Introduction

The plural in German can take the endings n/en, e, r/er, s, or no ending at all.

die Geldscheine
die Münzen
das Geld (no plural)
Here we have made a summary of which plural endings tend to go with which word
endings. However, there are many exceptions.

Plural Ending n/en

 masculine nouns with the endings e, ent, and, ant, ist, or

Example:
der Student – die Studenten
 feminine nouns with the endings e, in, ion, ik, heit, keit, schaft, tät, ung

Example:
die Nation – die Nationen
To note: in the case of feminine nouns that end in in, the “n” is doubled
Example:
die Lehrerin – die Lehrerinnen
 With foreign words that end in ma, um, us, we usually replace the noun ending in
the plural with en.
Example:
das Thema – die Themen

Plural Ending e
 masculine nouns with the endings eur, ich, ier, ig, ling, ör
Example:
der Friseur – die Friseure
 many single-syllable feminine nouns (plural takes an umlaut)
Example:
die Hand – die Hände
Plural Ending r/er
 many single-syllable neuter nouns (plural often takes an umlaut)
Example:
das Wort – die Wörter
 To note: feminine nouns never form the plural with r/er.

Plural Ending s
 masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns with the endings a, i, o, u, y
Example:
der Opa – die Opas
das Auto – die Autos
die Mutti – die Muttis
das Hobby – die Hobbys
 family names
Example:
die Lehmanns (= the Lehmann family)

No Plural Ending
 masculine nouns with the endings el, en, er
Example:
der Löffel – die Löffel
 neuter nouns with the endings chen, lein
Example:
das Mädchen – die Mädchen

Singular or Plural
 Most nouns can be used in the singular and the plural.
Example:
der Geldschein – die Geldscheine
die Münze – die Münzen
 Some nouns tend to be used only in the singular.
Example:
das Geld, der Hunger, die Milch
There is a plural form, “die Gelder”, but this has a different meaning.
 Some nouns are used only in the plural.
Example:
die Eltern, die Leute, die Ferien