Dutch Plurals: -en, -s and -'s Explained — A1 Dutch Grammar Course, Lesson 13 | My Dutch Journal

Dutch Plurals: -en, -s and -'s Explained | A1 Dutch, Lesson 13

July 4, 2026

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Welcome to lesson thirteen of the A1 Dutch Grammar Course. In the previous lesson you learned how to talk about days, months, and time. In this lesson, you are going to learn how to form the plural of Dutch nouns — how to go from one thing to more than one. Dutch has a few different plural patterns, and understanding which one to use depends on how the word ends and what kind of vowel it contains. By the end of this lesson, you will know the main plural patterns in Dutch, the rules for choosing between them, and one important rule about the article in the plural.

Meervoud met -en — korte klinker

The most common plural ending in Dutch is -en. But how you add it depends on the word. Let us start with the first group. If a word ends in a short vowel followed by exactly one consonant, you double that consonant before adding -en. Pan becomes pannen — you double the n. Lip becomes lippen — double the p. Zus becomes zussen — double the s. Bed becomes bedden — double the d. The reason for the doubling is to keep the vowel short. In Dutch, a vowel before a single consonant at the end of a syllable would be read as long. By doubling the consonant, you signal that the vowel stays short. This is the same principle as the spelling rules you learned in lesson five for regular verb conjugation.

Enkelvoud	Meervoud	Reden
pan	pannen	short a → double n
lip	lippen	short i → double p
zus	zussen	short u → double s
bed	bedden	short e → double d
kat	katten	short a → double t
man	mannen	short a → double n

Meervoud met -en — lange klinker

The second group also takes -en, but with a different spelling adjustment. Many Dutch nouns have a double vowel in the singular — been, raam, oog, muur. When you add -en, the vowel is now in an open syllable, which is already long. So you remove one of the two vowels. Been becomes benen — not beenen. Raam becomes ramen. Oog becomes ogen. Muur becomes muren. The vowel sounds exactly the same — it is still long — but you only write it once because the open syllable does the work. This is again the same vowel rule you already know from the verb spelling. The pattern is consistent across Dutch.

Enkelvoud	Meervoud	Reden
been	benen	ee → e
raam	ramen	aa → a
oog	ogen	oo → o
muur	muren	uu → u
verhaal	verhalen	aa → a
tomaat	tomaten	aa → a

f → v en s → z — vaak bij lange klinkers en tweeklanken

There is one extra change that applies to some -en plurals: final -f becomes -v, and final -s becomes -z. Neef becomes neven. Brief becomes brieven. Huis becomes huizen. Roos becomes rozen. In the patterns in this lesson, this change applies when the singular has a long vowel or a diphthong. Bus does not become buzen — it becomes bussen, because the vowel in bus is short. Kus becomes kussen, not kuzen. In the regular patterns you are learning now, f becomes v and s becomes z after a long vowel or diphthong. If the vowel is short, you simply double the consonant and keep the spelling as is.

Meervoud met -s — onbeklemtoonde uitgangen

The second plural ending is -s, with no apostrophe. Many common words that end in an unstressed syllable take -s. The most common endings in this group are -e, -el, -em, -en, -er, and unstressed -ie. Meisje becomes meisjes. Sleutel becomes sleutels. Bezem becomes bezems. Jongen becomes jongens — note that jongen ends in -en, but the plural is jongens, not jongensen. Kamer becomes kamers. Dokter becomes dokters. Vakantie becomes vakanties. One word worth setting apart: café, which ends in -é. It also takes -s, giving cafés. The accent on the e already keeps the vowel clear, so no apostrophe is needed. One exception: leraar, which ends in -aar, follows the -en pattern — leraren. This is one of a small group of exceptions that you simply have to learn.

Uitgang	Enkelvoud	Meervoud
-e / -je	meisje	meisjes
-el	sleutel	sleutels
-em	bezem	bezems
-en	jongen	jongens
-er	kamer / dokter	kamers / dokters
-ie	vakantie	vakanties
-e (accent)	cafe (met accent)	cafes (met accent)

Meervoud met -'s — woorden die eindigen op a, i, o, u of y

The next plural pattern is -'s — with an apostrophe. This applies to words that end in one written -a, -i, -o, -u, or -y. Foto becomes foto's. Auto becomes auto's. Camera becomes camera's. Taxi becomes taxi's. Baby becomes baby's. Paraplu becomes paraplu's. The apostrophe is there for a spelling reason. If you wrote fotos without the apostrophe, a Dutch reader would read the o as short — the s following it would close the syllable. The apostrophe makes it clear that the final vowel of the word is separate from the plural -s. So when a word ends in one written a, i, o, u, or y, add the apostrophe before the s.

Enkelvoud	Meervoud	Uitgang
foto	foto's	-o
auto	auto's	-o
camera	camera's	-a
taxi	taxi's	-i
baby	baby's	-y
paraplu	paraplu's	-u

Alle meervouden gebruiken de

One final rule about plurals: in Dutch, all plural nouns use the article de. It does not matter whether the singular was a de-word or a het-word. De pan becomes de pannen — still de. Het raam becomes de ramen — now de. Het kind becomes de kinderen — now de. This is one of the few areas where Dutch simplifies things: once you are in the plural, it is always de. There are also a small number of irregular plurals that do not follow the main patterns. The most important ones to know are kind — kinderen, ei — eieren, and stad — steden. These are common words, so learn them as vocabulary pairs.

Enkelvoud	Lidwoord	Meervoud	Lidwoord
pan	de	pannen	de
man	de	mannen	de
raam	het	ramen	de
kind	het	kinderen	de

Wat heb je geleerd?

Here is what you learned in this lesson. Dutch nouns form their plural through a few main patterns. First: if the singular ends in a short vowel plus one consonant, double the consonant and add -en — pan to pannen, lip to lippen. Second: if the singular has a long double vowel, remove one vowel and add -en — been to benen, raam to ramen. In this group, words with a long vowel or diphthong ending in -f or -s also change to -v and -z — neef to neven, huis to huizen. Third: words ending in unstressed syllables like -e, -el, -en, and -er add just -s — kamer to kamers, dokter to dokters. Fourth: words ending in -a, -i, -o, -u, or -y add -'s — foto to foto's, auto to auto's. And remember: in the plural, all nouns take the article de. In lesson fourteen, you will learn how to use adjectives with nouns.

Practice What You Learned

Reading about grammar is step one — using it is what makes it stick. In My Dutch Journal Academy you can watch the full video of this lesson, do interactive exercises that check your answers instantly, and practise all the vocabulary from the A1 course.