-er (Plural)

Plural Ending -er

Level 1

The -er plural ending is a distinctive pattern where you add -er to the end of a noun and add an umlaut (ä, ö, ü, äu) to the stem vowel if possible.

How It Works

The -er plural is one of the five main ways to form a plural in German. While it is not the most frequent pattern, it is used for some of the most common words in the language.

Key Rules:

  • The Umlaut Rule: If the noun has the vowels a, o, u, or au, you must change them to ä, ö, ü, or äu when adding the -er ending. If the vowel cannot take an umlaut (like i or e), you just add the ending.
  • Gender: This pattern is very common for neuter nouns and exists for a few masculine nouns. It never applies to feminine nouns.
  • Nouns in -tum: Most nouns ending in -tum (like der Irrtum or der Reichtum) use the -er plural and take an umlaut (e.g., die Irrtümer).
  • Special Case 'das Wort': The word das Wort uses this plural (die Wörter) when referring to individual, disconnected words (like in a dictionary). When referring to meaningful speech or a quote, the plural is die Worte.
  • Dative Case: In the dative plural, you must add an extra -n to the ending, making it -ern (e.g., mit den Kindern).

Examples (6)

  1. das Kind → die Kinder

    the child → the children

    A classic neuter noun. Since 'i' cannot take an umlaut, we only add -er.

  2. das Haus → die Häuser

    the house → the houses

    The diphthong 'au' changes to 'äu' because of the -er plural ending.

  3. das Buch → die Bücher

    the book → the books

    The 'u' changes to 'ü' and we add the -er ending.

  4. der Mann → die Männer

    the man → the men

    One of the few masculine nouns that uses the -er + umlaut pattern.

  5. das Lied → die Lieder

    the song → the songs

    A neuter noun where no umlaut is possible, so we just add -er.

  6. der Wald → die Wälder

    the forest → the forests

    Another masculine noun that follows this specific plural pattern.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting the mandatory umlaut.

    Ich habe zwei Bucher.
    Ich habe zwei Bücher.

    If a noun takes the -er plural ending and has a vowel that can be umlauted (a, o, u, au), the umlaut is required, not optional.

  • Applying -er to feminine nouns.

    die Frauer
    die Frauen

    Feminine nouns never use the -er plural ending. They almost always use -(e)n or -e + umlaut.

  • Forgetting the extra -n in the dative case.

    Ich spiele mit den Kinder.
    Ich spiele mit den Kindern.

    In the dative plural, all nouns that don't already end in -n or -s must add an -n. This turns -er into -ern.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-er (Plural)Level 1Plural Ending -er

Learn This First

To learn the -er plural ending, you first need to understand German noun genders, as this ending primarily applies to neuter nouns. You also need to know the plural definite article 'die' and be familiar with umlaut changes, which frequently accompany this specific plural form.

Words in This Pattern

-er