Afrikaans borrows freely — from English, Latin, Greek, Malay and beyond — and borrowed nouns do not always follow the native plural rules covered on the plurals overview. This page handles the loanword cases. There are really only three things to learn: most loanwords just take -s, vowel-final loans take apostrophe-s (foto's), and a handful of Latin and Greek words keep, or compete with, their original plurals. Get the apostrophe rule right and you will already sound far more literate than most learners.
The default: loanwords take -s
Native Afrikaans nouns mostly pluralise with -e (boom → bome). But borrowed words overwhelmingly take -s instead — the same ending English uses, which is why these feel easy. If a loanword ends in a consonant, you simply add -s:
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| hotel | hotels | hotels |
| motor | motors | cars / motors |
| trekker | trekkers | tractors |
| rekenaar | rekenaars | computers |
Daar is twee hotels langs die see.
There are two hotels next to the sea.
Die boer het drie nuwe trekkers gekoop.
The farmer bought three new tractors.
The apostrophe-s rule: vowel-final loans
This is the rule that separates a careful writer from a careless one. When a loanword ends in a vowel — especially a, o, u, i — Afrikaans inserts an apostrophe before the -s:
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| foto | foto's | photos |
| radio | radio's | radios |
| taxi | taxi's | taxis |
| ma | ma's | moms |
| ouma | ouma's | grandmas |
| menu | menu's | menus |
Sy het al die foto's op haar foon gestoor.
She saved all the photos on her phone.
Daar staan drie taxi's voor die stasie.
There are three taxis standing in front of the station.
Ek bel my ouma's elke Sondag.
I call my grandmas every Sunday.
Why the apostrophe? It is the same instinct that drives the Afrikaans diaeresis (reën, vlieë): the language hates running two vowels together where they might blur. Adding a bare -s to a vowel is fine, but the apostrophe keeps the stem visible — foto's clearly shows the word foto with a plural marker, rather than a new-looking blob fotos where the eye has to work out where the stem ends. Think of the apostrophe as a tiny seam stitched in at the join between a vowel-final stem and its plural -s. For the apostrophe's other uses, see the apostrophe page.
A note on -y and silent -e endings
English-style loans kept with a written -y also take the apostrophe when that -y spells a final vowel sound: hobby → hobby's, baby → baby's. (Many such words are simply nativised instead — baby usually becomes baba, plural baba's — which lands you at the same apostrophe.) The reliable test is always the sound, not the spelling: if the word ends in a clear vowel sound (i, o, u, or a stressed a), use the apostrophe. Words ending in a silent -e, by contrast, simply add -s with no apostrophe (kafee → kafees), because the written -e already buffers the join.
Ons het twee nuwe kafees in die dorp.
We have two new cafés in town.
Latin and Greek words: native or foreign plural?
A small but visible group of loanwords comes from Latin or Greek, often ending in -um or -a. These are the genuinely tricky ones, because Afrikaans often allows two plurals: a nativised one in -s and the inherited classical one.
| Singular | Native plural | Classical plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| museum | museums | musea | museums |
| kurrikulum | kurrikulums | kurrikula | curricula |
| medium | mediums | media | media |
| indeks | indekse | indices (rare) | indexes |
Kaapstad het verskeie wonderlike museums.
Cape Town has several wonderful museums.
Die universiteit hersien al sy kurrikulums.
The university is revising all its curricula.
The honest situation: there is no neat rule telling you which words keep a classical plural. It is a matter of convention you absorb word by word. In everyday and journalistic Afrikaans, the nativised -s plural (museums, kurrikulums) is increasingly normal and always safe; the classical forms (musea, kurrikula) survive mainly in formal and academic writing. When you do not know, the -s form will rarely be wrong. Note too that media has drifted into use as a singular mass noun (die media is...), exactly as in English.
Abbreviations and letters
Initialisms and single letters also take an apostrophe before -s, for the same readability reason: die ATM's, die 1990's, twee A's en 'n B. See abbreviations and acronyms for the wider pattern.
Sy het twee A's vir haar eksamens gekry.
She got two A's in her exams.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek het baie fotos geneem.
Incorrect — vowel-final loan needs an apostrophe: foto's.
✅ Ek het baie foto's geneem.
I took lots of photos.
❌ Drie taxis voor die stasie.
Incorrect — taxi ends in a vowel, so: taxi's.
✅ Drie taxi's voor die stasie.
Three taxis in front of the station.
❌ Twee hotel's langs die see.
Incorrect — hotel ends in a consonant, so a plain -s, no apostrophe.
✅ Twee hotels langs die see.
Two hotels next to the sea.
❌ Drie museia / museus.
Incorrect spelling — it's either museums (native) or musea (classical).
✅ Drie museums / drie musea.
Three museums.
❌ Ek bel my oumas elke Sondag.
Incorrect — ouma ends in a vowel: ouma's.
✅ Ek bel my ouma's elke Sondag.
I call my grandmas every Sunday.
Key takeaways
- Most loanwords pluralise with -s, not the native -e: hotels, motors, trekkers.
- Vowel-final loans take apostrophe-s: foto's, radio's, taxi's, ma's, ouma's — the same hiatus-avoiding logic as the diaeresis, applied at the plural seam. See the apostrophe.
- Consonant-final loans take a plain -s with no apostrophe: hotels, never hotel's.
- Latin/Greek words vary: native museums/kurrikulums (safe, everyday) versus classical musea/kurrikula (formal). No rule predicts the preference; learn them individually. See loanword spelling.
- Abbreviations and single letters also take apostrophe-s: ATM's, A's. See abbreviations and acronyms.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Forming Plurals: -e and -sA1 — How Afrikaans builds most plurals with the endings -e and -s, and how to choose between them.
- Plurals with the DiaeresisA2 — Why some Afrikaans plurals carry a diaeresis (oog→oë, knie→knieë, see→seë): the -e ending brings two vowels together, and the dots simply mark the syllable break.
- Spelling Loanwords and InternationalismsB1 — How Afrikaans adapts borrowed spellings — nativising some words fully, keeping foreign letters in others, and always attaching native endings on top.
- The Apostrophe: 'n and Clipped FormsA1 — Every use of the Afrikaans apostrophe — the article 'n, sentence-initial capitalisation, clipped forms like dis, and foreign-stem diminutives.
- Abbreviations and AcronymsB2 — Afrikaans abbreviations end in a point (bv., ens., asb.), acronyms take die and an ordinary -s plural, and acronyms and figures pluralise with an apostrophe before the -s (CD's, 1990's).