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    Number
    quickinfo

    Nouns bear the grammatical feature number, which has two values in Frisian: singular and plural. Actually, dealing with number boils down to a treatment of the plural; the singular is always morphologically unmarked, since as a rule the bare stem and the singular of Frisian nouns have the same form. It is worth mentioning that Modern West Frisian does not show any sign of a dual. This is different for North Frisian, spoken in the north of Germany, at least with respect to pronouns. For some information, see the extra The North Frisian dual.

    The plural is primarily expressed by suffixation. There are two regular and productive suffixes: -en and -s, which are usually distributed according to the criterion whether or not the final syllable of the singular bears stress. Examples are par pear > parren and apel apple > apels. The criterion also holds for complex words, although some suffixes select their own plural ending. It is tempting to assume that also the final schwa of so many Frisian nouns belongs to this stock. These nouns show the otherwise unexpected ending -en, for example in tsjerke church > tsjerken. Some historical phonological processes caused a vowel change in the stem: breaking (e.g. foet foot > fuotten) and shortening (e.g. lân land > lannen) in particular have left their marks on Frisian plural formation on a fairly large scale. Lengthening is rare, and can be attributed to Dutch influence. To some extent, there is variation between the regular suffixes. The noun earm arm, for example, can both have earmen and earms as its plural form. The latter plural is impossible in Dutch; the differences with Dutch are summarized in a special section.

    Another peculiarity of Frisian is the possibilty of double plurals, although this only happens to a limited extent. An example is red-en-s, of the singular reed skate. The suffix -e (i.e. bean bean > beane) and what could be called a zero suffix (skiep sheep > skiep) also belong to the irregular plural formation. Also vowel change is possible: ko cow > kij. As can be seen, part of these irregular plurals resemble the English cognates, and there are more examples of this kind. More irregularity can be found in the plurals of the words man man and frou woman and their compounds, which may show a plural element -lju (next to regular -en).

    Loans partly form a separate system in plural formation, since they may inherit endings from their Greek, Latin or French origin. Separate systems can also be found in minor Frisian varieties; the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog is especially interesting since it has maintained the older three-way gender system.

    Finally, some typical uses will be discussed. One of them is measure nouns, which sometimes do not show a plural ending although this could be expected on semantic grounds. An example is trije mingel/*mingels molke three litres of milk. Something comparable is the collective use of singular nouns referring to animals, for instance in der rôt sit yn 'e weet the rat.SG sit-3SG in the wheat there are rats in the wheat. Another peculiarity are the socalled pluralia tantum, i.e. plurals without a singular, as mûzels measles (cf. *mûzel). Finally, some attention will be paid to the formation of singulatives from mass nouns, for example by way of diminutive formation, as in ark tools > arkje tool.

    extra
    The North Frisian dual

    Most of the North Frisian varieties had a dual which was in use up to the 19th century. The variety of Heligoland and the southern varieties on the mainland do not have this (at least, there is no record of its existence). On the other hand, in some areas the dual persisted up to the mid 20th century, especially in Sölring, the variety of the island Sylt. (See Hoekstra (2011) for myths around the dual in its final period). The general form of the dual was the following:

    Table 1
    Person Nominative dual Object dual
    1 wat onk
    2 jat   jonk

    (with possible alternation of the vowel throughout the varieties, for example unk/junk for Sölring object forms).

    The dual was also used in an 'inclusory construction' as in Wat an Carline we.two and Carline Carline and me). Sölring had a third-person dual form, which led to a slightly different paradigm and obviously was a rather recent innovation:

    Table 2
    Person Nominative dual Object dual
    1 wat unk
    2 at junk
    3 jat -

    Hoekstra (2011) gives a detailed overview of the dual in North Frisian, including a discussion about the origin of the Sölring third-person dual. He also mentions some myths that emerged around the phenomenon, probably due to its curiosity.

    [This extra is written by Hauke Heyen (Kiel)]

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    [+]Regular plural formation

    The regular plural is formed by adding one of the suffixes -en or -s to the noun. The general rule for the distribution of these endings is as follows: the suffix -s appears after nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or a syllable consisting of a schwa plus sonorant (-el, -er, -en, -em). The plural suffix -en appears elsewhere.

    The following examples with the ending -s all have more than one syllable, with stress on the first one:

    Table 3
    Singular with unstressed final syllable Plural with -s
    tuba tuba tubas
    jierdei [jIdi] birthday jierdeis
    domeny vicar domenys
    auto car auto's
    oehoe eagle owl oehoes
    Aldegea (name of a village) Aldegeas
    merje mare merjes
    rûzje fight rûzjes
    leppel spoon leppels
    sipel onion sipels
    fiter shoe string fiters
    otter otter otters
    koken kitchen kokens
    rekken bill rekkens
    biezem broom biezems
    lichem body lichems
    extra
    Exceptions

    The nouns kristen christian and heiden heathen have a plural ending -en (kristenen, heidenen), possibly under the influence of the language of the Church, which is almost exclusively Dutch. If heiden means gipsy; uncultivated, bad person, then it has a regular plural heidens.

    A few nouns, in which final -je derives from the suffix -inge historically, may have kept the original ending -en, sometimes next to the synchronically regular ending -s: penje penny > penjen/penjes; skelje shilling > skeljen/skeljes; dealje plank, deal > dealjen/dealjes. Compare also the following pluralia tantum with a similar historical background: skealjen/skealjes scales; twiljen twins; raanjen tricks, pranks; Alderheljen All Saints, All Hallows.

    Furthermore, the word widdo widow has widdo's as well as the plural form widdowen. In the South-East of the language area the plural of hynder horse is hyns (with truncation of -er).

