FemininPlural

Feminine plural refers to the plural form of nouns and associated words that belongs to the feminine gender in a language with grammatical gender. In languages that encode gender in the noun system, adjectives, determiners, and pronouns often show agreement with the gender and number of the noun. The feminine plural form thus marks that a referent is both female (gender) and more than one (number).

Morphology and typology vary by language. In many Romance languages, feminine plural is formed by adding a plural ending to feminine nouns or adjectives. For example, in French, a feminine singular noun such as amie (female friend) becomes amies in the plural, and adjectives agree in gender and number (grande → grandes). Italian typically forms the feminine plural by changing singular -a to -e (ragazza → ragazze), with corresponding adjective agreement (bella → belle). Spanish often marks feminine plural by changing -a to -as (niña → niñas) or by -es for feminine nouns ending in a consonant (mujer → mujeres); adjectives similarly agree (bonita → bonitas).

German treats feminine plural in several ways, including formal feminine agent nouns formed with -innen for occupational or role-based plurals (Lehrerin → Lehrerinnen, “female teacher” → “female teachers”). Some languages rely on separate pronoun forms or periphrastic constructions to express feminine plural reference, especially for mixed-gender groups or in contexts where gender-marked words carry semantic emphasis.

Agreement rules govern the relationship between feminine plural nouns and their modifiers. In many languages, feminine plural nouns require plural determiner forms and plural verb or adjective forms, while the exact endings and patterns differ across language families.

See also grammatical gender, noun class, agreement, and gendered language.