The pattern
Add -en to the singular. Change the spelling only where needed, usually to keep the vowel sounding the same.
- A double aa, ee, oo or uu before one final consonant loses a letter: de boom, bomen. Before two consonants it stays: het feest, feesten.
- After a short vowel in a stressed last syllable, a single final consonant letter is normally doubled: de kat, katten.
- A final s or f often becomes z or v: het huis, huizen; de brief, brieven.
- Every plural takes de: het huis, de huizen.
- Many nouns ending in unstressed -el, -er or -je take _-s_ instead.
Examples
| De fietsen staan bij het station. | The bikes are at the station. |
| In onze straat staan veel bomen. | There are a lot of trees in our street. |
| Emma heeft drie katten. | Emma has three cats. |
| De huizen in Utrecht zijn duur. | The houses in Utrecht are expensive. |
| Priya schrijft twee brieven aan de gemeente. | Priya writes two letters to the municipality. |
| De tomaten zijn vandaag goedkoop. | The tomatoes are cheap today. |
Why it works this way
The ending -en adds a syllable, and Dutch spelling follows one deal: a vowel that ends its syllable usually sounds long, even written once. So bo-men needs only one o, while kat needs a second t to close the syllable and keep the a short: kat-ten. More in open and closed syllables.
Dutch words almost never end in a written z or v, so the z of huizen and the v of brieven appear as s and f in the singular.
The new syllable is weak, so the stress stays put: pro-BLEEM, pro-BLE-men. A few words in -or shift it: de MO-tor, mo-TO-ren. Some common nouns also change their vowel, such as dag, dagen and schip, schepen: learn those one by one.
Remember: the plural is the singular plus a soft extra syllable, spelled so the vowel usually keeps its sound.
Watch out
Nottwee boomen
Saytwee bomen
one o is enough in bo-men
Nottwee busen
Saytwee bussen
the double s keeps the u short
Notde huisen
Sayde huizen
the s becomes z after ui
Notvier boeks
Sayvier boeken
the plural of boek is boeken
Quick check
- Fill in the plural: Daan kent alle ... in Leiden. (de straat)
- Fill in the plural: Op maandag heb ik twee ... (de les)
- Choose: De ... in deze supermarkt zijn laag. (prijsen or prijzen)
- Fix the sentence: Fatima gaat dit weekend naar twee festen.
Show the answers
- straten (one a is enough in stra-ten)
- lessen (the double s keeps the e short)
- prijzen (the s becomes z after ij)
- Fatima gaat dit weekend naar twee feesten. (two consonants follow, so ee stays)
Use it today
Write your next shopping list with numbers: twee broden, zes tomaten, drie citroenen. Say each plural aloud, with the stress where the singular has it.