Irregular Plural Nouns (Common Examples) (A1)

While most Dutch nouns follow the -en or -s rule for plurals, some common nouns have irregular plural forms that don't follow these patterns. These need to be memorized.

Here are some of the most important irregular plurals for A1:

• het kind (child) -> de kinderen (children)
• de stad (city) -> de steden (cities)
• het schip (ship) -> de schepen (ships)
• het lid (member) -> de leden (members)
• het glas (glass) -> de glazen (glasses)
• de dag (day) -> de dagen (days)
• de weg (road/way) -> de wegen (roads/ways)
• het ei (egg) -> de eieren (eggs)

Note on man/vrouw:

• de man (man) -> de mannen (men) - Technically regular (doubles consonant)
• de vrouw (woman) -> de vrouwen (women) - Regular

Why irregular? Often due to historical reasons or sound changes over time.

Tip: Pay close attention to these when learning vocabulary. There aren't too many highly common ones at the A1 level, but they appear frequently.