Plural Feminine Nouns

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.

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