Pluralize german nouns pdf

Plural of the nouns a free german exercise to learn german. So not only do you have to remember to capitalize every sentence and proper noun like we do in english, you have to capitalize every other thing as well. Links to this dictionary or to single translations are very welcome. And whats more fundamentally disturbing to our english habit of relying on noun spellings is the fact that german nouns change their spelling for more reasons than just their singular or plural status. Noun plurals a foundation course in reading german. The radical can sometimes take an umlaut on the vowel. Outside of this pattern, however, are several nouns, which are irregular in their spelling. It is quite difficult to give an exact rule when the diff. German nouns that are inflected to display grammatical relations other than the main form category. German nouns that denote an agent that performs the action denoted by the verb from. With nounverb tables for the different cases and tenses links to audio pronunciation and relevant forum discussions free vocabulary trainer. When to pluralize or not to pluralize german nouns other than in obvious cases.

Some of these nouns may be used in the plural when different kinds are meant as sugars, coffees, cottons gold, silver, wheat, corn, molasses, copper, sugar, cotton news, gallows, mathematics, ethics other words ending in ics singular nouns use this and that. The purpose of this exercise is not only learning, but getting us ready, so that the answers flow from our brains in an unconscious manner. There are several different ways to make a noun plural in german. Most of them are in masculine, rarely in feminine or neuter. Apr, 2014 the german nouns form their plural in different ways. Write a noun and its plural down on large pieces of paper.

Most items that can function as plural nouns may in different syntactic contexts also function as singular nouns, and then must be assigned a. We not only recognize them according to type and nature of the noun, but also according to the endings of the concerning noun. By this account, early in development, individuals acquire rules that operate over the variables of nouns, verbs, etc. Thats because in german, all nouns are capitalized. Most masculine nouns do too, but thats not such a hardfast rule. Some german nouns use the suffix er to form the plural. German terms that indicate people, beings, things, places, phenomena, qualities or ideas. Adjective endings as well as noun endings change during conversion from singular to plural. German nouns are frequently altered significantly when moving from the singular to the plural form, and the alteration is sometimes more complicated than adding an s or an es as one would in english. The german nouns form their plural in different ways. Plural of the nouns singular plural plural nouns ending with er plural singular plural plural plural.

It is usually introduced by a determiner that helps identify whether the noun is singular or plural. We usually only need to add an s on to the end of nouns to create plurals. Plurals of nouns by addings consider these plurals formed by the just add s rule. Nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel are made plural by the addition of s. The construction of the plural for feminine nouns is the easiest in german. This lesson will explain how to use nouns in german, both singularly and plural. When you convert from singular to plural in german, it is important to pay attention to the gender and case accusative or dative as well as the adjectives. There are six ways that german nouns form the plural, and three of them can also add an umlaut, for a total of nine forms.

After a brief and very simple explanation of how plural nouns are formed in english, the video proceeds to explain how plural nouns. Linguists can argue for hours about the plural ending of nouns ending in us. You will not be given words which have two or more possible plural forms, such as mosquito mosquitos or mosquitoes and roof roofs or rooves. Some nouns are the same in their singular and plural forms e. It is quite difficult to give an exact rule when the different endigs are used. A plural noun expresses that there is more than one person, object, idea etc.

In german, however, only a few adopted foreign words have this plural. The ending of a nouns give us a clue as to which plural ending to use. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this exercise, we would love to hear them. Learn how to form plural nouns in german, with pronunciation. As you already know, we have three main articles in german. German plurals are formed by adding nen, e, rer, s. Well, at least in the nominative case, but please dont worry too much about the german cases at this point. Some of them use an umlaut, others have their radical unchanged. When a noun means more than one, it is said to be plural.

German nouns use a very wide range of plural forms, much wider than the range of the english exceptions given above. Singular plural plural nouns ending with er plural singular plural plural plural plural. The easiest way is to learn the plural form each time you learn a new german word. Many german nouns form their plural by adding an e at the end of the noun. Here are a few things to know about german nouns that can help you spot them as you read or listen.

Some of the nouns tak even an umlaut in their plural forms. When a noun is given out of context as in a vocabulary list, these are usually distinguished by including the nominative article. Write the correct plural form for the following nouns. Noun while there are quite a few possibilities to build the german plural you could break it down to three rules based on the german gender.

