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Short   (Het) meervoud click to hear 2 — The Dutch Plural, Plurals
Most Dutch nouns have a plural either in ‑EN (or ‑N) — or in ‑S, for instance:
- (de) mens click to hear 2 / mensen click to hear man, human / men, humans
- (de) vogel click to hear 2 / vogels click to hear 2 bird / birds
You could say most one-syllable words have an ‑EN plural, and most longer words have an ‑S plural, but it's of couse not a perfect rule.
Like in verbs and adjectives, adding the ‑EN ending may cause spelling changes, double vowels becoming single vowels, or single consonants becoming double consonants, for instance:
- (de) boom click to hear 2 / bomen (bo-men) click to hear tree / trees
- (de) bom click to hear 2 / bommen (bom-men) click to hear 2 - bomb / bombs
- (het) been click to hear 2 3 / benen click to hear 2 leg (human and horse) / legs
- (de) wet click to hear / wetten click to hear law / laws
Dutch words ending in a single vowel -a, -i, -o or -u (not -e!) have an 'S plural, the apostrophe to show that the ending vowel is 'long'
- (de) auto click to hear / auto's click to hear car / cars
- (de) paraplu click to hear / paraplu's click to hear 2 umbrella / umbrellas
The plurals of diminutives (words ending in -je) and most other words ending in ‑E have an ‑S ending, for instance:
- (het) meisje click to hear / meisjes click to hear girl / girls
- (de) dame click to hear / dames click to hear lady // queen (chess) / ladies // queens
But most people descriptions ending in ‑E have an ‑N ending, for instance:
- (de) getuige click to hear 2 / getuigen click to hear 2 witness / witnesses
Most nouns ending in ‑F or ‑S 'shift' to ‑VEN or ‑ZEN plurals, for instance:
- (de) brief click to hear 2 / brieven click to hear letter (mail) / letters
- (de) kaas click to hear 2 / kazen click to hear cheese / cheeses
Many common nouns have a vowel 'lengthening' in the plural:
- (de) dag click to hear 2 / dagen click to hear 2 day / days
- (het) spel click to hear / spelen click to hear game, play
Several types of irregular plurals:
- (het) kind click to hear 2 / kinderen click to hear 2 3 child / children
- (de) stad click to hear / steden click to hear 2 city, town / cities, towns
- (de) zeeman click to hear 2 / zeelui click to hear 2 [sea-man] sailor / sailors
- (de) moeilijkheid click to hear 2 / moeilijkheden click to hear 2 difficulty / difficulties, problems
- (de) waarheid click to hear / onwaarheden click to hear truth / [untruths] lies
- (het) museum click to hear / musea click to hear 2 3 4 5 museum / museums
- (de) technicus click to hear 2 3 / technici click to hear 2 3 engineer, technician / engineers
- (de) zangeres click to hear 2 / zangeressen click to hear 2 lady singer / lady singers
- (de) kraai click to hear 2 / kraaien click to hear 2 crow / crows
- (de) zee click to hear / zeeën click to hear 2 sea / seas
- (de) koe click to hear / koeien click to hear cow / cows
The Dutch units of measure are rarely used in the plural:
- 1 kilo, 2 kilo click to hear 2 1 kilo, 2 kilos
- 1 meter, 2 meter click to hear 2 1 meter, 2 meters
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