    After a stressed syllable, the ending is -en:

    Table 4
    Singular with stressed final syllable Plural
    krie crow krieën
    aai egg aaien
    liuw lion liuwen
    boer farmer boeren
    tsjil wheel tsjillen
    sok sock sokken
    rút window-pane ruten
    ring ring ringen
    kers candle; cherry kersen
    skúf slide skuven

    Thus far, the examples presented nicely fit the main pattern that -en follows stressed syllables and -s is attached to unstressed ones. However, there is a class of exceptions. In contrast to nouns ending in schwa plus sonorant, which regularly take -s, nouns with a final schwa plus obstruent take -en:

    Table 5
    Singular with final schwa + obstruent Plural
    jilmes alms jilmesen
    sokses sucker soksesen
    trekpot [trɛpət] teapot trekpotten [trɛpətən]
    andert answer anderten
    swédrik thymus swédriken
    estrik floor tile estriken

    In fact, this patterns with the stress criterion, which can also be translated into an instruction that addition of a plural morpheme may not lead to a constant or even higher sonority. After an obstruent, the sonority would not decrease by a following /s/, however. That may be the reason why -en is selected instead.

    [+]The plural of complex words

    Prefixed and compound nouns have the same plural ending as their head, i.e. as their right-hand element. Suffixations usually form their plural according to the same rules as simplex words. Some suffixes may, however, select a plural ending contrary to the general rule.

    The idea of such a selection is significant in order to explain an otherwise important exception to the stress rule. This exception is the many nouns that have a final schwa (but not those ending in -je): one would expect the suffix -s, but they rather take -en:

    Table 6
    Singular ending in -e `Plural
    tsjerke church tsjerken
    râne edge rânen
    hikke gate hikken
    tine tooth (of a fork) tinen
    lodde spade lodden
    bokse (trouser-)leg boksen
    tynge message tyngen
    holle head hollen

    This behaviour may be explained if it is assumed that the ending -e has suffix-like properties. It also seems to determine the gender of these nouns, which is common, and as a suffix it might also select the plural ending -en. That -e selects the plural ending -en and is not simply truncated before the plural suffix (as, for example, in the case of diminutive formation), is shown by an example as rigele row, line > rigelen. If -e had been truncated here, the plural ending would have been -s.

    Loan words with a final schwa which have become naturalized get the ending -en as well. Others keep the ending -s with which they are imported, and there is also a large mixed category where speakers waver:

    Table 7
    Loans with final schwa Plural
    masine machine masinen
    ballade ballead balladen
    metoade method metoaden
    fitamine vitamine fitaminen
    kassette cassette kassetten/kassettes
    antinne aerial, antenna antinnen/antinnes
    sonate sonata sonaten/sonates
    kojoate coyote kojoates
    file traffic jam files
    dame lady dames

    Proper names that end in a schwa, such as Jelle or Oebele, when used as count nouns, get the plural ending -s, in accordance with the general rule:

    1
    Wy ha trije Jelles / Oebeles yn 'e famylje
    we have three Jelle-PL / Oebele-PL in the family
    Our family counts three members with the name Jelle / Oebele

    The kinship terms pake grandfather and beppe grandmother, that function as proper names as well, waver between -s and -en, if they are used as count nouns: paken/pakes and beppen/beppes. Another exception is jonge boy, which has jonges as plural form, possibly under influence of Dutch jongen-s boy-PL, or under analogical pressure of famke girl > famkes.

    Most other suffixes ending in a schwa select the plural ending -en as well, but a few also irregularly take the suffix -s:

    Table 8
    Suffix Reference Singular Plural
    -e -e deade dead man/woman deaden
    -te -te sykte illness sykten
    -tme -tme berchtme moantain range berchtmen
    -ske -ske kammeraatske (girl)friend kammeraatskes
    -ert -ert leffert coward lefferts
    -e -e fioeliste female violin player fioelistes

    In the last case, the ending -s may have been chosen for semantic reasons; the plural ending -en would obscure the difference between male fioelist and female fioeliste.

    The suffix -ier takes the irregular plural -s if it denotes a human being, but has the regular ending -en if it refers to a thing. Compare:

    Table 9
    Singular Plural
    bankier banker bankiers
    koerier courier koeriers
    portier porter, doorkeeper portiers
    portier door portieren
    fisier vizier fisiers
    fisier visor fisieren
    formulier form formulieren

    An exception is ofsier officer > ofsieren.

    The final conclusion can be that most Frisian plurals form a trochaic pattern. Striking exceptions are nouns ending in a schwa plus obstruent, as exemplified above.

    [+]Vowel changes in the stem

    A considerable number of nouns having a centralizing diphthong as their stem show breaking of this vowel in the plural form ending in -en. Breaking refers to the transition of /iə/ to /jI/, of /Iə/ to /jɛ/, of /uə/ to /wo/ and /oə/ to /wa/. Furthermore, there is the single case /yə/ > /jö/ in flues membrane; fleece > fljuzzen.

    In the table below some examples of the main patterns will be given. Breaking is reflected in the orthography in the case of /uə/ > /wo/, spelled as <oe> - <uo>. If the broken vowel is followed by a single consonant, this is doubled in the spelling of the plural. Below, the broken vowel is emphasized:

    Table 10
    Breaking Singular Plural
    /iə/ > /jI/ trie(d) thread triedden
    priem knitting needle priemmen
    trien tear triennen
    hier hair hierren
    kies molar kiezzen
    /Iə/ > /jɛ/ heak hook heakken
    peal pole peallen
    beam tree beammen
    tean toe teannen
    feart canal fearten
    sleat ditch sleatten
    /uə/ > /wo/ hoed hat huodden
    stoel chair stuollen
    spoen chip of wood spuonnen
    toer tower tuorren
    goes goose guozzen
    foet foot fuotten
    /oə/ > /wa/ koal cabbage; cole koallen
    hoarn horn hoarnen
    soan son soannen
    doar door doarren
    hoas stockings hoazzen
    /yə/ > /jö/ flues membrane; fleece fljuzzen

    It should be noted that breaking is not applied consistently. Shortening, by which long vowels may turn into short ones, again before -en, is irregular in a similar fashion. A selection follows below; all possible changes are represented, as are the possible final consonants, which was also the case in the table of breaking above:

    Table 11
    Shortening Singular Plural
    /u:/ > /u/ (or /y/) mûs mouse mûzen
    hûs house huzen
    /e:/ > /I/ beest beast; animal; cow bisten
    /ɛ:/ > /ɛ/ mês knife messen
    heak hook (dial.) heakken
    /ɔ:/ > /ɔ/ hân hand hannen
    stôk stick stokken
    rôt rat rotten
    /a:/ > /a/ kaam comb kammen
    slaab bib slabben
    baarch pig bargen

    The pronunciation /hɛ:k/ for heak hook can be found in the east of the language area (more details can be found in shortening).

