Plurals & haben

Five plural patterns — and 'I have a dog.'

German plurals are notorious: there's no single rule, just a handful of patterns you learn one noun at a time. Good news: the article in the plural is always die, no matter the gender. This lesson also adds a second very common verb — haben ('to have') — and our first complete sentences with a subject, a verb, and an object.

Five plural endings

(1) No change, often with an umlaut: der Apfel → die Äpfel (apples), die Mutter → die Mütter (mothers). (2) Add -e, sometimes with umlaut: der Tisch → die Tische, der Stuhl → die Stühle. (3) Add -er, almost always with umlaut: das Buch → die Bücher, das Haus → die Häuser, das Kind → die Kinder. (4) Add -(e)n (very common, especially for feminine nouns): die Frau → die Frauen, die Lampe → die Lampen, die Zeitung → die Zeitungen. (5) Add -s, mostly for foreign words: das Auto → die Autos, das Hotel → die Hotels.

There is no shortcut — learn the plural with the word

Just as you memorize a noun with its article (der Tisch, not Tisch), memorize it with its plural too: der Tisch, die Tische. Dictionaries write this as Tisch, m. (-e) — meaning masculine, plural adds -e. Most A1 textbooks pick this up over time; for now, learn the plurals you meet in stories.

haben — to have

haben is the second power-verb after sein. It's slightly irregular in the singular: ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben. Chant: habe, hast, hat, haben, habt, haben.

First full sentences: subject + verb + object

German basic sentence order is just like English: subject — verb — object. Ich habe einen Hund. = 'I have a dog.' Du hast ein Buch. = 'You have a book.' Wir haben Kinder. = 'We have children.' Notice einen in einen Hund — that's the masculine 'a' changing form because Hund is the object, not the subject. We won't name this yet — just learn einen Hund, einen Tisch, einen Mann as set phrases for now. Ein Buch (neuter) and eine Frau (feminine) don't change.

Plural in action

Ich habe Bücher. = 'I have books.' Sie hat Kinder. = 'She has children.' Wir haben zwei Hunde. = 'We have two dogs.' (No article in the plural — German just drops the indefinite plural.) The article comes back when you mean specific ones: Die Hunde sind groß. = 'The dogs are big.'

Examples

ich habe

I have

Note the soft e ending.

du hast

you have

Drop the be → add st.

er hat

he has

Just hat — short and sharp.

wir haben

we have

Same form as the infinitive.

ihr habt

you all have

sie haben

they have

Same form as wir haben.

Ich habe einen Hund.

I have a dog.

einen because Hund (m.) is the object.

Wir haben zwei Bücher.

We have two books.

Plural of Buch → Bücher (umlaut + -er).