Plurals: which vowel takes an umlaut?

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Many german words, in plural form, take an umlaut. For example:



Mutter -> Mütter


The dictionary I'm using, uses a form of abbreviation like this:




s Rad,-: er tyre




This gives me the following information:



form | singular | plural
word | das Rad | die Räder


I'm specifically interested in the two dots before the er as they signify that the vowel will change to an umlaut.



However, the problem is when the word at hand has two vowel. Example:




r Ausdruck, : e Expression




In this case there are two potential candidates for the umlaut. (in this case it was the second one).



Here is another example:




Wasserball, :e water ball




My initial hunch was that the last potential candidate in the word gets the umlaut. However, I stumbled upon a counterexample:




Kaufhaus, - : er department store




In this case the a gets the umlaut.



Is there any rule in which one can know which letter in a word gets an umlaut in its plural form?






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    Many german words, in plural form, take an umlaut. For example:



    Mutter -> Mütter


    The dictionary I'm using, uses a form of abbreviation like this:




    s Rad,-: er tyre




    This gives me the following information:



    form | singular | plural
    word | das Rad | die Räder


    I'm specifically interested in the two dots before the er as they signify that the vowel will change to an umlaut.



    However, the problem is when the word at hand has two vowel. Example:




    r Ausdruck, : e Expression




    In this case there are two potential candidates for the umlaut. (in this case it was the second one).



    Here is another example:




    Wasserball, :e water ball




    My initial hunch was that the last potential candidate in the word gets the umlaut. However, I stumbled upon a counterexample:




    Kaufhaus, - : er department store




    In this case the a gets the umlaut.



    Is there any rule in which one can know which letter in a word gets an umlaut in its plural form?






    spelling grammatical-number







    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    Mhmd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.





















      up vote
      4
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      4
      down vote

      favorite











      Many german words, in plural form, take an umlaut. For example:



      Mutter -> Mütter


      The dictionary I'm using, uses a form of abbreviation like this:




      s Rad,-: er tyre




      This gives me the following information:



      form | singular | plural
      word | das Rad | die Räder


      I'm specifically interested in the two dots before the er as they signify that the vowel will change to an umlaut.



      However, the problem is when the word at hand has two vowel. Example:




      r Ausdruck, : e Expression




      In this case there are two potential candidates for the umlaut. (in this case it was the second one).



      Here is another example:




      Wasserball, :e water ball




      My initial hunch was that the last potential candidate in the word gets the umlaut. However, I stumbled upon a counterexample:




      Kaufhaus, - : er department store




      In this case the a gets the umlaut.



      Is there any rule in which one can know which letter in a word gets an umlaut in its plural form?






      spelling grammatical-number







      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Mhmd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      Many german words, in plural form, take an umlaut. For example:



      Mutter -> Mütter


      The dictionary I'm using, uses a form of abbreviation like this:




      s Rad,-: er tyre




      This gives me the following information:



      form | singular | plural
      word | das Rad | die Räder


      I'm specifically interested in the two dots before the er as they signify that the vowel will change to an umlaut.



      However, the problem is when the word at hand has two vowel. Example:




      r Ausdruck, : e Expression




      In this case there are two potential candidates for the umlaut. (in this case it was the second one).



      Here is another example:




      Wasserball, :e water ball




      My initial hunch was that the last potential candidate in the word gets the umlaut. However, I stumbled upon a counterexample:




      Kaufhaus, - : er department store




      In this case the a gets the umlaut.



      Is there any rule in which one can know which letter in a word gets an umlaut in its plural form?






      spelling grammatical-number




      spelling grammatical-number






      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Mhmd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Mhmd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question






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      Mhmd is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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          First of all, those two dots are the vestiges of a medium-old-fashioned way to write the letter e on top of a vowel —pretty similar as Swedish and Danish do it with the little o on top of the letter å— In much older German texts, you will actually find a small e printed on top of another vowel.



          And that pretty much explains what Umlaute are. They are a special kind of Ablaut, involving the vowels a, o , u and the vowel e.




          das Kaufhaus, die Kaufhäuser




          The letter combination au is a Dipthong which sounds similar to the sound English writes as ow. It's ablauted partner is äu, and that's it. German has some more Dipthonge, but au/äu is the only one involving an Umlaut. Äu sounds just the same as eu (English writes this sound oi or oy.)



          That's the one exceptional case. The general rule for doing the Ablaut (for plural, past tense, downsizing, etc.), however, is



          • put the Ablaut on the last non-reduction syllable of the last component, ignoring suffixes and case/tense endings.

          Often enough, this is just the first syllable of the last component, ignoring prefixes. This explains why it's




          Es ist sechs Uhr morgens. Die Kaufhäuser sind noch geschlossen.