    Dutch had a historical rule of lengthening in open syllable which in a number of words of that language has led to a vowel alternation in the plural form. Usually, the Frisian vowel is left unchanged in comparable cases. For example, the plural of Dutch dak /dak/ roof is lengthened to daken /da:kən/, where the plural of the homophonous singular remains short in Frisian: dak /dak/ > dakken /dakŋ̩/.

    Still, a few nouns in Frisian show lengthening of the stem in the plural:

    Table 12
    Lengthening Singular Plural
    /I/ > /e:/ lid member leden
    /ɛ/ > /e:/ gebed prayer gebeden(s)
    /ɔ/ > /oə/ god god goaden
    gebod command geboaden(s)

    These lengthenings must have occurred under Dutch influence (note the religous or administrative context of the concepts involved). It also applies to foreign, and expecially scientific, words like neutron neutron > neutroanen, demon demon > demoanen or gen gen > genen. On the plural of foreign words ending in -or, see point 4 in the list below.

    Finally, it should be stressed that the vowel changes dealt with above have an additional feature: they occur as a side-effect of the marking of the plural by a plural suffix. This is different with a few (rare) cases in which vowel change is the sole marker of plurality. These will be dealt with in the section on irregular plural formation below.

    extra
    The plural of lid

    The plural of the noun lid only lengthens to leden if it has the meaning member, clearly under Dutch influence. There is another word lid lid, cover that pluralizes in a regular way: lidden. The word lid can also mean part of the body, limb. In that case, the plural is also irregular, i.e. lea, a contraction of Old Frisian litha (in those days a regular plural of singular lith).

    [+]Variation of -en and -s

    Nouns ending in a liquid ( /l/ or /r/) plus /m/ may take the plural -en as well as -s. The former occurs more in the West of the province, the latter more in the East. Compare:

    Table 13
    Singular Plural
    swolm ulcer swolmen/swolms
    psalm psalm psalmen/psalms
    helm helmet helmen/helms
    skelm rascal skelmen/skelms
    earm arm earmen/earms
    stoarm storm stoarmen/stoarms
    noarm norm noarmen/noarms
    foarm form foarmen/foarms
    term intestine termen/terms
    wjirm worm wjirmen/wjirms
    skerm screen skermen/skerms
    berm verge, roadside bermen/berms

    This variation is due to the fact that nouns ending in -lm and -rm may undergo schwa insertion; more information on its phonological aspects can be found in schwa insertions in coda clusters and especially in word-final sequences of a liquid and a nasal. The result of this process may have been lexicalized in the East, thus leading to underlying forms like /swoləm/ for swolm ulcer or /tɛrəm/ for term intestine. As a consequence, like all nouns ending in schwa + sonorant, they get the plural ending -s.

    A similar variation between the two plural endings is found with nouns ending in the sequence -eil:

    Table 14
    Singular Plural
    neil nail neilen/neils
    fleil flail fleilen/fleils
    dweil mop dweilen/dweils
    seil sail seilen/seils

    Again, the eastern variants with -s may have undergone schwa insertion between the glide, i.e. the second part of the diphthong /ai/ and /l/.

    extra
    Metathesis

    Fleil flail has a variant flalje, with metathesis of /j/ and /l/. The same metathesis is also found in raljes rails.

    Another case of variation is to be found in nouns of more than one syllable ending in -ing. They can take the plural -en or -s. Compare:

    Table 15
    Singular in -ing Plural
    hjerring herring hjerringen/hjerrings
    feriening club, organization ferieningen/ferienings
    ketting chain kettingen/kettings
    riedling riddle riedlingen/riedlings
    feroaring change feroaringen/feroarings
    oersetting translation oersettingen/oersettings

    This variation can probably be ascribed to a conflict between a morphological criterion (the suffix -ing, or -ling, selecting the ending -en) and the regular phonology-based rule of adding -s to an unstressed syllable. If -ing itself is preceded by an unstressed syllable, i.e. if it gets secondary stress, it always has a full vowel underlyingly. Nouns in which -ing appears in this stress configuration then appear to have a strong preference for the plural ending -en:

    Table 16
    Singular Plural
    iepening opening iepeningen
    tekening drawing tekeningen
    wrakseling struggle wrakselingen
    utering utterance uteringen

    In these examples, the syllable with -ing is always preceded by a syllable containing a schwa, cf. tekening /te:kənIŋ/ drawing.

    A semantic exception to the possibility of variation are those nouns that denote a human being or an animal. These always take the plural ending -en. Compare:

    Table 17
    Singular Plural
    kening king keningen
    wytsing viking wytsingen
    haadling chieftain haadlingen
    learling pupil learlingen
    deadeling wet, wimp deadelingen
    hokling yearling (heifer/calf) hoklingen
    wezeling weasel wezelingen

    A few, mostly archaic, nouns have the suffixal variant -inge. These nouns invariably take the plural ending -en. Examples are printinge printing > printingen and rispinge harvest > rispingen.

    extra
    Wavering

    It should be noted that the -s-plural with nouns ending in -ing is in a state of flux, so that for some speakers the stress condition (no secondary stress) and the semantic condition (no human reference) may be less rigid than described here. Moreover, in Standard Frisian the -s-ending is sometimes preferred to the -en-ending, because of the fact that Dutch always has the plural ending -en in these cases.

