flertalls

Flertalls is a linguistic term used to denote the plural form of a word—the grammatical number that indicates more than one of a referent. In Nordic grammars, flertall (plural) is described as the counterpart to entall (singular). The concept applies to nouns, pronouns and, in many languages, to adjectives and determiners as well. Languages commonly vary in how they form flertall and how it interacts with definiteness and gender.

In Norwegian, the plural forms of nouns are formed in several ways, and the exact ending depends on the noun class. Common patterns include endings like -er, -r, or -er with changes in the stem. The indefinite plural is used without a definite article, for example biler (cars) or bøker (books). The definite plural is typically formed by adding a suffix to the plural form, producing forms such as bilene or bøkene (the cars, the books). Norwegian also marks definiteness through suffixes attached to the noun rather than a separate article in many cases.

In Swedish, plurals commonly end with -ar, -er, or -or, depending on the noun’s gender and declension. The definite plural is formed with a suffix such as -arna, -erna, -r, or -na, resulting in examples like böckerna (the books) or bilarna (the cars). Plural adjectives and possessives accommodate the number of the noun they modify, contributing to agreement within the noun phrase.

Flertalls usage is central to grammar descriptions, language instruction, and dictionaries, where the plural form is contrasted with entall and described in terms of morphology, agreement, and syntactic behavior. See also entall, grammatikk, and språkets numerus.