A Guide to German Plural Nouns With -e Endings

There are several different ways to make a noun plural in German. A common way is to add an -e at the end of the word. 

When to Add an -e

Most German nouns of all genders that consist of one syllable will add -e at the end to form plurals. Some nouns will also have umlaut changes.

Example 1: Here, the noun gains an -e at the end and the noun becomes plural instead of masculine.

der Schuh (the shoe, singular) becomes die Schuhe (plural).

Ich habe meinen Schuh verloren. (I lost my shoe.)

Ich habe meine Schuhe verloren. (I lost my shoes.)

Example 2: Here, the noun not only gains an -e at the end, but the "u" gets an umlaut. 

die Wurst (the sausage, singular) becomes die Würste (plural).

Ich esse eine Wurst. (I’m eating a sausage.)

Ich esse die Würste. (I'm eating sausages.)

When Plural Nouns Take a Different Ending

The only time a different plural ending is added is when the noun is dative. In this case, the noun always adds an -en ending.

See the chart below for a summary of this plural group in all cases. In this chart, nom. stands for nominative, acc. stands for accusative, dat. stands for dative and gen. is genitive. 

Plural Nouns With -e Endings

Read more about plural nouns here.