Pluralization of noun

Deciding on how to pluralize a German noun is a bothersome aspect of the  language, as plurals can be formed in any one of nine ways, i.e. by adding  ¨, -e, ¨e, -er, ¨er, -n, -en, -s or by simply doing nothing to the noun. There is  a direct connection between the gender of a noun and the way it forms its  plural – only certain endings apply to certain genders. Some generalizations  apply, even if there are many exceptions to these rules, e.g

A) A monosyllabic masculine noun forms its plural by adding ¨e (Baum  Bäume), although some add just -e (Schuh  Schuhe).

B) A feminine noun takes -en (Tür  Türen), but some take ¨e (Stadt  Städte).

C) A monosyllabic neuter noun takes ¨er (Haus  Häuser), but some take -e (Jahr  Jahre).

Nearly all German nouns belong to one of the following i ve groups. Learn the  following by heart and you will seldom have to deal with exceptions to these  rules. The system applied below is as follows. Each group starts with the rule,  e.g. do not change in the plural. Then follow the dei nitions of the nouns that  belong in that group and then the common exceptions to the rule are listed.

The lists of exceptions are not complete, but they do contain by far the most  common nouns you are likely to encounter. In some instances the lists contain  not the exceptions to the rule, but the nouns to which the rule in question  applies, as the number of nouns concerned is i nite. A little time spent now  getting this under your belt will save you a great deal of l oundering later.