Forming Plurals with -s
While -en is the most common plural ending, many Dutch nouns take -s instead. You will generally use -s for nouns that end in unstressed syllables (like -el, -er, or -en) and for all diminutives (words ending in -je).
| Two waiters are walking to the tables. | Twee obers lopen naar de tafels. |
| Do the girls always eat cookies? | Eten de meisjes altijd koekjes? |
| The boys are ordering a lot of drinks. | De jongens bestellen veel drankjes. |
The Apostrophe Plural: -'s
When a noun ends in a single open vowel (-a, -i, -o, -u, or -y), simply adding an -s would accidentally change the pronunciation, making the vowel sound short.
To keep the vowel sound long, Dutch adds an apostrophe plus s: -'s.
| We want menus and peanuts. | We willen menu's en pinda's. |
| They are ordering three cappuccinos and four colas. | Ze bestellen drie cappuccino's en vier cola's. |
Words Ending in -é
There is one exception to the apostrophe rule. If a word ends in -é, the accent mark already guarantees that the vowel sound will stay long. In these cases, you do not need an apostrophe—just attach the -s directly to the word.
| The cafes here are small. | De cafés hier zijn klein. |
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