Most Dutch nouns form their plural by simply adding -en or -s. However, some common nouns are irregular and change their vowel sound or use a different ending.
Short-to-Long Vowel Shifts
Several nouns with a short vowel in the singular get a long vowel in the plural. To spell this long vowel sound before the -en ending, we use a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant.
For example, de god (the god) has a short o, but its plural de goden has a long o:
| Whose are these statues of the old gods? | Van wie zijn deze standbeelden van de oude goden? |
Similarly, het vat (the barrel) gets a long a in its plural de vaten:
| The wooden barrels have fallen out of the big ship. | De houten vaten zijn uit het grote schip gevallen. |
Vowel Changes: i to e
A few specific nouns change their vowel entirely, shifting from a short i to a long e.
Het schip (the ship) becomes de schepen:
| Small models of historical ships are in this display case. | In deze vitrine staan kleine modellen van historische schepen. |
De smid (the blacksmith) becomes de smeden:
| The blacksmiths make golden rings for the court of the gods. | De smeden maken gouden ringen voor het hof van de goden. |
The -eren Plural
A handful of neuter nouns add -eren to form their plural. The most common one you will encounter is het kind (the child), which becomes de kinderen.
| The children find the ships and the blacksmiths very interesting. | De kinderen vinden de schepen en de smeden erg interessant. |