If you're trying to learn Afrikaans Plural you will find some useful resources including a course about Plural and Singular... to help you with your Afrikaans grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Afrikaans. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the Afrikaans Plural displayed below is vital to the language. Afrikaans Plurals are grammatical numbers, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers.
While in English, the plural is formed by adding (s) to the singular. In Afrikaans, to form the plural of nouns and adjectives we add (-s) to words ending in a vowel and (-es) to words ending in a consonant. Here are some examples:
swerm (a swarm) becomes: swerms (e.g. a swarm of bees/'n swerm bye)
vrou (one woman) becomes: vrouens (some women)
hierdie is my rooi motor (this is my red car) becomes: hierdie is my rooi motors (these are my red cars)
Ambiguous plural forms:
Sy bril het gebreek. (His glasses broke.)
Ons skryf eksamen aan die einde van die jaar. (We write exams at the end of the year.)
Die uitslag van die toets is reeds bekend. (The results of the test have been released.)
Vriend (friend) becomes: Vriende (friends)
Een vrou (one woman) becomes: Baie vroue (many women)
Dit is my rooi motor (this is my red car) becomes: Dit is my rooi motors (these are my red cars)
Ek het een kat (I have a cat) becomes: Ek het twee katte (I have two cats) – note, in this example, an (–e) was added, as well as another consonant (t), to make sure the word has a short sound.
Here are some examples:
| English Plural | Afrikaans Plural |
|---|---|
| Plural | Meervoud |
| my book | my boek |
| my books | my boeke |
| our daughter | ons dogter |
| our daughters | ons dogters |
| I'm cold | ek kry koud |
| we're cold | ons kry koud |
| his chickens | sy hoenders |
| their chicken | hulle hoender |
Notice the structure of the Plural in Afrikaans has a logical pattern. Locate the Plural above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Afrikaans.
Note: Because Afrikaans has lost its case system, nouns do not have grammatical gender and there is a distinction between the singular and plural forms of nouns. The most common plural marker is the suffix -e, but several common nouns form their plural instead by adding a final -s.
Below is a list of the Plurals and Singulars in Afrikaans placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Afrikaans vocabulary.
| English Plural | Afrikaans Plural |
|---|---|
| alligator | krokodil |
| alligators | Alligators |
| bear | beer |
| bears | bere |
| bird | voël |
| birds | voëls |
| bull | bul |
| bulls | bulle |
| cat | kat |
| cats | katte |
| cow | koei |
| cows | koeie |
| deer | bok |
| many deer | bokke |
| dog | hond |
| dogs | honde |
| donkey | donkie |
| donkeys | donkies |
| eagle | arend |
| eagles | arende |
| elephant | olifant |
| elephants | olifante |
| giraffe | kameelperd |
| giraffes | kameelperde |
| goat | bok |
| goats | bokke |
| horse | perd |
| horses | perde |
| lion | leeu |
| lions | leeus |
| monkey | aap |
| monkeys | ape |
| mouse | muis |
| mice | muise |
| rabbit | haas / konyn |
| rabbits | hase / konyne |
| snake | slang |
| snakes | slange |
| tiger | tier |
| tigers | tiere |
| wolf | Wolf |
| wolves | wolwe |
Plural and Singular have a very important role in Afrikaans. Once you're done with Afrikaans Plural, you might want to check the rest of our Afrikaans lessons here: Learn Afrikaans. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
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