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Nouns: Number

There are two nominal numbers: singular and plural.

Studying the language, you must learn the plural form with each noun. While it is difficult to provide hard and fast rules, you will with time improve your skill of guessing the plural form of a noun. If you have a choice, do not buy dictionaries that do not give you the plural forms of nouns. (Unfortunately, most on-line dictionaries do not do so at this time.)

Nouns denoting uncountable objects (mass nouns) have no plural forms; e.g. Sand (sand) ‘sand’, Water (water) ‘water’, Sülver (sülver) ‘silver’, Ries (rys) ‘rice’, Sult (sult) ‘salt’, Veh (vey) ‘livestock’. (To denote amounts of these masses you require measure words, as in English “one bucket of sand,” “two bottles of water,” “fifteen head of cattle,” “a handful of rice.”)

Also, there is the word Lüd’ (luyd’) (with dialectical variation such as Lüde (luyde), Lüe (luye) and Lü (luy(d’)) ‘people,’ ‘folk.’ Its ancestor was a plural form (Old Saxon liudi, related to Dutch lui, German Leute, Lithuanian liaudis, Latvian ļaudis, Polish ludzie, and Russian люди). However, there is no singular form of it. For all intents and purposes it is now a mass noun like those mentioned above, though it seems to bridge the divide between uncountable and countable nouns, as seen for instance in Daar is vęęl Sand (Daar is veel sand) ‘There is a lot of sand’, but Daar sünd vęęl Lüüd’ (Daar is sünd veel luyd’) ‘There are a lot of people’. So, for the sake of simplicity, we might consider this a plural noun that has no singular equivalent in Low Saxon.

As in English, another type of noun that is uncountable and therefore has no plural is what is known as “abstract noun;” for instance Jœgd (joegd) ‘youth’ and Lęven (leven) ‘life’. Again as in English, many of them have counterparts that sound alike but are countable. For instance, in the sentence “Life is short,” “life” (in general) is abstract and therefore not countable, but in the sentence “A cat has nine lives,” “life” is specific and thus countable. In English you can test it: for instance, if a noun can go with articles (“the” or “a(n)”) it is specific, not abstract. This test does not work in Low Saxon because articles usually go with abstract nouns as well, as in Dat Lęven is kort (Dat leven is kort) ‘Life is short’. Similarly, there is countable “hair” (Low Saxon Haar (haar)) with its plural form “hairs” (Low Saxon Haar’ (haar’) such as one or two hairs you pull out. And then there is the mass noun “hair” (Low Saxon Haar (haar), as in “She has curly hair,” that requires measure words to be countable (e.g., “two strands of hair”).

Most nouns denoting countable objects have different forms in the singular and in the plural. Some nouns have the same form in both.

1.   Singular    Plural: Identical     Schaap schaap sheep   Schaap schaap sheep     Haar haar hair   Haar haar hair     Fisch visch fish   Fisch visch fish     Dörsch dörsch cod(fish)   Dörsch dörsch cod(fish)     Heern heyrn herring   Heern heyrn herring

2.   Singular    Plural: +(e)n     Barg barg hill, mountain   Bargen bargen hills, mountains In the conventional orthographies, many people, trying to write “phonetically,” omit –en after nasal consonants (m, n, ng) or write an apostrophe (’) in its place; e.g. Hemm or Hemm’ for Hemmen or Hemden [hɛˑmː] ‘shirts’, Stünn or Stünn’ for Stünnen or Stünden [stʏˑnː] ‘hours’, and Lung or Lung’ for Lungen [lʊˑŋː] ‘lungs’. Attempts to write “phonetically” also include omission of the e in –en after liquid consonants (l, r).     Klock klok bell, clock   Klocken klokken bells, clocks     Katt kat cat   Katten katten cats     Nęęs’ nees’ nose   Nęsen nesen noses     School schoul school   Schooln schoulen schools     Krüll krül curl   Krülln krüllen curls     Baard baard beard   Baarden baarden beards     Dö̢ö̢r doer door   Dö̢ö̢rn doeren doors     Stünd stünd hour   Stünnen stünden hours     Hemd hemd shirt   Hemmen hemden shirts     Lung lung lung   Lungen lungen lungs

3.   Singular    Plural: +er     Bild bild picture   Biller bilder pictures     Kind kind child   Kinner kinder children     Wief wyv woman   Wiever wyver women     Kleed kleyd dress   Kleder kleyder dresses, attire     Ei ay egg   Eier ayer eggs

