Plurals Flashcards
bøger
[booˀ-yuh]
books
aviser
[ah-vee-suh]
newspapers / papers
katte
[kad-duh]
cats
hunde
[hoon-uh]
dogs
heste
[hesd-duh]
horses
ænder
[ay-nuh]
ducks
FILL IN THE BLANK:
Nouns in Danish form the plural by appending either ____ (most commonly) or just _____.
ANSWER:
-er (most commonly) or just -e
TRUE OR FALSE:
When making nouns plural, a small number of nouns change an inner vowel
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.
fugle
[foo-leh]
birds
børn
[bern]
children / kids
frugter
[froak-duh]
fruit / fruits
tallerkner
[tel-e-ock-nuh]
plates
appelsiner
[ah-bill-seen-uh]
oranges
æbler
[ay-bluh]
apples
elefanter
[ill-ih-fant-uh]
elephants
bjørne
[byern]
bears
kartofler
[kuh-toaf-leh]
potatoes
vegetarer
[vee-guh-tah-uh]
vegetarians
skildpadder
[skay-pel-luh]
turtles
sandwiches
[san-which-is]
sandwiches
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.
TRUE
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.
TRUE
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.
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).
TRUE OR FALSE:
There are a limited number of loan words from English that retain their original, English plural form.
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
