Nouns Ending in -ling
When facing an alien invasion, you will need the right vocabulary to describe the creatures, heroes, and villains involved. In German, many nouns describing specific types of people or beings end in the suffix -ling.
This suffix comes with two reliable rules:
- Always masculine: Nouns ending in -ling use the article der (or its case-specific forms like den and dem).
- Regular plurals: To form the plural, simply add -e (making it -linge). There are no extra vowel changes or umlauts.
| the earthling | der Erdling |
You can easily recognize both the singular and plural forms in action.
| The earthlings are not only brave, but also smart. | Die Erdlinge sind nicht nur mutig, sondern auch schlau. |
Because these words are masculine, their articles shift predictably depending on their role in the sentence (like the dative diesem).
| Apart from this earthling, all humans are rescued. | Abgesehen von diesem Erdling sind alle Menschen gerettet. |
When the noun is the direct object (accusative case), the article becomes den.
| The weapon injured the intruder. | Die Waffe hat den Eindringling verletzt. |
Whenever you refer to a group, look for the -e ending alongside a plural article.
| The intruders are becoming our enemies. | Die Eindringlinge werden unsere Feinde. |
This pattern applies to a wide variety of descriptive nouns. Whether you are dealing with strangers, cowards, newcomers, or tiny creatures, the -ling suffix behaves exactly the same way.
| No one trusts the stranger. | Niemand vertraut dem Fremdling. |
| The cowards flee from the city. | Die Feiglinge fliehen aus der Stadt. |
| The newcomers do not understand the danger. | Die Neulinge verstehen die Gefahr nicht. |
| To the aliens, we are only tiny creatures. | Für die Außerirdischen sind wir nur Winzlinge. |