Weak nouns are nouns that follow aweak inflection paradigm, in contrast withstrong nouns. They are present in severalGermanic languages.
Modern English has only two vestiges of the weak noun inflection in common use:ox, whose plural isoxen, andchild, whose plural ischildren, the latter being adouble plural. Additionally, the wordsaurochs andbrother have the optional plural formsaurochsen andbrethren, the latter also being a double plural. The wordmen is not an example of the weak inflection, since it was produced byi-mutation ofman.
Old English had many more weak nouns, such asēage "eye" (pluralēagan) anddraca "dragon" (pluraldracan), but these have all either disappeared or become strong nouns.
InGerman, weak nouns are masculine nouns that all have the same inflection except in the nominative singular and sometimes the genitive singular.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der Name | die Namen |
| Accusative | den Namen | die Namen |
| Dative | dem Namen | den Namen |
| Genitive | des Namens | der Namen |
German has many more weak nouns than English; for example,Bär (pl.Bären) "bear",Name (pl.Namen) "name",Held (pl.Helden) "hero".
Some nouns such as the neuter nounAuge (pl.Augen) have a mixed inflection, being strong in the singular but having the characteristic-en plural ending of a weak noun. Some nouns can be declined either with this mixed paradigm or as fully weak; for example,Nachbar "neighbor" may be declined strong in the singular, though its plural is always weak (Nachbarn).
Some weak nouns have a strong inflection in colloquial speech. For example, the standard accusative ofBär isBären, but the strong inflectionBär may also be heard.
In theIcelandic language,nouns are considered weak if they fulfill the following conditions:
Masculines:
An example of the latter isnemandi (student), pluralnemendur. The wordsbóndi (farmer) andfjandi (enemy or thedevil or ademon) belong to this class with some irregularities. The plural ofbóndi isbændur.Fjandi has two plurals, depending on the meaning. If it means an enemy, the plural isfjendur (note the retention ofje). If it means a demon, the plural isfjandar.
Exceptions do exist, for instanceGrikki (Greek), pluralGrikkir. The same applies to Tyrki (Turk) pluralTyrkir. Both, incidentally, end in-ja in the oblique cases (Grikkja is the accusative, dative and genitive for one Greek).
Feminines:
Neuters:
An almost exhaustive list of neuter weak nouns follows:
Then there are a small number of borrowings likefirma,drama,þema etc. none of which require translation.