    There is some debate about the linguistic background of the variation. Veen (1984-2011: -ing I, II; -ling I) ascribes it to a different pronunciation of the suffix, as [Iŋ] or [əŋ], respectively. The former would opt for -en, the latter for -s (see also Riemersma (1979:33)). This is criticized by Hoekstra (2011:288), who states that the suffix builds an unstressed syllable anyway. As an alternative, he assumes that the plural ending -en is selected by the suffix.

    The uncertainty about the choice of the plural ending can also be read off from the two dialect maps in Paardekooper (1992:62). Both endings can be found across the whole language area, possibly with a slight bias for -en in the west and -s in the east.

    [+]Some differences with Dutch in the choice of the plural ending

    Dutch has the same two plural suffixes -en and -s and the same major distribution rule as Frisian. Nevertheless, the two languages show a number of differences in the choice of the plural ending:

    1. A number of nouns ending in a schwa + sonorant in Dutch can have the ending -en, mostly next to regular -s. The two plural forms often show stylistic or semantic differentiation. The Frisian counterparts invariably have the ending -s. Compare:
      Table 18
      Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
      wûnder miracle wûnders wonder wonderen
      middel means; medicine middels middel middelen
      moksel mussel moksels mossel mosselen/mossels
      apel apple apels appel appelen/appels
      artikel article artikels artikel artikelen/artikels
      teken sign tekens teken tekenen/tekens
    2. Many nouns ending in -e in Dutch can take both -en and -s in the plural, although the -s-plural is often preferred in the spoken language. The Frisian counterparts always take -en. Compare:
      Table 19
      Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
      binde gang binden bende benden/bendes
      boade messager boaden bode boden/bodes
      sykte illness sykten ziekte ziekten/ziektes
      griente vegetable grienten groente groenten/groentes
      gemeente municipality gemeenten gemeente gemeenten/gemeentes
    3. A number of nouns in Dutch take a plural ending in -eren. This element is lacking in Frisian:
      Table 20
      Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
      keal calf keallen kalf kalveren
      laam lamb lammen lam lammeren
      liet song lieten lied liederen
      rêd (cog)wheel rêden rad raderen
      aai egg aaien ei eieren
    4. Loan-words ending in -or can take both -en and -s in Dutch. In the former case, the vowel undergoes lengthening in open syllables (see also at the end of the section on vowel changes in the stem above). The Frisian counterparts, in which -or is often pronounced with a schwa, can only have the plural ending -s. Compare:
      Table 21
      Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
      professor professor professors professor professoren/professors
      radiator radiator radiators radiator radiatoren/radiators
      projektor projector projektors projector projectoren/projectors
      faktor factor faktors factor factoren/factors

      In fully naturalized words, the spelling -or has been replaced by -er, thereby indicating the reduction to schwa better. Examples are dokter doctor and moter motor. A further adaption to the Frisian phonological system is the variant perfester /pərfɛstr̩/ professor, of course again with plural -s.

    5. A number of loan-words ending in (unstressed) -ie in Dutch take the plural ending -en or sometimes have -en next to -s. The Frisian counterparts which end in -je always take the plural ending -s (as do native words ending in -je, see the table above). Compare:
      Table 22
      Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
      baktearje bacterium baktearjes bacterie bacteriën
      poarje pore poarjes porie poriën
      gemikaaljes chemicals chemicaliën
      finânsjes finances financiën
      koloanje colony koloanjes kolonie koloniën/kolonies
      provinsje province provinsjes provincie provinciën/provincies
      evangeelje gospel evangeeljes evangelie evangeliën/evangelies
    6. In the cases discussed in a preceding section (see the section above: variation between -en and -s), in which Frisian may have -en or -s, Dutch always takes the plural ending -en. Examples are Dutch arm arm (Frisian earm), with its plural armen, or Dutch haring herring (Frisian hearring), which has haringen as its plural form.
    extra
    Dutch influence

    Because of the heavy influence of Dutch on many speakers of Frisian, one can come across endings that originally were not acceptable in Frisian. This is especially the case with the nouns ending in -e, and then foremost in words that have a direct counterpart in Dutch. Examples are dutchified forms like *gemeentes municipalities or *boades messagers. This even extends to nouns that differ formally to a much greater extent. Examples are *kroades (from kroade wheelbarrow; Dutch kruiwagen) or *widzes (from widze cradle; Dutch wieg).

    One can also encounter Dutch influence in most other cases above. Examples are *artikelen instead of artikels articles (case 1), *faktoaren instead of faktors factors (case 4) and *baktearyen instead of baktearjes bacteria (case 5; but also with the Dutch ending /i/ in the singular). As far as is known, the Dutch ending -eren (case 3) is never taken over, but this is a marked ending in Dutch anyway.

    [+]Double plurals

    Besides variation between the suffixes -en and -s, Frisian can also use them both. We then get the ending -ens, historically a double plural of -en + -s. We find double plurals in particular with nouns whose referents naturally occur in groups or pairs:

    Table 23
    Singular Double plural
    lears boot learzens
    reed skate redens
    boei handcuff boeiens

    Most nouns with a double plural also occur with a single one:

    Table 24
    Singular (Double) plural
    gebod command geboaden(s)
    gebed prayer gebeden(s)
    earm arm earmen(s)
    wei way wegen(s)
    weach wave weagen(s)
    gebeart gesture gebearten(s)
    trek feature trekken(s)
    miede meadow mieden(s)
    pokken(s) smallpox
    galgen(s) braces, suspenders

    Occasionally, a particular plural form is restricted to a certain region. The double plural earmens arms, for example, typically occurs in the South West. The words pokkens smallpox and galgens braces, suspenders are pluralia tantum.

