German plural nouns add an "-n" when in the dative case unless:

• The plural of the noun already ends in "-n"
• The plural of the noun ends in "-s"

Grammar 1: Nouns in the dative plural The man   der Mann Singular  die Männer Plural  den Männern Dative plural  The guest   der Gast Singular  die Gäste Plural  den Gästen Dative plural  The hotel room   das Hotelzimmer Singular  die Hotelzimmer Plural  den Hotelzimmern Dative plural  The hotel   das Hotel Singular  die Hotels Plural  den Hotels Dative plural  The woman   die Frau Singular  die Frauen Plural  den Frauen Dative plural  The speciality   die Spezialität Singular  die Spezialitäten Plural  den Spezialitäten Dative plural

Examples from this chapter
You will already have seen the following instances in this chapter where an "-n" has been added to nouns in the dative plural:

• Wir haben eine Tiefgarage mit 200 Stellplätzen.
  (We have an underpground garage with 200 parking spaces.)
  (Singular = der Stellplatz; Plural = die Stellplätze; Dative Plural = den Stellplätzen)
• Das Hotel hat einen Lift zu allen Stockwerken.
  (The hotel has a lift to all floors.)
  (Singular = das Stockwerk; Plural = die Stockwerke; Dative Plural = den Stockwerken)
• In sämtlichen Businesszimmern gibt es Direktwahltelefon.
  (There is a direct-dial telephone in every business room.)
  (Singular = das Businesszimmer; Plural = die Businesszimmer; Dative Plural = den Businesszimmern)
• Das steht unseren Gästen zur Verfügung.
  (This is available to our guests.)
  (Singular = unser Gast; Plural = unsere Gäste; Dative Plural = unseren Gästen)

In the following examples however, the nouns in the dative plural do not add an extra "-n":

• In unseren Hotels kostet ein Einzelzimmer 85 Euro pro Nacht.
  (In our hotels a single room costs 85 euros per night.)
  (Singular = unser Hotel; Plural = unsere Hotels; Dative Plural = unseren Hotels)
• Bei Gruppen von 11 bis 15 Personen ...
  (With groups of eleven to 15 people ...)
  (Singular = die Person; Plural = die Personen; Dative Plural = den Personen)
• Die Verkehrsanbindungen zu allen wichtigen Autobahnen sind optimal.
  (Travel connections to all important motorways are excellent.)
  (Singular = die Autobahn; Plural = die Autobahnen; Dative Plural = den Autobahnen)

Determiners and adjectives in the dative plural
As you will have noticed, the dative plural of the definite article is "den", regardless of the gender of the noun.

All other determiners (i.e. articles, possessives and all other items that "determine" adjective endings) also end in "-n" in the dative plural - i.e. diesen, meinen, deinen, seinen, ihren, unseren, euren, Ihren, allen, sämtlichen, welchen etc.

All adjective endings in the dative plural also end in "-en" - regardless of whether they are in the weak, mixed or strong declension:

Grammar 2: Adjective endings in the dative plural Weak declension in Ihren großen Hotelzimmern ("in your big hotel rooms") aus diesen roten Autos ("out of these red cars") zu allen wichtigen Autobahnen ("to all important motorways") bei sämtlichen internationalen Gruppen ("with all international groups")   Mixed declension nach meinen ersten Nächten ("after my first nights") vor euren letzten Abenden ("before your final evenings") mit keinen besonderen Wünschen ("with no particular wishes")   Strong declension mit modernen Tagungseinrichtungen ("with modern conference facilities") mit gepflegten Getränken und kulinarischen Genüssen ("with excellent drinks and culinary delights") in zwei guten Studios ("in two good studios")

Notes
1. Both words meaning "all" - "alle" and "sämtliche" - take weak adjectival endings.

2. Click here if you need to mind yourself of the other weak, mixed and strong adjectival endings.

 Chapter 11.7: Adjectival nouns (1)

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