          Auf dem Wochenmarkt wird schon gekauft und verkauft.



          Käufer und Verkäufer feilschen um die Preise.



          An ihrem Verkaufsstand bieten die Obstverkäuferinnen auch Gemüse an.



          An den anderen Verkaufsständen gibt es Wurst und Käse.




          The last component of Obstverkäuferinnen is Verkäuferinnen, the plural nominative ending is -nen, the female occupation suffix is -in-, the actor suffix is -er-. The syllable to put the Ablaut on is kauf. And as that's the au Dipthong, it gets äu.



          Important note: This rule only explains where to put the Ablaut, but not if it has to be put there or not. The latter depends on a lot of factors. As a language learner, you better stick to learning



          • the gender (always recap the nominative singular der/die/das along each word)

          • the nominative singular

          • the genitive singular

          • the nominative plural

          This is what a dictionary gives you for each noun. It's the only information you need to put the noun into one of the patterns which you will learn automatically as soon you are sufficiently exposed to German.






          share|improve this answer






















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            1 Answer
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            1 Answer
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            up vote
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            First of all, those two dots are the vestiges of a medium-old-fashioned way to write the letter e on top of a vowel —pretty similar as Swedish and Danish do it with the little o on top of the letter å— In much older German texts, you will actually find a small e printed on top of another vowel.



            And that pretty much explains what Umlaute are. They are a special kind of Ablaut, involving the vowels a, o , u and the vowel e.




            das Kaufhaus, die Kaufhäuser




            The letter combination au is a Dipthong which sounds similar to the sound English writes as ow. It's ablauted partner is äu, and that's it. German has some more Dipthonge, but au/äu is the only one involving an Umlaut. Äu sounds just the same as eu (English writes this sound oi or oy.)



            That's the one exceptional case. The general rule for doing the Ablaut (for plural, past tense, downsizing, etc.), however, is



            • put the Ablaut on the last non-reduction syllable of the last component, ignoring suffixes and case/tense endings.

            Often enough, this is just the first syllable of the last component, ignoring prefixes. This explains why it's




            Es ist sechs Uhr morgens. Die Kaufhäuser sind noch geschlossen.



            Auf dem Wochenmarkt wird schon gekauft und verkauft.



            Käufer und Verkäufer feilschen um die Preise.



            An ihrem Verkaufsstand bieten die Obstverkäuferinnen auch Gemüse an.



            An den anderen Verkaufsständen gibt es Wurst und Käse.




            The last component of Obstverkäuferinnen is Verkäuferinnen, the plural nominative ending is -nen, the female occupation suffix is -in-, the actor suffix is -er-. The syllable to put the Ablaut on is kauf. And as that's the au Dipthong, it gets äu.



            Important note: This rule only explains where to put the Ablaut, but not if it has to be put there or not. The latter depends on a lot of factors. As a language learner, you better stick to learning



            • the gender (always recap the nominative singular der/die/das along each word)

            • the nominative singular

            • the genitive singular

            • the nominative plural

            This is what a dictionary gives you for each noun. It's the only information you need to put the noun into one of the patterns which you will learn automatically as soon you are sufficiently exposed to German.






            share|improve this answer


























              up vote
              3
              down vote













              First of all, those two dots are the vestiges of a medium-old-fashioned way to write the letter e on top of a vowel —pretty similar as Swedish and Danish do it with the little o on top of the letter å— In much older German texts, you will actually find a small e printed on top of another vowel.



              And that pretty much explains what Umlaute are. They are a special kind of Ablaut, involving the vowels a, o , u and the vowel e.




              das Kaufhaus, die Kaufhäuser




              The letter combination au is a Dipthong which sounds similar to the sound English writes as ow. It's ablauted partner is äu, and that's it. German has some more Dipthonge, but au/äu is the only one involving an Umlaut. Äu sounds just the same as eu (English writes this sound oi or oy.)



              That's the one exceptional case. The general rule for doing the Ablaut (for plural, past tense, downsizing, etc.), however, is



              • put the Ablaut on the last non-reduction syllable of the last component, ignoring suffixes and case/tense endings.

              Often enough, this is just the first syllable of the last component, ignoring prefixes. This explains why it's




              Es ist sechs Uhr morgens. Die Kaufhäuser sind noch geschlossen.



              Auf dem Wochenmarkt wird schon gekauft und verkauft.



              Käufer und Verkäufer feilschen um die Preise.



              An ihrem Verkaufsstand bieten die Obstverkäuferinnen auch Gemüse an.



              An den anderen Verkaufsständen gibt es Wurst und Käse.




              The last component of Obstverkäuferinnen is Verkäuferinnen, the plural nominative ending is -nen, the female occupation suffix is -in-, the actor suffix is -er-. The syllable to put the Ablaut on is kauf. And as that's the au Dipthong, it gets äu.



