Nouns: Plural

01

The Main Pattern: -er

Most masculine and feminine nouns add -er. A noun that already ends in -e adds only -r.

• en bil → biler (cars)
• en dag → dager (days)
• ei avis → aviser (newspapers)
• en kake → kaker (cakes)
• ei jente → jenter (girls)

• Jeg har to biler.

  I have two cars.

• Det er mange hvite skyer på himmelen.

  There are many white clouds in the sky.

02

Short Neuter Nouns: No Ending

Neuter nouns of one syllable stay the same in the plural. Only the number or the context shows that there are several.

• et hus → hus (houses)
• et barn → barn (children)
• et år → år (years)
• et egg → egg (eggs)

• Jeg kjøper seks egg.

  I am buying six eggs.

• Jeg har to barn.

  I have two children.

Longer neuter nouns take -er like the others: et eple → epler, et vindu → vinduer.

03

Nouns Ending in -er and -el

Nouns for people that end in -er add -e. Nouns ending in -el, and some in -er, drop the e before the ending.

• en lærer → lærere (teachers)
• en genser → gensere (sweaters)
• en sykkel → sykler (bicycles)
• en nøkkel → nøkler (keys)

• Jeg har tre motorsykler.

  I have three motorbikes.

04

A Change of Vowel

A group of common nouns changes its vowel in the plural, as English "man" becomes "men".

• en mann → menn (men)
• ei bok → bøker (books)
• en fot → føtter (feet)
• ei hånd → hender (hands)
• ei tann → tenner (teeth)
• en bror → brødre (brothers)
• ei datter → døtre (daughters)
• ei ku → kyr (cows)
• et øye → øyne (eyes)

• Jeg har seks brødre og sju søstre.

  I have six brothers and seven sisters.

• Du leser bøker.

  You read books.

05

The Definite Plural

"The" in the plural is -ene for almost every noun. Nouns ending in -er take -ne, and barn has the special form barna.

• biler → bilene (the cars)
• hus → husene (the houses)
• lærere → lærerne (the teachers)
• barn → barna (the children)

• Barna går på bussen.

  The children get on the bus.

• Fuglene synger i hagen.

  The birds are singing in the garden.

06

Only in the Plural

A few nouns exist only in the plural, among them penger (money) and klær (clothes). Words that describe them take plural forms.

• Jeg trenger nye klær.

  I need new clothes.

• Pengene ligger på bordet.

  The money is on the table.