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Plural – Meervoud:

1 – Short Vowel:

If you have a short vowel, for example, “pan,” the last letter gets doubled and you add an ‘e’. But
remember that if it’s a short vowel, but it ends in ‘d,’ it no longer becomes “double the last letter and
add ‘e,’” but instead becomes double the last letter (which is ‘d’) and you add an ‘ens.’

2 – Deeltekens:

This rule is simple: when you notice a word (doesn’t matter if the word is short or long) and it ends in an
‘og,’ then this is converted into an ‘oe’ with “deeltekens” on the ‘e.’ Remember: take the last ‘og’ of the
word. Do not take the ‘o’ before the ‘og.’ Some words look like this: …oog. This is where you apply the
last rule: you only use the last ‘o’ and not the one before.

3 – What gets an ‘s’?

If you have any words ending in –‘ing’ they get an ‘s;’ however, it is important to note that there are
some exceptions, for example, “leerling” becomes leerlinge. Any word ending in an ‘r’ will also receive
an ‘s’ but only if it’s not a short vowel.

4 – Double Vowels:

One of the commonly asked questions. Remember that this refers to a word having two vowels. The
first type is where there are two vowels which are the same that occur in the middle of the word. All
that has to be done is the removal of one of these vowels and an ‘e’ is placed at the end. However, once
again, there are exceptions. If the vowel is either an ‘a’ or an ‘e’ and the ‘e’ is followed with an ‘s’ it is no
longer under the “double vowel” rule. We will reach how to tackle these latter examples at a later stage.
There is a 2nd type of “double vowel” too. This is where there are, yes, still two vowels in the middle of
the word but they are different. Unlike the first type, there is no removal of any of the vowels, but
instead an ‘e’ is added to the end of the word. But similar to the first example, there are exceptions. But
we will cover that at a latter stage.

5 – Words that sound like the diminutive form:

Any word that has an ending of ‘ie,’ it gets a simple ‘s’ at the end. There are no exceptions.

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6 – Words getting deelteken ‘e’:

As mentioned in the “double vowels” section, there were a few exceptions and one of them fits here.
The rule for this is that if you see a word that ends in ‘eg’ it gets the ‘g’ at the end that’s taken away and
the deelteken ‘e’ is added. However, it gets confusing: the word “knie” also gets a deelteken ‘e’ but as
mentioned in rule 5, all ‘ie’ gets an ‘s’. This is an exception. Learn it. Another exception is the word
“see.” Why? It has a double vowel, but doesn’t fit in that rule, because the double vowel takes place at
the end of the word. Because it’s a short word, there is also no removal of any of the vowels. It
therefore fits here and only gets a deelteken on the last ‘e.’

7 – Double Consonants:

Sounds weird? Isn’t. If you have a word that ends in two consonants, and doesn’t fit into another rule, it
fits here. The word simply gets an ‘e’ at the end.

8 – ‘f’ + Short Vowel:

Similar to rule 1, where if you have a short word, you double the last letter and add an ‘e’. The
difference here is that the ‘f’ gets converted into two ‘fs’ but the ‘f’ in converted into a ‘w’ which means
two ‘w.’ And similar to rule 1, you simply add an ‘e’ at the end.

9- Vowels:

Vague. But this rule is important. You will almost certainly get at least one of these in your test/exam. If
there is a short vowel sound, your vowel at the end of the word gets an apostrophe ‘s.’ However, this
only applies for e,i,o, and u. With a, it’s different. It only gets an apostrophe ‘s’ if the ‘a’ at the end was a
“long sound.” In other words, emphasized.

10 – Ending in ‘ig’:

No exceptions to this rule. Any word ending in ‘ig’ just gets an additional ‘te’ at the end of it.

11- Double Vowel ‘f’:

Similar to rule 8, but the inversion. The double vowel is there, in the middle of the word. This means
that the one vowel is taken away, and it is removed completely and the ‘f’ is converted into a ‘w’. The
last thing to do is to add an ‘e’ at the end, similar to rule 8.

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12 – Words getting ‘ers’:

Similar to an exception. These words don’t belong in the other rules, and it will therefore be placed
under this rule. “Kind” will go to “kinders.” Now applying the other rules, you should be able to see that
“kalf” will go to “kalwers.” Did you note that the ‘f’ got swapped with a ‘w’? The reason for the other ‘w’
not being there is because it’s an exception that will still have to be changed into the plural form. “Lam”
is the next word. Using another rule you’ll note that, because of rule 1, you double the last letter, ‘m’
and you then add the ‘ers.’

13 – Words ending in ‘heid’:

This has no exception and is direct memorizing. Any word that ends in the letters ‘heid’ will be changed
into ‘hede.’ That is, the word ‘heid’ gets changed into ‘hede.’

14 – Words ending in ‘man’:

These are also exceptions, but also “knowledge.” You have to know the conversions of nationalities. For
example, French = Frans. This means that if you have “Fransman” you get “Franse.” What is English? We
know that it’s Engels. Right? What is English, the language called? Engels. Which means if you have
“Engelsman” it’s changed into Engelse. See the pattern? However, there are exceptions such as
“buurman” that changes to “bure” and “polisieman” which changed to “polisie.”

15 – Words ending in ‘uig’:

If a word ends in ‘uig,’ it is converted into ‘uie.’ That is it.

16 – Words ending in ‘us’:

If a words ends in ‘us,’ is just gets an extra ‘s’ and an ‘e’ at the end.

17 – Letters of the Alphabet:

Each letter of the alphabet gets an apostrophe and then an ‘s;’ however, there are exceptions: ‘m,’ ‘n,’
and ‘x’ all get an apostrophe ‘e.’

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18 – Exceptions – IMPORTANT:

There are many of these, and it’s highly advisable that you memorize all of them:

“gevoel,” “hawe,” “lewe,” “nooi,” “vrou,” “wa” all get ‘ens’ at the end.

“Bees,” “fees,” “graf,” “kas,” “lys,” “nes,” “pianis,” “prefek,” “produk,” “toeris,” “tydskrif,” “violis,”
“voorskrif,” all get ‘te’ at the end.

Bevel = bevele;

blad = blaaie;

brug = brue with a “hat” on the ‘u;’

ding = goed;

gat = gate;

glas = glase;

hemp = hemde;

hof = howe;

lid = liedere;

nag = nagte;

pad = paaie;

rug = similar to brug;

skip = skepe;

spel = spele;

stad = stede;

tyd = tye.

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