A lot of Dutch words in the plural have an -en ending. This is the regular plural ending. Ex: woord (s) = woorden (p). Meaning : word/words
There are some Dutch words undergo a change in spelling in the plural:
In this example, a double consonant occurs in the plural after a short vowel in the singular. Ex: fles (s) = flessen (p). Meaning : bottle/bottles
An open syllable in the singular turns into a single vowel in the plural. Ex: fotograaf (s) = fotografen (p). Meaning : photographer/photographers
An s in the singular turns into a “z” in the plural. Ex: prijs (s) = prijzen (p). Meaning : price/prices
An f in the singular turns into a “v” in the plural. Ex: brief (s) = brieven (p). Meaning : letter/letters
There are also irregular plurals where a short vowel in the singular becomes a long vowel in the plural. Ex: oorlog (s) = oorlogen (p). Meaning : war/wars
There are also irregularities in spelling within the irregular plurals. Ex: stad (s) = steden (p). Meaning : city/cities
A minority of plurals have an -eren ending. Ex: ei (s) = eieren (p). Meaning : egg/eggs
Just be careful with plurals that are spelled the same in the singular but different in the plural. Ex: been (s) = beenderen (p). Meaning: bone/bones. However been (s) = benen (p). Meaning: leg/legs
You’ll see that a lot of Dutch plurals end in -s:
Words ending in unstressed -el, -em, -en, -er, -aar, -erd, -e wil often end in -s. Ex: tante (s) = tantes (p). Meaning : aunt/aunts
A lot of Dutch diminutives end in -s. Ex: meisje (s) = meisjes (p). Meaning : girl/girls.
Vowels a, i, o, u, y will have apostrophe s in the plural. Ex: baby (s) = baby’s (p). Meaning : baby/babies
There are some words that derive from Latin origins and end in -i or -a in the plural: catalogus (s) = catalogi (p). Meaning : catalogs.
Words that end in -heid in the singular end in -heden in the plural. Ex: gelegenheid (s) = gelegenheden (p). Meaning : opportunity/opportunities
