pluralisformen

Pluralisformen, literally “plural forms,” are the grammatical forms used to indicate more than one in a language. They occur across word classes—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and determiners—and their realization varies by language. Some languages have a single plural pattern, while others distinguish multiple plural forms with different meanings or usages, such as paucal or collective plurals.

Nominals show plurality through endings, internal changes, or both. English often marks nouns with a suffix like -s or -es; German uses a variety of endings such as -e, -en, -er, -n and may involve umlaut or stem changes; some languages rely on zero plural. Pronouns typically have explicit plural forms (we, you plural, they), and some languages also encode inclusivity in the first-person plural.

Verbs commonly agree with the subject in number, yielding distinct plural verb forms. English distinguishes are/are vs is, and German marks verbs for plural subjects with corresponding endings. In other languages, plural is signaled on the verb through dedicated endings or suppletive forms, rather than, or in addition to, noun or pronoun markings.

Determinants and adjectives often agree with number as well, taking plural endings or altering the determiner to reflect plurality. Some languages exhibit identical plural forms across many nouns, while others display extensive agreement across adjectives, determiners, and numerals.

Special cases include the pluralis majestatis (the royal we), where a single person uses the first-person plural to refer to themselves, and various politeness or collective usages such as inclusive or exclusive plurals. Cross-linguistic phenomena also include paucal numbers (denoting a small quantity) and broken plurals (internal vowel changes), especially in Semitic languages.