You will not be given exceptions, such as safe safes. Video of class lecture slides introducing plural german nouns. But when youre learning the german language, there are complicated rules and even those dont cover everything. The plural nouns are a mixture of irregular plural nouns mice, geese, feet, lives, etc. You might have noticed something odd about many of the german words youve seenmany of them start with capital letters. Convert singular to plural code golf stack exchange. The suffix does not only depend on the gender of the noun but also on intonation and on what the last sound of a noun is. This article discusses the variety of ways in which english plural nouns are formed from the corresponding singular forms, as well as various issues concerning the usage of singulars and plurals in english. Eine ganz andere hausnummer a totally different house number. Among these names, we find the majority of neutral names and some male names. Many of these words are loanwords from latin and preserve their latin plural form, replacing the us suffix with i, but of course not all words ending in us have a latin origin, and some latin words ending in us were not pluralized with i. Most german nouns that consist of one syllable will add e to form plurals in all grammatical cases.

Grimm grammar is an online german grammar reference from the university of texas at austin. Below is a semicomprehensive list compiled from various sources. More information contains translations by tu chemnitz and mr honeys business dictionary germanenglish. The grammar and typology of plural noun inflection in varieties of. Just like in english its normal to construct the plural with the ending s. The radical of some nouns remain unchanged in the plural but they take the suffix e. The beginners guide to nailing the german plural fluentu. However, some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant are made plural by the addition of es.

Get up to speed on german nouns, noun genders, plural nouns, and all the different ways to say the in this free beginner german lesson with audio. Learning how to pluralize nouns in german, on the other hand, is a whole new ball game zu deutsch. The pdf e book and 127 mp3s recorded by two native speakers most of which are not online. If youre tired of looking up each new word in a dictionary to find the plural, then this site is just what youve been looking for. The noun pdf can be countable or uncountable in more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be pdf however, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be pdfs e. Singular plural singular plural alto altos motto mottoes curio curios potato potatoes. The main groups of plural noun formation are as follows. The noun vocabulary can be countable or uncountable in more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be vocabulary however, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be vocabularies e.

Enter up to 20 singular german nouns below, each one on a separate line. Yep, every person, place, and thing is capitalized. Nouns are one of many aspects of learning a language, and are often the ones we learn first. Dec 19, 2019 the german plural is pretty complicated. The morphological exponence of the noun categories of case, number and gender in german language presents the linguist with some singularly difficult. Spelling plural nouns adding s answer key an englishzone. As with every grammar rule, there are a few exceptionssheep is both the singular and plural noun. Find a list of german plural nouns using our free online dictionary. Irregular plural nouns list one some nouns that end in f or fe are changed to ves in the plural.

Nouns in german are quite different than in english. Worksheets pdf, handouts to print, printable exercises. One thing to bear in mind with feminine nouns is that if they form a plural with an added e, they will also take an extra umlaut. Plural nouns in german are unpredictable, so its best to memorize the plural form with the singular. Like english, german also has singularia and pluralia tantum nouns that have only singular or only plural forms, and they are usually used in similar ways both languages, for example, share many examples of the singulare tantum when designating uncountable masses. If we use a noun in the plural form, we always use the same article. Feminine nouns get the n plural, unless they umlaut and are subject to a constraint that requires a reduced final. When a noun means one only, it is said to be singular. English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural. Apr 02, 2015 video of class lecture slides introducing plural german nouns.

This blog post is available as a convenient and portable pdf that you can take. German noun plurals not ending in s are not as irregular as clahsen suggests. You will not be given irregular nouns, like mouse and moose. Teach your students to add es to make plural nouns with this plural nouns adding es activity with lesson plans, handout, 11x17 poster, and answer keys from the resourceful teacher. All diminutives nouns with the ending chen are neuter. Notice that words are characterized as nouns by their ability to form plurals. A great followup to my irregular plural nouns sorting center and recording sheet, this worksheet lets the students apply what they practiced by color coding the singular and plural nouns. Plus, there are tons of exceptions because a lot of words are old and follow outdate. Most items that can function as plural nouns may in different syntactic contexts also function as singular nouns, and then must be assigned a gender. These transformations can involve the addition of an umlaut and the alteration of the word ending example. Not only do you have to deal with changing everything that precedes a noun when you pluralize it, but now you are faced with at least five choices to change the noun into. With nounverb tables for the different cases and tenses links to audio pronunciation and.

Plural noun endings in german grammar german plurals are formed by adding nen, e, rer, s. Im currently still learning german, so i dont have them all memorized. Use the helping guide to teach about adding es to form plural nouns. Like english, german also has singularia and pluralia tantum nouns that have only singular or only plural forms, and they are usually used in similar ways. Moreover, nouns ending in a full vowel are somewhat untypical for german, but many of them have been integrated with an n or.

Nouns that end in in such as the female equivalents of masculine nouns add nen. German plurals are formed by adding nen, e, eer, s. Englishgerman online dictionary developed to help you share your knowledge with others. But for the most part, pluralizing nouns in english is a matter of memorizing a few straightforward rules and a handful of irregular exceptions childchildren.