N-Declension

German n-declension

Some masculine nouns take -(e)n in the accusative, dative, and genitive singular. The nominative singular has no such ending; in the plural, -(e)n is already part of the plural form.

Case	Singular: der Student	Plural
Nominative	der Student	die Studenten
Accusative	den Studenten	die Studenten
Dative	dem Studenten	den Studenten
Genitive	des Studenten	der Studenten

Typical groups include people and animals ending in -e (Kunde, Hase), person nouns ending in -ant, -ent, -ist, -oge, and common individual nouns such as Mensch, Herr, Nachbar, Bauer, Held, and Prinz.

Most take -en; a few short nouns take -n, such as Herr - Herrn. Name, Gedanke, Glaube, and Friede add -s in the genitive: des Namens, des Gedankens.

Singular or plural?

A form such as Studenten may be singular or plural. The article, preposition, and verb reveal the number: mit dem Studenten is singular; mit den Studenten is plural.

The neuter noun Herz is an important exception: das Herz, dem Herzen, des Herzens.

Additional groups and special cases

Further productive endings are -and, -at, -graf: mit dem Doktoranden, den Automaten prüfen, die Arbeit des Geografen. Buchstabe belongs to the extended group: die Form des Buchstabens.

Herr has singular Herrn but plural Herren: Sehr geehrter Herr Seifert; ich spreche mit Herrn Seifert; die Herren warten. In addresses: An Herrn Paul Seifert.

Minimal pair: Ich sehe den Ingenieur (normal) – Ich sehe den Architekten (n-declension).

Informal speech may omit the ending, but standard German requires mit dem Studenten, not mit dem Student.