    Sometimes, a new singular was formed on the basis of an original double plural form. A clear example is the singular treppen staircase, from double pluralic treppens, which is based on singular trep. Another example is singular wolken cloud from double plural wolkens, in itself based on singular wolk. For completeness' sake, the pairs trep SG - treppen PL and wolk cloud.SG - wolken cloud.PL also exist.

    extra
    Frisian influence

    Double plurals are rare in Dutch. Nevertheless, in the diaries of the Frisian farmer Lieuw Jans de Jong (1825-1855), written in Dutch, several double plural forms can be observed. Hoekstra (1999:114) analyzes them as cases of interference from Frisian. An example is wegens, from Dutch weg road. Interestingly, one can also come across double plurals that do not have a Frisian counterpart. A few of them contain a suffix -te: groentens (from Dutch groente vegetables), vlaktens (from vlakte plain) and ziektens (from ziekte illness). Other examples are schadens (from schade damage and uiens (from ui onion). However, as to the latter, see also the plural in some minor Frisian varieties for an example from the dialect of Hindeloopen.

    [+]Irregular plural formation

    Next to the regular plural formation with the suffixes -en and -s we can find irregular pluralization that makes use of other means.

    Firstly, we have some zero plurals, that is, we see no change at all. The most important are bern child.SG child, which has the same form bern child.PL as its plural. The same behaviour can be observed with skiep sheep.SG sheep, with its identical plural skiep sheep.PL.

    The words reden reason and lúsjefers match may either have a zero plural or a regular plural -en:

    2
    a. Om twa reden(en) haw ik nee sein
    for two reason-(PL) have I no said
    I have said no for two reasons
    b. Der leine twa ôfbaarnde lúsjefers(en) op 'e flier
    there laid two off-burned match-(PL) on the floor
    There were two burnt matches lying on the floor
    extra
    Lúsjefers match(es)

    Historically, the word lúsjefers match must be a plural of lúsjefer (cf. Dutch lucifer), a form that can also be found in older texts. However, a new singular form lúsjefers developed. Verdenius (1947) explains this as follows. The word mainly occurred in the plural, which is pronounced, with R-deletion, as [lysjəfɛs]. From the surface form, one could infer a hypothetical singular [*lysjəfɛ], which, however, does not obey the phonotactics of Frisian. Hence, the plural form lúsjefers was also taken to be the singular form. On the basis of this singular, a new, and actually double, plural lúsjefersen could emerge.

    A few words have no ending either, but they do show vowel change. The most important is ko /ko:/ cow, which has kij /kɛi/ as its plural form. Obsolete are goes /ɡuəs/ goose > gies /ɡiəs/ and foet foot > fiet (although gies was still observed at the end of the 20th century). Nowadays, their common plurals are guozzen and fuotten, both with a broken vowel (see Vowel changes in the stem above).

    Consonant change can be observed in the pair wei way > wegen and dei day > dagen. The original guttural fricative still occurs in the plural form, but has been palatalized and has merged with the original vowel into a diphthong in the singular. As the second element of a compound, dei is phonetically reduced in middei afternoon, jierdei birthday and the days of the week, as moandei monday etc., leading to the pronunciation [di] (in the north) or [djə] in the south. In both cases, the regular plural is -s: jierdeis birthdays, etc.

    Two nouns show a plural morpheme -e. These are eart pea > earte and bean bean > beane. Both nouns also show the regular plural -en, however, and the latter suffix is gaining ground. The ending -e is mainly restricted to the north of the language area, where some speakers also begin to use the form with -e as singular. It should be noted that in some minor Frisian varieties the suffix -e is more common; see the plural in some minor dialect varieties for more information.

    Finally, some irregular plurals that do not fit in any of the categories above should be mentioned:

    Table 25
    Singular Plural
    âlder parent âlden
    skoech shoe skuon
    deihier day's wage dagen hier
    -heid -heden
    -ichheid -ichheden

    The word deihier, with stress on the second element, can be seen as a univerbation. The plural, apparently with a less strict cohesion, shows the suffix attached to the first element. The irregularity in the productive suffixes -heid and -ichheid have a significant effect in actual language use, since both are productive and relatively frequent.

    The plurals of the words man man and frou woman deserve special attention. In the unmarked case, they become pluralized by addition of the element -lju: manlju men and froulju women. This element exists as an independent word in the form lju people. Regular plural formation with the suffix -en exists as well, however with a restricted application. The regular plural frouwen is only used for frou mistress and frou queen (cards). The plural mannen has a special connotation of familiarity and intimacy, for example in:

    3
    No mannen, tiid foar in glês bier!
    Well, lads, time for a glass of beer!

    Compounds with man as head, which often might be better analysed as derivations with a suffixoid -man, behave differently. Some only have -en. This choice in cases like krystmannen Santa Clauses or brêgemannen bridegrooms might be due to the fact that the plural of these nouns is infrequent anyhow. In other cases the special connotation of the plural form mannen might be the reason, as in bakjemannen hawkers, pedlars or foaroanmannen leaders. Other nouns only take -lju, in this case however replacing the full second member of the compound, as in seeman sailor > seelju or sportman sportsman > sportlju.

    There is also a category with two possibilities, with -lju or with -en. In this case the plural with -mannen is a count noun, whereas the plural with -lju is only used in a collective sense (just as lju people itself). Compare:

    4
    a. Der binne twa grientemannen yn ús doarp
    There are two greengrocers in our village
    b. De grientelju kinne net út tsjin 'e supermerken
    The greengrocers cannot compete with the supermarkets

    Other examples of this category are timmermannen/timmerlju carpenters or plysjemannen/plysjelju policemen.

