[JW] MAKING GERMAN PLURALS EASY/MANAGEABLE
Dr. Jerry Weatherford, Georgia Southern University Presented at: Foreign Language Association of Georgia, February, 1997
I. RULES FOR BEGINNERS
A. GENERAL 1. The plural of compound nouns is formed by pluralizing the last element of the compound. 2. Almost all nouns which i-!nd in -e (not -ee) pluralize by adding -n (never with an added umlaut). 3. Tell students to avoid guessing an s-plural.
B. FEMININE NOUNS. 1. The basic plural ending for feminine nouns is -en. A large percentage of them form the plural with some variation of this ending, and all of the rulet for beginners involve -en or a variation thereof. 2. All feminine nouns which end in -e pluralize in -n. 3. Nouns which end in -er or -el add -n instead of -en. 4. Nouns which end in -in add -nen.
C. MASCULINE NOUNS. 1. The most common plural i?nding is -e. Students must be taught to avoid using -en as the default p.l.ural for masculines and neuters. 2. Masculine nouns which ei,id in -er, -el or -en never add an ending when fon ing the plural; in some ca:;es an umlaut is added.
D. NEUTER NOUNS 1. Most multisyllabic and i4uite a few monosyllabic neuters form the plural with -e. 2. All nouns ending in -cbi@n and -lein pluralize by adding nothing. 3. As with masculines, neu-ters which end in -en, -el and -er always pluralize by adding no ending, generally without an umlaut. .
II. RULES FOR INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS
A. GENERAL 1. Keep in mind that no pluralization in -en or -n adds an umlaut. Don't le students catch "umlautitis."
B. FEMININE NOUNS 1. Two important exceptions to previous rules are Mutter and Tochter, both o which pluralize by adding Dnly an umlaut with no ending (Miltter and Tdchter) 2. A few one-syllable feminines pluralize by adding "-e. The umlaut is mandatory, so no feminine noun word which doesn't have a vowel that can take an umlaut can be pluralized in this manner.
C. MASCULINE NOUNS 1. A very small number of masculine nouns, encluding Mann, Gott, Geist, Leib and Mund pluralize by adding -er and, wherever possible, an umlaut. 2. Masculine nouns which ei,id in -or pluralize by adding -en. 3. There is a fairly large number of the masculine weak nouns (also called n- nouns). These are usually foreign nouns, often involve occupations, nationalities or animals, and in-2lude nouns with certain foreign suffixes like -ent -ant, etc.
D. NEUTER NOUNS 1. The addition of an umlaut with the -e plural ending is rare. 2. There is a very small number of neuter nouns which pluralize by adding -n or -en. The most common ones are the following five: Auge, Bett, Ende, Hemd, Ohr. 3. Most one-syllable neute.-rs, and a few others, such as compounds ending in -tum, pluralize by adding --er, always with umlaut whenever possible.
IV. RULES FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS
A. GENERAL 1. There are a few nouns (inasculines and neuters, no feminines) which end in -e and add no ending for tl:ie plural. They include der Kiise (die close ; das Knie (die Knie) and tb,3se neuter collective nouns which begin with Ge- anend with -e, such as Gebirl-,e, Gebgude, etc. 2. Pluralization by adding an -s (never with added umlaut) is relatively rare and it occurs primarily with words of foreig origin. There are also four other small groups of noun:3 in the s-plural category. a) Family names, like die Miillers (die Schmidts), etc. b) Abbreviated words, su.@h as der Kuli (Kulis) (from der Kugelschreiber; die 14utti uttis) (from die Mutter). c) Acronyms, like der VW_(VWs); der BMW MWs), d) A few words from Low 4,;erman, which often have an English cognate, such as das Deck (Decks); das Wrack (Wracks). e) Some other nouns are .-also routinely pluralized by adding -s in colloquia German, but they are :not pluralized that way in the formal language: der Junge (die Jungen PL or Jungs); der Kerl (Kerls); das Frgulein (Fr4ulei.-ns); das M.Idel (Midels). 3. Nouns which end in -nis, which includes some nouns from all three genders, always add -se for the -plural, never with added umlaut. Some examples are Geheimnis, Bildnis, Ken:fitnis. 4. Some nouns are not used in the plural (mass nouns). Examples include words such as Milch. Butter. Zucker, (some sugar or a package of sugar, not a sugar), etc. 5. Another group of nouns (such as die Eltern) is used only in the plural. 6. A small group of nouns 'has more than one plural, depending on the meaning of the noun. 7. A very small group of nouns (of foreign origin) has more than one plural because usage hasn't yet settled on one plural form. 8. A group of adjectives K,Iien used as nouns retains the adjective endings, such as der Verwandte (die Verwandten.), der Beamte (die Beamten)
B. FEMININE NOUNS 1. Many feminines of foreilyn origin which end in -a or -o drop the final vowe' and add -en to form the plural: (die Arena / Arenen, die Liga / Ligen, etc.) 2. In addition to the one-:3yllable feminine nouns which pluralize by adding It-e, words containing the :3uffix, -kunft also pluralize by adding "-e, even though they are not monosyllabic. Example: Ankunft / Ankiinfte.) Remember: the umlaut is manndatory. 3. Students should keep in mind that the only feminine nouns which add an umlaut for the plural are '.-.he one-syllable words and those with the suffix -kunft which pluralize in "-e as well as the two words which add only an umlaut, Mutter and Tochter.
