Noun Explanation

Question 1

What do the letters and symbols after the nouns mean?

Answer 1

The letters and symbols which come after the nouns indicate the plural form of that noun.

All plural words in German have the same article (die).

All nouns in German are written with a capital first letter.

When a noun doesn't have a plural form indicated after it, it means that that particular noun is used only as that one form:
die Wäsche (Sg)
die Zeit (Sg)
die Ferien (Pl)

When a plural form of a noun is indicated only with a dash and no letters after it, it means that that particular noun doesn’t change when made into a plural form:
Der Keller,- (die Keller)
der Kuchen,- (die Kuchen)
das Messer,- (die Messer)

When there is a quotation mark (“) indicating the plural form of a noun, it means that the plural form has an “umlaut” letter, unlike the singular form:
Der Topf,”-e (Die Töpfe)
Der Apfel,”- (Die Äpfel)
Das Gasthaus,”-er (Die Gasthäuser)