    [+]The plural of loanwords

    Loanwords often have the plural ending -s, also in cases where -en would be required if the word were native. Compare:

    Table 26
    Singular Plural
    kafee pub kafees
    buro desk buro's
    sirkwy circuit sirkwys
    wigwam wigwam wigwams
    kajak kajak kajaks
    konsul consul konsuls
    fan fan fans
    goal goal goals

    Others have -en in accordance with the rule for native words:

    Table 27
    Singular Plural
    idee idea ideeën
    paraplu umbrella parapluën
    kersjet corset kersjetten
    kanon canon kanonnen
    demokrasy democrasy demokrasyen

    Some Latin and Greek loanwords may retain their original plural ending. Thus loanwords ending in -us that refer to persons normally change the ending in -y in the plural:

    Table 28
    Singular Plural
    promovendus PhD-student promovendy
    kritikus critic kritisy
    akademikus academic akademisy

    Loanwords on -um often have the native plural ending -s next to the learned plural ending (-um > -a). Examples are museum museum > museums/musea or sintrum centre > sintrums/sintra.

    Note that most loanwords enter Frisian through Dutch, so that the plural ending is often similar to the one in Dutch.

    [+]The plural in some minor Frisian varieties

    The plural formation as described above is valid for the standard variety of Frisian. However, the language has a few outlying and rather deviating dialects which potentially could have their own characteristics. This applies in a structural sense to the variety of the island of Schiermonnikoog, first of all as this dialect still displays a three gender system. At the end of this section we will provide a brief sketch of the plural morphology of East- and North-Frisian varieties spoken in Germany. But first the dialects of Hylpen and Terschelling will be examined.

    The Frisian varieties as spoken in the small town of Hylpen and on the island of Terschelling both follow the main distribution of the plural suffixes -en and -s. Both only take the suffix -en after nouns ending in -ing. Neither dialect shows breaking, but shortening does occur in Terschelling /fɔ:lə/ foal > /fɔlən/ or /hɔ:n/ hand > /hɔnən/ and in Hylpen dôr /dɔər/ door > dorren dɔrən. Furthermore, in a few cases qualitative differences between the stem vowel of singular and plural show up where standard Frisan has breaking. Examples from Terschelling are /stu:l/ chair > /stolən/ or /tri:d/ thread > /trIdən/. From Hylpen: foet /fuət/ foot > futten /føtən/ or sôl /sɔ:l/ sole > söllen /sʌlən/.

    Both dialects also show some additional irregular forms. Terschelling has the same singular and plural form in the word hòs horse(s). In contrast to standard Frisian, it has vowel change in /sxe:p/ sheep.SG sheep > /sxi:p/ sheep.PL sheep. A now obsolete vowel change can be found in Hylpen skip /skIp/ ship > skyp /skip/ ship.PL ships. Hylpen also shows the phenomenon of double plurals. Extra beyond the set of standard Frisian are kiuwe gill > kiuwens and öie onion > öiens. An interesting fact about Terschelling is the development of an extra plural marker -s after the plural element -joed /ju:d/, for singulars with -man as second element (cf. standard Frisian -lju and the description of the relevant pattern in irregular plural formation). The result is a double plural. An example is timmerman carpenter. The original plural is timmerjoed. Nowadays, this form is extended to the double plural timmerjoeds.

    The dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog is particularly interesting because of the fact that it still has three grammatical genders. The deviation in plural formation is found in the nouns with feminine gender, at least as far as its members do not denote female human beings. This set has its own plural suffix, i.e. -e, pronounced as schwa. Examples are daar doar > dare, deus box > deuze and tjark church > tjarke. Also animals (not necessarily female) can be feminine and take -e, as airk male duck > airke, fil butterfly > fele or kat cat > kôte. Fele and kôte also show vowel lengthening. This may occur when the stem vowel of the plural ends up in an open syllable. However, this lengthening is not a regular process, as there are many exceptions: dod wheelbarrow > dodde or wyk week > wyke are cases in point. There are also a handful of masculine nouns that take -e, plus some ten or so neuter nouns (a remnant of an older ending -u). However, the great majority of masculine and neuter nouns regularly follows the same pattern as standard Frisian. The standard rule also applies to female human beings, like prinses princess > prinsessen or non nun > nonnen, nouns that have feminine gender.

    extra
    x
    Plural inflection of nouns in East and North Frisian

    Modern East Frisian mostly has -e for marking masculine and neuter plural and -(e)n for marking feminine plural, whereas -e has become the main plural ending in Mainland North Frisian. Due to a general apocope of final schwa in Insular North Frisian which also affected the historical plural ending -e, the regular plural endings here are -er (mostly masculine) and -en, while the use of -s increased in all Frisian varieties due to influence of Dutch and Low German – especially in now extinct varieties (varieties of Wangerooge and Südergoesharde), though it is not as widespread as in West Frisian (but see Heligoland (Krogmann (1957:47-48)). The North Frisian variety of the Halligen also knows -ens. See (Hoekstra (2001:777) for a general overview.

    A broader overview of noun inflection (including lists of irregular forms) for the mainland varieties can be found in Wilts (1993) (Wiedingharde), Wilts (1995) (Bökingharde), Wilts (1995) (Nordergoesharde), Wilts (1997) (Halligen) and Hoekstra (2014) (Südergoesharde).

    For a broader overview for the insular varieties see Wilts (1995) (Föhr), Wilts (1995) (Amrum), Wilts (1995) (Sylt), and see Borchert et al (1987) for a more recent overview than Krogmann of Heligoland.

    For East Frisian see the grammatical overview in Fort (1980:192-193).