C. MASCULINE NOUNS 1. The most difficult part of learning plurals is knowing when to add an umlaut with a masculine noun.
D. NEUTER NOUNS 1. It is harder with neute-.rs than with feminines and masculines to establish a "default plural." The besi-, we can say is that one-syllable neuters are liable to pluralize with -er (and with umlaut whenever possible) and that mulitsyllabic neuters tend to pluralize with -e. 2. Of those neuter nouns which end in -en, -el and -er (they always add no ending in the plural), onlv das Kloster / K18ster and compounds of Wwasser,, such as das Abwasser /'.Abw:isser add umlaut. 3. Some of the nouns derivi-@d from Latin words have unusual plurals, but they are relatively easy to mas@ter. Here are some examples: das Drama / Dramen, das Museum / Museen
V. EXERCISES FOR PLURALS---BEGINNERS
1. der Tisch 2. die Ampel 3. die Autorin 4. das Mgdchen 5. die Rose 6. der Schliissel 7. die Tafel 8. die Fahrt 9. der Wagen 10. die Zeit 11. der Brief 12. die Nudel 13. der Teller 14. die Wohnung 15. das Frgulein 16. das Br8tchen 17. der Arm 18. die Burg 19. die Frau 20. der Witz 21. die Adresse 22. die Wirtin 23. die Blume 24. die Nummer 25. die Kartoffel 26. das StUck 27. die Nachricht 28. die Partei 29. das Papier 30. der Weg 31. der Bilrger 32. der Wanderer 33. das Fragment 34. das Zimmer 35. die Art 36. die Vokabel 37. der Artikel 38. der Bahnhof 39. die Forderung
VI. EXERCISES FOR PLURALS: INTERMEDIATES
1. das Bett 2. die Wand 3. der Motor 4. der Nachbar 5. der Professor 6. der Vogel 7. das Bein 8. der Leib 9. das Ei 10. die Form 11. der Fehler 12. die Gebiihr 13. der Bauer 14. der Landwirt 15. das Heft 16. das Tal 17. der Wiener 18. der Elefant 19. der Onkel 20. der Satz 21. die Altst4dt 22. das Feld 23. der Mann 24. das Ende 25. die Nacht 26. das Bild 27. das Dorf 28. das Bad 29. das Ohr 30. die Mutter 31. das Hemd 32. die Tochter 33. der Geist 34. das Auge 35. das Glas 36. das Boot 37. die Hand 38. de:r Professor 39. der Akademiker 40. das Fach
VII. EXERCISES FOR PLURALS: ADVANCED 1. der Kuli 2. das Biiro 3. das Radio 4. das Kleid 5. der VW 6. der Name 7. die Karotte 8. die Wissenschaft 9. das Knie 10. Herr & Frau Schmidt 11. die Natur 12. die Eltern 13. die Butter 14. der Kgse 15. der Deutsche 16. der Junge 17. der Mensch 18. der Regenschirm 19. die Geschwister 20. die Alte 21. die Milch 22. die Ankunft 23. der Beamte 24. der Alte 25. das Drama 26. die Mutti 27. der Zucker 28. das Museum 29. das Cafe 30. das Gebgude 31. das Auto 32. das Bildnis 33. die Liga 34. das Kloster 35. der Junge 36. das Deck 37. die Kenntnis 38. das Geheimnis 39. die Arena 40. die Beamtin 41. der Reichtum 42. der Verwandte
VIII. APPENDICES: HELPFUL (but not exhaustive) LISTS.
Appendix 1. A Sample List of Non-Count (mass) Nouns
1. die Polizei 2. der Pfi?ffer 5. das Benehmen 6. die Bui::ter 9. der Eifer 10. die Elf?ktrizitgt 13. die Gymnastik 14. dii@ Jugend 17. die Melancholie 21. der Mut 22.
