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De Het Long Vowel Short Plural Nouns Ending

Front Plural grammar dutch
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- -s: nouns containing two or more syllables and ending in: -el, -em, -en, -er, ie, e, é or -je: de tafels, de bodems, de meisjes, de kamers

- 's: nouns ending in vowels (except for -e) -a, -i, -o, -u or -y, (reason: keep the long vowel, if we use -s the long vowel becomes short): de opa's, de taxi's, de kilo's, de baby's, de cafés ( 's is redundant because it has an accent). Dutch words never end in vowels except for -e

- -eren: no specific rules: het kind-de kinderen, het ei-de eieren, het blad-de bladeren

- -en: most of the words form its plural with -en but there are no specific rules, but there are some ortographic rules if the plural is formed with -en:
+ No specific ortographic rules: de citroen-de citroenen, het park-de parken
+ aa, ee, oo and uu followed by a consonant becomes a, e, o or u: de minuut-de minuten, de tomaat-de tomaten, de week-de weken. EXCEPTION: de kaart-de kaarten, het paard-de paarden
+ Short words ended in consonant become double consonant: de bus-de bussen, de kat-de katten, de bel-de bellen
+ f at the end of the word becomes v, but never in a short vowel (strag-straffen): de golf-de de golven, de brief-de brieven. EXCEPTION: de fotograaf-de fotografen
+ s at the end of the word becomes z, but never in a short vowel (kas-kassen) or when it becomes long vowel in the plural: de reis-de reizen, de kaas-de kazen. EXCEPTION: de mens-de mensen, de wens-de wensen, de kans-de kansen, de  dans-de dansen, het kruis-de kruisen
+ Nouns ending in -ee or -ie, ën is added: het idee-de ideeën, de industrie-de instrieën
+ Short vowels becoming long vowels: de dag-de dagen, het glas-de glazen, de weg- de wegen, het blad-de bladen
+ Irregulars: het schip-de schepen, de stad-de steden, de koe-de koeien

- No plural: some counting units often use the singular where you might have expected the plural: 3 euro, 3 kilo, 3 kilometer, 3 cent, 3 jaar

Tags: noun

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