Meervoud/ Plural
You write a word in the plural when you are talking about two or more people or things. With one person or thing, the noun is in the singular. You make the plural by writing -en, -s or -‘s after the singular.
EXAMPLES
Below is an example of words ending in -en, -s or -‘s in the plural.
- voet > voeten
- tafel > tafels
- baby > baby‘s
Meervoudsvormen
How do you know which plural to choose? Most nouns are written in the plural with -en.
- hand > handen
- fiets > fietsen
There are also rules for the endings s and ‘s. If a word ends in -e, -el, -en, -er, -em, -ie or -eau then you write an s in the plural.
- moeder > moeders
- bureau > bureaus
If a word ends in -i, -a, -o, -u, -y, you make it plural with ‘s.
- taxi > taxi‘s
- auto > auto‘s
If there is a vowel before the y, you add the s to it. (remember vowels? a, e, i, o,y, u & ij)
- essay > essays
- discjockey > discjockeys
Soms schrijf je in het meervoud de uitgang -eren.
- kind > kinderen
- ei > eieren
- dier > dieren
Plural of compound words
A compound word is a word made up of two words, for example, football. This word is made of foot and ball. The plural of a compound word is made with the second word, bal: voetbal. NOTE: In this last example you will see that an extra -l has been added. (1 bal > 2 baLLen ). The rule for this:
When you write words in the plural, you sometimes write them with one consonant and sometimes with two. To determine whether you should write one or two consonants, look at the vowel that precedes the consonant(s):
If this is a short vowel, you write the word with two consonants so that the sound does not change.
ster – sterren
vlag – vlaggen
tel – tellen
If this is a long vowel, you write the word with one consonant to keep the sound long (if there was a double vowel in the singular, you leave one out).
kraan – kranen
knoop – knopen
slaap – slapen