    [This extra is written by Hauke Heyen (Kiel)]

    [+]The plural of measure nouns

    Many measure nouns show no plural marking if they are preceded by a cardinal number or by the quantifiers in pear a few, hoefolle how many and safolle so many. Obviously, this is due to the semantics of these elements: measure nouns denote entities that have no reason of existence apart from the fact that they can be counted, which makes it more or less superfluous to distinguish a singular and a plural. Compare the following cases:

    5
    twa kilo sûker two kilo's of sugar
    trije mingel/liter molke three litres of milk
    in pear kúb sân a few cubic meters of sand
    fjouwer pûnsmiet greidlân four acres (4 x 36 are) of grassland
    twa pear skuon two pairs of shoes
    hoefolle gûne how many guilders
    tsien oere ten hours
    tolve jier twelve years
    safolle kear so many times
    trije tûzen three thousand
    fyftich persint fifty percent
    hûndert man hundred people

    An impression of other measure nouns that may appear without plural marking in Frisian follows below:

    Table 29
    Field Measure noun
    weight: gram gram
    ûns ounce
    pûn pound
    ton ton
    length: millimeter millimeter
    sintimeter centimeter (etc.)
    streep millimeter
    trêd approximately one meter
    jellen yard
    fiem fathom
    foet foot
    tomme thumb
    volume: mudde hectoliter (potatoes)
    area: kante meter square meter
    are are
    hektare hectare (etc.)
    bunder hectare
    amount: ton a hundred thousand guilders/euro's
    time: kertier quarter
    number: hûndert hundred
    miljoen million
    miljard billion

    Several, now obsolete, measure nouns could be added to this list.

    However, not all measure nouns show this behaviour. The following nouns always take a plural ending:

    6
    twa stuorren 2 x 5 cents
    tweintich sekonden twenty seconds
    in pear menuten a few minutes
    fjirtjin dagen fourteen days
    hoefolle graden how many degrees

    A few cases differ from the usage in Dutch:

    Table 30
    Frisian Dutch
    tsien sinten ten cents tien cent
    acht wike eight weeks acht weken
    njoggen moanne nine months negen maanden

    In certain cases some of these words may have a plural. First, if the particular entities are not presented as a whole but separately in order to emphasize duration, etc.:

    7
    Ik ha wol trije oeren wachte
    I have waited for three hours

    Secondly, if they have a special, not specifically measuring sense:

    8
    a. twa kilo's sûker
    two kilopacks of sugar
    b. Der leine sân gûnen op 'e tafel
    There were seven guilder coins on the table
    c. Wy ha hjoed mar trije oeren
    We have only three hours (periods) today

    And thirdly, if they are not preceded by a cardinal number or one of the quantifiers mentioned above for example, if they appear "bare" in emphatic sentences like

    9
    a. Der kamen hûnderten minsken nei de útstalling
    Hundreds of people came to the exhibition
    b. Hy hat der jierren foar sparre
    Hy has saved money for it for many years
    c. Wy ha yn 'e fekânsje kilometers rûn
    We have walked many kilometers during our holidays

    or if they are modified by other elements

    10
    a. de lêste meters
    the last meters
    b. de noflike wiken op Malta
    the nice weeks on Malta
    c. de njoggentiger jierren
    the ninety-SUFF years
    the nineties
    d. alle kearen
    all time-PL
    every time
    [+]Collective use of singular nouns

    Singular nouns, especially nouns referring to animals (vermin), are sometimes used in a collective sense. Compare:

    11
    a. De wjirm sit yn it hout
    The wood has worm
    b. De rôt sit yn 'e weet
    There are rats in the wheat
    c. De rûp is yn 'e koal
    There are caterpillars in the cabbages
    d. De slak sit yn 't slaad
    There are snails in the lettuce
    e. Wy ha de mûs yn 'e greiden
    We have mice in the meadows
    f. De granium sit ûnder de lûs
    The geranium is covered with lice

    Compare further the following expressions from technical languages (beekeepers, fishermen):

    12
    a. De bij swarmet
    The bees are swarming
    b. De iel rint
    The eels are running
    [+]Pluralia tantum

    Pluralia tantum are nouns that appear in the plural form (or at least trigger plural agreement), but that, unlike normal plurals, are mass nouns. They refer to a collective. Consequently, they can not be preceded by numerals (cf. *trije klean three clothes).

    In origin, many pluralia tantum are normal plurals which have semantically, and sometimes formally, dissociated themselves from their former base. The plurale tantum klean clothes, for example, is the former plural of Old Frisian klath, kleth article of clothing (Modern Frisian klaad gown; kleed cloth, carpet, curtain).

    Not all pluralia tantum derive from normal plurals, however. Quite a number of them have been formed by adding the plural ending to a mass noun, in order to emphasize the fact that these mass nouns do not refer to a homogenous whole, but to a collective of items. Compare, for example, the plurale tantum túchen weeds, which derives from the synonymous túch weeds, and the plurale tantum bouwen (parcels of) farmland from bou farmland.

    A third historical source for pluralia tantum are originally singular words, which due to their collective meaning triggered plural agreement. An example is lju people, which derives from the Old Frisian singular noun liode people. Synchronically, the origin of pluralia tantum is often unclear.

    Some other pluralia tantum in Frisian are:

    13
    lea body [historically the plural of lid limb]
    moanjes mane
    skealjen/skealjes scales
    âldfaars ancestors
    mûzels measles
    pokken smallpox
    simmels bran
    sjudden flax waste
    imen bees [cf. bij bee - bijen bees]
    (grutte) spitsen (close) friends
    kornútsjes friends (connections)
    midsieuwen Middle Ages
    tûkelteammen hindrances, obstacles
    gritsen tricks; whims
    kluchten nonsense
    nuvere oanslaggen silly whims
    rare minen meitsje make faces
    meneuvels gestures
    omkriten surroundings
    omkanten contours, outlines
    ynkomsten income
    machten testicles
    ynhouten frame-timbers of a ship; constitution
    omballingen side-issues
    rarichheden bad things, bad news
    finânsjes finances
    gemikaaljes chemicals

    The following pluralia tantum derive from a mass noun:

