How To Make Dutch Nouns Plural A Simple Introduction?

There are two main endings in Dutch for formation of plural nouns:

(1) en,

(2) s

Ending on an en.

Rule 1: noun+en

Tip: Just add en to the nound, example lamp- lampen (lamps), konigin- koniginnen (kings).

Note if there is a short consonant sound at the end of the word like konigin, rok, geval then the consonant is doubled up before adding the suffix en. So rok becomes rokken, konigin becomes konniginnen, and geval becomes gevallen. Similarly is there is a long consonant then it should be shortened by deleting the vowel and adding en, example, peer- peren (pears), gevaar- gevaren (dangers).

Rule 2 for en endings: If the word ends on f then it changes to v before suffixing en and if it ends on s then it changes to z.

Example: Neus- neuzen (noses), brief- brieven (letters). The exception to this rule are tovenaar (wizard), and certain nouns ending on an o, u, a such as auto (car), menu (menu), programma (programme)- all these take the apostrophe s not en. So auto become auto's, menu becomes menu's.

Rule 3: For en endings these are the list of irregular nouns that take eren or en:

• Kind: Kinderen,

• Kalf: Kalveren,

• Ei: Eiren,

• Gemoed: Gemoederen,

• Goed: Goederen,

• Volk: Volkeren,

• Been: Beenderen,

• Dag: Dagen,

• Dak: Daken,

• Dal: Dalen,

• God: Goden,

• Schot: Schoten.

Now we focus on s endings:

There are certain instances of nouns when we should add s:

1. Nouns ending on a single vowel,

2. Unstressed vowel combo such as el, em, en, er, erd, aar, aard, and um.

3. Stressed endings for vowels on eur or foon.

4. Persons title ending in oor, ier.

5. Foreign words.

6. Names of letters and acronyms, nouns that end in a single vowel should take the apostrophe s like ski- ski's, oma- oma's. radio-radio's.