Dutch plurals with -en
Most Dutch nouns form their plural with -en. The ending itself is simple, but the word in front of it often changes a little. Here are the four spelling rules, the plurals you just have to learn, what changes around a plural, and a short quiz to check yourself.
The default ending
Dutch has two main plural endings, -en and -s. The -s group has clear patterns, covered in Dutch plurals with -s and -’s. Everything else takes -en, so when in doubt, it’s the safer guess. That’s especially true for words of one syllable and words with the stress on the last syllable.
As with every plural, the article is always de, and een has no plural, so you leave it out.
- het boek → de boeken
- een boek → boeken
- de hand → de handen
- de deur → de deuren
- de vriend → de vrienden
- het dier → de dieren
In everyday speech the final n of -en is often dropped, so boeken sounds more like “boekuh”. You still write the n.
Adding -en adds a syllable, and Dutch spelling follows the sound of each syllable. That’s why the word in front of the ending sometimes changes. Four rules cover almost all of it.
Long vowels: drop a letter
Dutch writes a long vowel with two letters, aa, ee, oo or uu, only when a consonant follows it in the same syllable. In jaar the r closes the syllable. In the plural, ja-ren, the a ends its syllable, and one letter is enough to keep it long.
- het jaar → de jaren
- de boom → de bomen
- het uur → de uren
- de straat → de straten
- de maan → de manen
- het been → de benen
Vowel pairs such as ie, oe, eu, ui and ei aren’t doubled letters, so they never lose one: de deur → de deuren, de brief → de brieven.
Short vowels: double the consonant
The opposite case. A short vowel needs a consonant after it to stay short. Without doubling, kat + -en would be read ka-ten, with a long a. So the consonant doubles: kat-ten.
- de kat → de katten
- de bus → de bussen
- de pen → de pennen
- het bed → de bedden
- de bal → de ballen
- de les → de lessen
A word that already ends in two consonants needs nothing extra: de hand → de handen, de kast → de kasten.
f becomes v, s becomes z
Between two vowels, f and s often soften to v and z, and the spelling follows the sound. It happens mostly after a long vowel, after a vowel pair like ui or ei, and after l or r. Some words change twice: roos drops an o and swaps s for z.
- de brief → de brieven
- de wolf → de wolven
- het huis → de huizen
- de reis → de reizen
- de roos → de rozen
- de kaas → de kazen
A few words keep their f or s, such as de fotograaf → de fotografen and de kous → de kousen. After a short vowel nothing softens: de les → de lessen.
Two dots: -ën
Words ending in -ee or in a stressed -ie add -en and put two dots on the e. The dots show that a new syllable starts, so you read i-dee-en, not one long vowel.
- het idee → de ideeën
- de zee → de zeeën
- de knie → de knieën
- de industrie → de industrieën
If the -ie isn’t stressed, the word takes -s instead: de familie → de families.
Plurals to learn by heart
A small group doesn’t follow the rules above. Many of them are everyday words, so you’ll meet them early.
Ending in -eren kind → kinderen
A handful of old het-words add -eren. Watch out for blad: bladeren are the leaves of a tree, bladen are sheets of paper or magazines.
het kind → de kinderen · het ei → de eieren · het lied → de liederen · het kalf → de kalveren · het blad → de bladeren
The short vowel turns long
In some short words the vowel becomes long in the plural, so the consonant isn’t doubled: dagen, not daggen. In schip and stad the vowel changes letter as well.
de dag → de dagen · de weg → de wegen · het glas → de glazen · het dak → de daken · het schip → de schepen · de stad → de steden
-heid becomes -heden
Every word ending in -heid does this, so it’s really one rule for many words.
de mogelijkheid → de mogelijkheden · de gelegenheid → de gelegenheden · de waarheid → de waarheden
Latin words in -um -a or -s
Both forms are correct; the Latin one sounds a bit more formal.
het museum → de musea or museums · het centrum → de centra or centrums
What changes around a plural
In English, “the” and “big” stay the same in the plural. In Dutch, several words around the noun change with it, and the verb does too.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| the | het huis | de huizen |
| this / these | dit huis | deze huizen |
| that / those | dat huis | die huizen |
| a / no article | een huis | huizen |
| adjective | een groot huis | grote huizen |
| who / which | het huis dat … | de huizen die … |
| verb | het kind speelt | de kinderen spelen |
The number trap: after a number Dutch uses the plural, just like English (twee boeken). But units of measure, money and time usually stay singular: twee kilo, drie euro, vijf jaar, twee uur (two hours), drie keer.
Check yourself
What’s the plural? Make your guess first, then open the answer.
de katShow answer
de katten — A short vowel: the t doubles so the a stays short.
de boomShow answer
de bomen — A long vowel: in bo-men one o is enough.
de briefShow answer
de brieven — After a long vowel, the f becomes v. The vowel pair ie stays as it is.
het huisShow answer
de huizen — After ui, the s becomes z.
het ideeShow answer
de ideeën — It ends in -ee, so it takes -ën with two dots.
het kindShow answer
de kinderen — One of the -eren words to learn by heart.
de stadShow answer
de steden — Irregular: the vowel turns long and changes from a to e.
de mogelijkheidShow answer
de mogelijkheden — Every -heid becomes -heden.
twee … (kilo)Show answer
twee kilo — Units of measure stay singular after a number.
How to remember
Save the plural with the word
Most dictionaries show the plural right after the word. Note it down together with the article, het boek, de boeken, and you won’t have to guess next time.
Say it out loud
The spelling rules follow the sound. If ka-ten sounds wrong for kat, you know the t has to double.
Keep a short list of exceptions
Kinderen, eieren, dagen, steden, schepen: there aren’t many, and you’ll meet them often enough to learn them quickly.
Practise with Leesje
Leesje’s plurals trainer uses the words you save while reading, so you practise the forms you actually meet.