Tip
The rule of thumb for feminine nouns is that they mostly end in -en in their plural form (Katzen, Rechungen, Kundinnen). An umlaut ä, ö or ü appears very rarely in the plural form.