4.   Singular    Plural: +s     Worm worm worm   Worms worms worms     Sitt sit seat   Sitts sits seats     Kock kok cook   Kocks koks cooks     Smutje smutje (ship’s) cook   Smutjes smutjes (ship’s) cooks     Buntje ~ Bontje buntje ~ bontje candy, sweet   Buntjes ~ Bontjes buntjes ~ bontjes candies, sweets     Dö̢ö̢ntje doentje story, tale   Dö̢ö̢ntjes doentjes stories, tales     Ęsel esel donkey   Ęsels esels donkeys     Vagel vagel bird   Vagels vagels birds     Gęvel gevel gable   Gęvels gevels gables     Striepen strypen strip   Striepens strypens strips     Bodden bodden bottom   Boddens boddens bottoms     Haken haken hook   Hakens hakens hooks     Keerl keyrl guy   Keerls keyrls guys     Deern deyrn girl   Deerns deyrns girls     Vadder vadder father   Vadders vadders fathers     Backer bakker baker   Backers bakkers bakers     Smöker smoyker smoker   Smökers smoykers smokers     Singer singer singer   Singers singers singers     Meester meyster master   Meesters meysters masters     Schöler schoyler pupil   Schölers schoylers pupils     Bumann buman bogeyman   Bumanns bumans bogeymen

5.   Singular    Plural: umlaut & +er (with or without lengthening)     Band band band, lace, ribbon   Bänner bender bands, laces, ribbons     Muul muul mouth   Müler muyler mouths     Bladd blad leaf   Bläder ~ Blœder bleder ~ bloeder leaves     Rad rad wheel   Räder ~ Rö̢der reder ~ roeder wheels     Book bouk book   Böker boyker books     Stadt stad town, city   Städer steder towns, cities     Kruud kruud herb   Krüder kruyder herbs

6.   Singular    Plural: umlaut only     Butt but flatfish   Bütt büt < Bütte flatfish     Kopp kop head, cup   Köpp köp < Köppe heads, cups     Kuss kus kiss   Küss küs < Küsse kisses     Napp nap small bowl   Näpp nep < Näppe small bowls     Putt ~ Pott put ~ pot pot   Pütt ~ Pött püt ~ pöt < Pütte ~ Pötte pots

7.   Lengthening (with or without umlaut)        a.   Singular    Plural: short → extra long (“drawl tone”)     Weg weg [vɛç] way   Węg’ weeg’ [vɛːˑʝ] ~ [veːˑʝ] < Węge ways     Smitt smid [smɪt] smith   Smęd’ smed’ [smɛːˑ(d)] ~ [smeːˑ(d)] < Smęde smiths     Hoff hov [hɔf] courtyard, farm   Hœv’ hoev’ [hœːˑv] ~ [høːˑv] < Hö̢ve courtyards, farms     Steg steg [stɛç] footbridge, path   Stęg’ steg’ [stɛːˑʝ] ~ [steːˑʝ] < Stęge footbridges, paths     Dag dag [dax] day   Dag’ dag’ [dɒːˑɣ] < Dage days     Blatt blad [blat] leaf   Blœd’ bloed’ [blœːˑ(d)] ~ [bløːˑ(d)] < Blœde leafs b.   Singular    Plural: long → extra long (“drawl tone”)     Bruud bruud [bruːt] bride   Brüd’ bruyd’ [bryːˑ(d)] < Brüde brides     Deef deyv [dɛˑɪf] thief   Dev’ deyv’ [dɛːɪv] < Deve thieves     Huus huus [huːs] house   Hüs’ huys’ [hyːˑz] < Hüse houses

8.   Singular +man (“-man”)   Plural: +luyd’ (“-folk”)     Koopmann koupman merchant   Kooplüd’ koupluyd’ merchants This applies only where the plural does or can express a conventionally perceived group or category. It does not apply in cases like Bumann ‘bogeyman’ (whose plural is Bumanns).     Timmermann timmerman carpenter   Timmerlüd’ timmerluyd’ carpenters     Melkmann melkman milkman   Melklüd’ melkluyd’ milkmen     Fahrensmann varensman seafarer   Fahrenslüd’ varensluyd’ seafarers     Seemann seyman sailor   Seelüd’ seyluyd’ sailors

9.   Singular   Plural Variation and Combinations     Mann man man   Manns mans ~ Mannslüd’ mansluyd’ men(folk)     Fro ~ Fru vrou woman   Froon(s) vrouen(s) ~ Froonslüd’ vrouensluyd’ women(folk)     Kind kind child   Kinner kinder ~ Kinners kinders children

Quite a few plural forms differ from dialect to dialect. For instance, the plural form of Schapp (schap) ‘cupboard’ is Schappen (schappen) in some dialects and Schäpp (schep) in other dialects. Similarly, the plural forms of Mund (mund) ‘mouth’ is Munnen (munden) or Münner (münder) depending on the dialect. Some nouns have even more than two possible plural forms. Among the examples listed above, Blatt ~ Bladd (blad) ‘leaf’ has the plural forms Bläder (bleder), Blœder (bloeder), and Blœd’ (bloed’). This example also shows us that rounding is involved in a few cases of umlauting of long “a” (/aa/).

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