1.6.3 Plural formation

Table of Contents

Understanding Plurals with People and Family Words

In this chapter you focus on how to form plurals of family and common people words in German. You already know about gender and articles from other chapters, so here the attention is on typical plural patterns and especially on the words you need to talk about family and friends.

Why Plural Matters with Family and Friends

When you talk about your family and friends, you often speak about more than one person. You say “my parents,” “my brothers,” “my friends.” In German, plural forms are very important here, because many family words appear more often in plural than in singular, for example “die Eltern” (the parents).

You also need plural forms to answer questions like “Hast du Geschwister?” and to describe your family: “Ich habe zwei Schwestern und drei Cousins.”

Overview of Plural Formation with People Words

German has several ways to form plurals. With people and family words, the most common patterns are:

Add -e
Add -er
Add -n / -en
Add -s
Change the vowel with an Umlaut (ä, ö, ü), often together with an ending

The article in the plural is always die for nouns, no matter what their gender is in the singular.

Important:
All noun plurals take the article die in the nominative plural:

Singular: der Bruder
Plural: die Brüder

In this chapter you see the patterns only with typical “family and friends” words and some common “people” words. General plural rules for all nouns will be handled elsewhere.

Plurals in Typical Family Words

Many family words follow very common and regular patterns, but there are some irregular and special forms you must simply learn.

Plurals with Umlaut + -e

Some masculine and neuter words that name family members take an Umlaut on the main vowel and add -e.

Examples:

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Pattern
der Vater	father	die Väter	Umlaut + -e
die Mutter	mother	die Mütter	Umlaut + -er
der Bruder	brother	die Brüder	Umlaut + -er
der Onkel	uncle	die Onkel	no change
die Tante	aunt	die Tanten	+ -n

Note that “Vater” uses Umlaut + -e, while “Mutter” and “Bruder” use Umlaut + -er.

You must learn Mutter – Mütter and Bruder – Brüder as irregular plurals. There is no plural Mutters or Bruders in standard German.

Plurals with -n or -en (often feminine)

Many feminine family words form the plural by adding -n or -en. There is no change to the stem vowel.

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Pattern
die Schwester	sister	die Schwestern	+ -n
die Tante	aunt	die Tanten	+ -n
die Cousine	(female) cousin	die Cousinen	+ -n
die Oma	grandma	die Omas	+ -s
die Freundin	(female) friend / girlfriend	die Freundinnen	+ -nen

“Schwester” is a very important word. The plural “Schwestern” is used very frequently in everyday German.

Plurals with -er

Some family words form the plural with -er, sometimes with an Umlaut. “Bruder” and “Mutter” are examples you have already seen.

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Pattern
der Bruder	brother	die Brüder	Umlaut + -er
die Mutter	mother	die Mütter	Umlaut + -er
das Kind	child	die Kinder	+ -er

“Kind – Kinder” is regular and very important. You use it for any child, not only in your family.

Plurals in “Parent” and “Sibling” Words

Some family concepts appear only or almost only in the plural.

Word (plural)	Singular form?	Meaning	Notes
die Eltern	no normal singular	parents	For “parent,” use “Mutter” or “Vater”
die Geschwister	no normal singular	siblings	Includes brothers and sisters

You do not say das Geschwister in everyday German for “a sibling.” Instead, you say “ein Bruder” or “eine Schwester.”

“die Eltern” and “die Geschwister” are always plural. They take plural verb forms:

Meine Eltern wohnen in Berlin.
Meine Geschwister sind älter.

Plurals in Words for Friends and People

In the “Family and Friends” area you also need plurals to talk about friends, neighbors, partners, and general people.

Friends and Partners

Look at how these common words form their plurals:

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Pattern
der Freund	(male) friend / boyfriend	die Freunde	+ -e
die Freundin	(female) friend / girlfriend	die Freundinnen	+ -nen
der Partner	partner (male)	die Partner	no change
die Partnerin	partner (female)	die Partnerinnen	+ -nen
der Kollege	colleague (male)	die Kollegen	+ -n
die Kollegin	colleague (female)	die Kolleginnen	+ -nen

For many feminine forms ending in “-in,” the plural is “-innen.” This is very typical when you distinguish male and female persons.

Neighbors and Other People Around You

Here are some more useful people words, which help you describe your social circle.