Appendix 2. A 1. das Team 5. das BUro 9. das Dessert 13. die Kamera 19. der Militgr 23. der Park 18. 4lie Milch die Na!Lur 3. die Weisheit 7. das Chaos . das Salz 8. die Dauer 1. das Entsetzen 12. der Schmutz 15. der Kapitalismus 16. das Leid 19. 23. das Mitleid 20. die Musik der Neid 24. der Schnee
Sample List of s-Plurals. 2. da@3 Auto 6. dei- Teenager 10. deir VW 1 14. da@3 Kgngeruh 1 20. de:r Kuli 2 24. da:3 Tablett 3. der BMW 7. das Cockpit 11. das Genie 16. das Kino 21. die Bar
Appendix 3. A Sample List of Nouns Ending in -nis. 1. das Xrgernis 5. das Bildnis 2. da;3 Bediirfnis 6. da:3 Biindnis 3. die Verhgltnis 7. das Geheimnis
Appendix 4. A Sample List of Feminine
1. Ankunft 5. Gans 9. Kuh 13. Maus 17. Sucht 2. Au:.,kunft 6. Hai-id 10. Kui.,ist 14. Na,2ht 18. Wai-id
Nouns which Pluralize 3. Einkunft 7. Haut 11. Zunft 15. Naht 4. das Bonbon 8. der Cowboy 12. das Interview 18. der Klub 22. der Star 4. das Bekenntnis 8. die Kenntnis
by Adding "-e. 4. Brust 8. Kraft 12. Macht 16. Sau
Appendix 5. 1. Ader 5. Epistel 9. Gabel 13. Kammer 17. Klammer 21. Mandel 25. Nummer 29. Schiisgel
Appendix 6. Possible). 1. Geist 5. Reichtum
A Sample List of Feminine Nouns Ending in -el and -er.
2 .Ampel 6 .Zwiebel 10. Ge.i-Bel 14. Kal?sel 18. Kl;ausel 22. Mu::,chel 26. Ori3el 30. StiEtuer 3 .Angel 7 .Faser 11. Jungfer 15. Kartoffel 19. Kugel 23. Nadel 27. Regel 31. Tafel 4 .Distel 8 .Feder 12. Wurzel 16. Kief er 20. Leiter 24. Nudel 28. Schulter 32. Wimper
A List of Masculine Nouns Pluralizing in -er (Umlaut Whenever
2. Le.i.b 6. Goizt 3. Mann 7. Wald 4. Mund
Appendix 7. A Sample List of Neuter Nouns which Pluralize with -er (Umlaut Whenever Possible). 1. Altertum 2. Ami-,-. 3. Bad 4. Blatt 5. Brett 6. Dei-ikmal 7. Dorf 8. Bi 9. Eigentum 10. Fi:@ld 11. Glas 12. Geld 13. Glied 14. Gi-ab 15. Gut 16. Haupt 17. Haus 18. Hiihn 19. Kalb 20. Kind 21. Kleid 22. Kj,.-aut 23. Land 24. Licht 25. Lied 26. L(:)ch 27. Maul 28. Nest 29. Rad 30. T@al 31. Volk 2. Ami-,-. 6. Dei-ikmal 10. Fi:@ld 14. Gi-ab 18. Hiihn 22. Kj,.-aut 26. L(:)ch 30. T@a I 3. Bad 7. Dorf 11. Glas 15. Gut 19. Kalb 23. Land 27. Maul 31. Volk 4. Blatt 8. Bi 12. Geld 16. Haupt 20. Kind 24. Licht 28. Nest
Appendix 8. A List of Tho:3e Neuter Nouns Which Pluralize in -n or -en.
1. Auge 5. Ohr 2. Bi?tt 6. Ii-isekt 3. Ende
Appendix 9. A Sample List of Nouns Which Are Only Plural. 1. Eltern (a new singular has been formed: der Elternteil) 2. Ferien 3. Geschwister 4. Masern 4. Hemd 5. Spesen