              Important note: This rule only explains where to put the Ablaut, but not if it has to be put there or not. The latter depends on a lot of factors. As a language learner, you better stick to learning



              • the gender (always recap the nominative singular der/die/das along each word)

              • the nominative singular

              • the genitive singular

              • the nominative plural

              This is what a dictionary gives you for each noun. It's the only information you need to put the noun into one of the patterns which you will learn automatically as soon you are sufficiently exposed to German.






              share|improve this answer
























                up vote
                3
                down vote










                up vote
                3
                down vote









                First of all, those two dots are the vestiges of a medium-old-fashioned way to write the letter e on top of a vowel —pretty similar as Swedish and Danish do it with the little o on top of the letter å— In much older German texts, you will actually find a small e printed on top of another vowel.



                And that pretty much explains what Umlaute are. They are a special kind of Ablaut, involving the vowels a, o , u and the vowel e.




                das Kaufhaus, die Kaufhäuser




                The letter combination au is a Dipthong which sounds similar to the sound English writes as ow. It's ablauted partner is äu, and that's it. German has some more Dipthonge, but au/äu is the only one involving an Umlaut. Äu sounds just the same as eu (English writes this sound oi or oy.)



                That's the one exceptional case. The general rule for doing the Ablaut (for plural, past tense, downsizing, etc.), however, is



                • put the Ablaut on the last non-reduction syllable of the last component, ignoring suffixes and case/tense endings.

                Often enough, this is just the first syllable of the last component, ignoring prefixes. This explains why it's




                Es ist sechs Uhr morgens. Die Kaufhäuser sind noch geschlossen.



                Auf dem Wochenmarkt wird schon gekauft und verkauft.



                Käufer und Verkäufer feilschen um die Preise.



                An ihrem Verkaufsstand bieten die Obstverkäuferinnen auch Gemüse an.



                An den anderen Verkaufsständen gibt es Wurst und Käse.




                The last component of Obstverkäuferinnen is Verkäuferinnen, the plural nominative ending is -nen, the female occupation suffix is -in-, the actor suffix is -er-. The syllable to put the Ablaut on is kauf. And as that's the au Dipthong, it gets äu.



                Important note: This rule only explains where to put the Ablaut, but not if it has to be put there or not. The latter depends on a lot of factors. As a language learner, you better stick to learning



                • the gender (always recap the nominative singular der/die/das along each word)

                • the nominative singular

                • the genitive singular

                • the nominative plural

                This is what a dictionary gives you for each noun. It's the only information you need to put the noun into one of the patterns which you will learn automatically as soon you are sufficiently exposed to German.






                share|improve this answer














                First of all, those two dots are the vestiges of a medium-old-fashioned way to write the letter e on top of a vowel —pretty similar as Swedish and Danish do it with the little o on top of the letter å— In much older German texts, you will actually find a small e printed on top of another vowel.



                And that pretty much explains what Umlaute are. They are a special kind of Ablaut, involving the vowels a, o , u and the vowel e.




                das Kaufhaus, die Kaufhäuser




                The letter combination au is a Dipthong which sounds similar to the sound English writes as ow. It's ablauted partner is äu, and that's it. German has some more Dipthonge, but au/äu is the only one involving an Umlaut. Äu sounds just the same as eu (English writes this sound oi or oy.)



                That's the one exceptional case. The general rule for doing the Ablaut (for plural, past tense, downsizing, etc.), however, is



                • put the Ablaut on the last non-reduction syllable of the last component, ignoring suffixes and case/tense endings.

                Often enough, this is just the first syllable of the last component, ignoring prefixes. This explains why it's




                Es ist sechs Uhr morgens. Die Kaufhäuser sind noch geschlossen.



                Auf dem Wochenmarkt wird schon gekauft und verkauft.



                Käufer und Verkäufer feilschen um die Preise.



                An ihrem Verkaufsstand bieten die Obstverkäuferinnen auch Gemüse an.



                An den anderen Verkaufsständen gibt es Wurst und Käse.




                The last component of Obstverkäuferinnen is Verkäuferinnen, the plural nominative ending is -nen, the female occupation suffix is -in-, the actor suffix is -er-. The syllable to put the Ablaut on is kauf. And as that's the au Dipthong, it gets äu.



                Important note: This rule only explains where to put the Ablaut, but not if it has to be put there or not. The latter depends on a lot of factors. As a language learner, you better stick to learning



                • the gender (always recap the nominative singular der/die/das along each word)

                • the nominative singular

                • the genitive singular

                • the nominative plural

                This is what a dictionary gives you for each noun. It's the only information you need to put the noun into one of the patterns which you will learn automatically as soon you are sufficiently exposed to German.







                share|improve this answer














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