Nouns That Are Singular in English but Plural in German – and Vice Versa
English-speaking students of the German language soon encounter the odd situation of common nouns that are singular in English but plural in German. The opposite also occurs, with singular nouns in German being plural in English. For German-speakers learning English it’s the same problem of course, only in reverse.

A police car (Polizeiwagen) in Berlin. “Die Polizei ist schon da.” (The police are already there.) PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

One of the first plural/singular examples that German-learners encounter is “the United States of America” (die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika / die USA). In American and British English, the USA is grammatically singular. It is singular despite the fact that the “United States” is obviously a plural noun phrase. But English-speakers do not say “the United States are…”

German grammar is usually very logical, and here it logically goes with plural rather than singular. Since “USA” stands for the plural die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, that noun phrase and the USA are also plural in German:

• Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika sind eine Weltmacht. (nominative plural)
  The United States of America is a world power. (“are a world power”)
• Sie kommt aus den USA. (dative plural; aus is a dative preposition)
  She comes from the USA.

The Civil War Myth
There is a popular myth that in the USA itself, the United States was plural until after the War Between the States. But upon closer examination that explanation falls apart. Linguistic researchers have found that it actually took about four more decades following the Civil War (until the early 1900s) before Americans commonly said or wrote “the United States/USA is…” rather than “are”. The Civil War may have played some role in the grammar change, but it was actually more complicated than that. If you’d like a more detailed explanation, see The United States Is… Or Are? from vocabulary.com.

But language is a funny thing. Just because you’ve learned/been told that “USA” is a plural noun in German doesn’t mean it remains embedded in your English-oriented mind when you’re speaking or writing German in a German-speaking environment. Even after many years of speaking German as a second language, I sometimes catch myself about to make that mistake.

A few examples of other German plural nouns that are singular in English:

• das Haar/die Haare (hair*)
  Er hat lange Haare. (He has long hair.)
  Sie hat ein graues Haar. (She has one gray hair.)
• die Immobilien (real estate)
• die Zinsen (interest for a loan)

*Generally in German the plural is used for “a head of hair” and the singular for “a single hair”. However, in recent years one is likely to also hear/see the singular (“Haar”) for a head of hair: Sie hat blondes Haar. (She has blond hair.) But the plural (“Haare”) is still more common: Das war die Dame mit roten Haaren. (That was the lady with red hair.)

Polizei versus Police
Then there is the opposite situation: singular in German, plural in English. As with the USA, the word “police” is as common and frequent as they come. In English we say, “The police are coming.” If you were to say, “The police is coming,” that would sound odd. But that is precisely what Germans say: Die Polizei kommt. Singular. But there is no singular form for “police” in English. It’s a special collective noun that is the exception to the rule that most collective nouns are singular: army, band, club, herd, company, etc. (In British English it is more common to treat some collective nouns as plural: the team were, the band were…)

Conversely, in German there is no plural form of die Polizei. It’s singular only. To refer to a police officer, the noun der Polizist (masculine) or die Polizistin (feminine) is used. Examples:

• Die Polizei war schon da.
  The police were already there. (“…was already there.”)
• Susanne ist Polizistin. (feminine)
  Susanne is a police officer.
• Manfred ist Polizist. (masculine)
  Manfred is a police officer.

A few examples of other German singular nouns that are plural in English:

• das Archiv (archives, im Archiv = in the archives)
• die Brille (eyeglasses)
• die Politik (politics)
• der Pyjama (pajamas)
• die Zange (tongs)

A good, thorough online explanation of German plural forms can be found at germanwithlaura.com. Scroll down to the end to see plural/singular nouns in German and English.

– HF