    14
    kosten costs, expenses [cf. kost living; boarding; fare]
    fruchten crops [cf. frucht crops]
    legen lowlands [cf. leech lowland]
    weten wheat (fields) [cf. weet wheat]
    hjouwers oat (fields) [cf. hjouwer oat(s)]
    kjitten weeds [cf. kjitte weeds; mud]
    bloeisels blossoms [cf. bloeisel blossoms]
    (yn 'e) reiden (in the) reed [cf. reid reed]
    ûngânzen afterbirth [cf. ûngâns afterbirth]
    yngewanten bowels [cf. yngewant bowels]

    Compare also toponyms like

    15
    De Wâlden S.-E. part of Fryslân
    De Bjirmen the villages Pitersbierrum, Seisbierrum and Easterbierrum
    De Legeaen the villages Tersoal, Sibrandabuorren, Gau, Goaiïngea and Loaiïngea
    De Flieterpen the villages Jislum, Ginnum, Reitsum and Lichtaard

    If a plurale tantum is used as the base of a derivation or as the first element of a compound, the formal plural ending is truncated. Compare:

    16
    simmelbôle bran bread
    machtbreuk scrotum rupture
    midsieusk mediaeval
    kornútsjepolityk favouritism
    wâldreis delivery [literally: trip to De Wâlden]
    wâldsjer inhabitant of De Wâlden
    Legeaster inhabitant of De Legeaen
    extra
    Harsens

    The original plurale tantum harsens brain(s) is a singular noun in the present-day language, unlike its Dutch counterpart hersenen. In the spoken language it is usually used as a coarse word for head. It is always pronounced as [hasəs], i.e. it has lost the nasalized /n/, which shows that it is not felt as a complex word anymore. Further, it has developed a new plural. Compare:

    i
    Gean der mei jim grouwe harsensen foarwei!
    Get out of the way with your big heads!

    If the word is used as a medical term in the standard language, it is singular as well. Compare:

    ii
    De harsens bestjoert it lichem
    the brain.SG control-3SG the body
    The brain controls the body

    The final -s is not truncated if the word constitutes the first element of a compound (cf. harsensoperaasje brain surgery). Due to its common use as a coarse word for head, however, harsens competes with brein brain(s) as a technical term in Standard Frisian.

    [+]The formation of singulatives

    In Frisian there are a number of ways to turn mass nouns into singulatives, i.e. nouns denoting a countable unit of the relevant substance. First, a singulative can be formed by change of gender, i.e. neuter turns to common. An example is it tried the thread (mass) ~ de tried the thread (thing). More examples can be found in the topic on gender.

    Another way to form singulatives is to add the diminutive suffix to a mass noun:

    Table 31
    Mass noun Singulative
    ark tools arkje tool
    praat talk praatsje chat
    reau equipment, utensils reauke cup and saucer
    túch dust túchje speck of dust
    sukelade chocolate sûkelaadsje (piece of) chocolate
    grús grit grúske piece of candy (in coffee ot tea)
    kryt chalk krytsje piece of chalk
    swilk oil-cloth swilkje table oil-cloth
    hout wood houtsje draughtsman, checkerman
    lear leather learke leather strap; washer

    Finally and most productively, the semantically empty measure noun stik piece may join up with a mass noun complement to form a singulative expression:

    17
    stik klean piece of clothing
    stik ark tool, piece of equipment
    stik tou piece of rope, cord, string
    stik fee head of cattle
    stik lân piece of land
    stik húsrie piece of furniture
    stik bôle piece of bread
    stik wurk piece of work
    extra
    x
    Literature

    This topic is greatly indebted to an unfinished grammar of Frisian, written in English by Jarich Hoekstra.

    A short overview of Frisian plural formation can be found in Folkertsma (1950) or De Haan (1995:78-80). For the plural of some individual words, see Kalma (1952:91). Some data from the oldest Frisian grammar (about 1600) are mentioned by Kalma (1938:8).

    For a general treatment of plural formation in Frisian, see also Hoekstra (2011). More specifically, he pays attention to singular nouns ending in a schwa, and analyzes their plural ending -en by giving the ending -e the status of a suffix that can select its own plural form. For this idea see also Visser (1994), who bases himself on an original observation by Tamminga (1985:132-134). The plural of nouns ending in -ing is dealt with briefly by Hoekstra (1990).

    Hoekstra (2011:296-298) also has a special subsection on Dutch influence on the plurals of nouns ending in -e. On Dutch influence see also Breuker (1984:224) andDe Haan (1997:72). A contrastive overview of the differences between Dutch and Frisian pluralization can be found in Hoekstra (1982:51-54). On (the lack of) vowel lengthening, and the plural of lid in particular, see Hoekstra (1989).

    Frisian double plurals are discussed in Tiersma (1982), an article that explores the consequences for those nouns that have their plural as the unmarked form. See also Tiersma (1993).

    On the historical development of irregular plurals see Versloot (2005) and Versloot (2005). On the irregular ending -e, see Versloot (2001). On the plural of man man and frou woman see Hoekstra (1987) and Hoekstra (1987). Hoekstra and Versloot (2019) explore the role played by factors like frequency and salience in the retention of irregular plural forms.

    The data for the dialect of Terschelling have been drawn from Knop (1954:145-146). For Hylpen: De Boer (1950:115-116) and (Blom 1981). For Schiermonnikoog: Fokkema (1969:19-22) and Visser and Dyk (2002:xxxi-xxxii). The history of ending -e after neuter nouns in this dialect is dealt with by Versloot (1996) and Versloot (2007).

    On the plural of measure nouns see Hoekstra (1988). On pluralia tantum see Hoekstra (1990) and Hoekstra (1990).

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    About this article
    Author(s): Siebren Dyk
    Category: Frisian Morphology
    Keywords: inflectionnounnumber
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
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    1.0 Siebren Dyk December 2015
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