Key learning points

1. Some masculine nouns, most of them referring to people or animals, add –(e)n to form the plural.
2. To change a masculine noun into a feminine noun, add '-in'; add 'nen' to make feminine nouns ending 'in' plural.
3. Some nouns, often of foreign origin, add 's' in the plural; this does not apply to person nouns.
4. The imperfect tense is commonly used to recount past events in writing. Irregular verb stems need to be learned.

Keywords

• Weak masculine noun - a small set of masculine nouns that add -(e)n in all forms apart from singular nominative

Common misconception