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Pattern
der Nachbar	neighbor (male)	die Nachbarn	+ -n
die Nachbarin	neighbor (female)	die Nachbarinnen	+ -nen
der Lehrer	teacher (male)	die Lehrer	no change
die Lehrerin	teacher (female)	die Lehrerinnen	+ -nen
der Mensch	human / person	die Menschen	+ -en
die Person	person	die Personen	+ -en

“Der Mensch” and “die Person” are useful when you speak about “people” in a more general way.

Plurals with -s (from nicknames and short forms)

Sometimes short or informal words for family members form their plural with -s. This feels very modern and is often used in spoken language.

Singular (with article)	Meaning	Plural (with article)	Notes
die Oma	grandma	die Omas	common, friendly
der Opa	grandpa	die Opas	common, friendly
die Mama	mum	die Mamas	informal, often used by children
der Papa	dad	die Papas	informal, often used by children

These forms are very similar to English plurals. They are easy to remember but are more informal than “die Mutter,” “der Vater,” “die Großmutter,” or “der Großvater.”

Listening for Umlauts in the Plural

With family words, Umlauts are very common in the plural. The change can be small in writing, but in speaking it is important.

Compare:

Singular	Plural	Pronunciation idea in English letters
Vater	Väter	“VAH-ter” vs “VEH-ter”
Mutter	Mütter	“MOO-ter” vs “MYT-ter” (short “ü”)
Bruder	Brüder	“BROO-der” vs “BRÜ-der”

When you learn a new family word, always learn the plural at the same time and listen carefully to the vowel.

Always learn noun + article + plural together:

der Bruder, die Brüder
die Schwester, die Schwestern
Do not learn only the singular form.

Typical Plural Patterns in Family and Friends Vocabulary

With the words from this chapter, you can see some very common patterns that repeat.

Masculine “-er” words often have Umlaut + -er
Example: der Bruder – die Brüder, die Mutter – die Mütter
Feminine words often add -n or -en
Example: die Schwester – die Schwestern, die Tante – die Tanten
Feminine “-in” adds “-nen” in the plural
Example: die Freundin – die Freundinnen
“Short and cute” family words often take -s in the plural
Example: die Oma – die Omas

When you learn a new word in the “Family and Friends” topic, try to guess the pattern, then check in a dictionary or your textbook and memorize it.

Using Plurals in Simple Sentences

Here are some simple examples where you can already see and use these plural forms. The grammar structures themselves are handled in other chapters, so focus only on recognition of plural forms.

Ich habe zwei Brüder und eine Schwester.
Meine Eltern wohnen in Wien.
Wir sind fünf Personen in der Familie.
Meine Großeltern heißen Anna und Peter.
Hast du Geschwister?
Ja, ich habe drei Cousins und zwei Cousinen.
Meine Freunde kommen heute Abend.
Unsere Nachbarn sind sehr nett.
Ihre Kinder sind noch klein.
Meine Kolleginnen arbeiten in Berlin.

You can already see plural endings like -e, -er, -n, -en, -nen, and sometimes no change. You also see the plural article die for all nouns in plural.

At this level, it is enough that you begin to recognize and correctly use the most frequent plural forms that appear in family and friends vocabulary. The full system of plural formation in German will come later, step by step.

Vocabulary List for This Chapter

German (singular)	Plural form	English meaning
der Vater	die Väter	father
die Mutter	die Mütter	mother
der Bruder	die Brüder	brother
die Schwester	die Schwestern	sister
der Onkel	die Onkel	uncle
die Tante	die Tanten	aunt
die Cousine	die Cousinen	(female) cousin
der Cousin	die Cousins	(male) cousin
die Oma	die Omas	grandma
der Opa	die Opas	grandpa
die Mama	die Mamas	mum, mom
der Papa	die Papas	dad
das Kind	die Kinder	child
die Eltern	die Eltern	parents
die Geschwister	die Geschwister	siblings
der Freund	die Freunde	(male) friend, boyfriend
die Freundin	die Freundinnen	(female) friend, girlfriend
der Partner	die Partner	partner (male)
die Partnerin	die Partnerinnen	partner (female)
der Kollege	die Kollegen	colleague (male)
die Kollegin	die Kolleginnen	colleague (female)
der Nachbar	die Nachbarn	neighbor (male)
die Nachbarin	die Nachbarinnen	neighbor (female)
der Lehrer	die Lehrer	teacher (male)
die Lehrerin	die Lehrerinnen	teacher (female)
der Mensch	die Menschen	human, person
die Person	die Personen	person
die Familie	die Familien	family
die Großmutter	die Großmütter	grandmother
der Großvater	die Großväter	grandfather

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