Plurals

Question 1

bøger

[booˀ-yuh]

Answer 1

books

Question 2

aviser

[ah-vee-suh]

Answer 2

newspapers / papers

Question 3

katte

[kad-duh]

Answer 3

cats

Question 4

hunde

[hoon-uh]

Answer 4

dogs

Question 5

heste

[hesd-duh]

Answer 5

horses

Question 6

ænder

[ay-nuh]

Answer 6

ducks

Question 7

FILL IN THE BLANK:

Nouns in Danish form the plural by appending either ____ (most commonly) or just _____.

Answer 7

ANSWER:

-er (most commonly) or just -e

Question 8

TRUE OR FALSE:

When making nouns plural, a small number of nouns change an inner vowel

Answer 8

TRUE:
A small number of nouns change an inner vowel when forming the plural, such as:
en and (a duck) becomes ænder (ducks).
en bog (a book) becomes bøger (books).
Typically these are transformations from a to æ or o to ø.

Question 9

fugle

[foo-leh]

Answer 9

birds

Question 10

børn

[bern]

Answer 10

children / kids

Question 11

frugter

[froak-duh]

Answer 11

fruit / fruits

Question 12

tallerkner

[tel-e-ock-nuh]

Answer 12

plates

Question 13

appelsiner

[ah-bill-seen-uh]

Answer 13

oranges

Question 14

æbler

[ay-bluh]

Answer 14

apples

Question 15

elefanter

[ill-ih-fant-uh]

Answer 15

elephants

Question 16

bjørne

[byern]

Answer 16

bears

Question 17

kartofler

[kuh-toaf-leh]

Answer 17

potatoes

Question 18

vegetarer

[vee-guh-tah-uh]

Answer 18

vegetarians

Question 19

skildpadder

[skay-pel-luh]

Answer 19

turtles

Question 20

sandwiches

[san-which-is]

Answer 20

sandwiches

Question 21

TRUE OR FALSE:
Whether a plural noun word uses -er or -e is unrelated to its grammatical gender, and is something that must be learned by heart. Furthermore, some nouns do not change at all in the plural. These must also be learned by heart.

Answer 21

TRUE

Question 22

TRUE OR FALSE:
There are some helpful guidelines (not unbreakable rules) for determining whether a plural noun will use -er or -e:
• The -er postfix is the most common one. Nouns containing multiple syllables usually take the -er ending.
• Single syllabic words of the common gender (n-words) often use the -e ending.
• Short, single syllabic nouns of the neuter gender are most likely to remain unchanged in the plural.

Answer 22

TRUE

Question 23

TRUE OR FALSE:
There are a group of nouns, typically long words that end in -el and -en without stress on the last syllable, that drop the e near the end of the word when made plural.

Answer 23

TRUE
Examples include:
‘en kartoffel’ (a potato) adds -er but then drops the e before the l to become ‘kartofler’ (potatoes)
‘en tallerken’ (a plate) adds -er and drops the e before the n to become ‘tallerkner’ (plates).

Question 24

TRUE OR FALSE:

There are a limited number of loan words from English that retain their original, English plural form.

Answer 24

TRUE
‘En sandwich’ (a sandwich) is simply ‘sandwiches’ in Danish.
However, it would not, in most cases, be wrong to form the plural using the Danish structure, if you so wish