Introduction
Most English nouns form their plural by adding -s or -es. The ending of the word decides which, and a handful of nouns ignore the pattern completely.
| ending | rule | singular → plural |
|---|---|---|
| most nouns | add -s | cat cats, door doors, idea ideas |
| -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z | add -es | bus buses, watch watches, box boxes |
| consonant + -y | -y -ies | city cities, baby babies, fly flies |
| vowel + -y | add -s | day days, boy boys, key keys |
| -f / -fe | -f/-fe -ves (many common nouns) | leaf leaves, wife wives, knife knives |
| -f exceptions | add -s | roof roofs, cliff cliffs, belief beliefs |
| -o | -es for some common nouns / -s for many others | tomato tomatoes, hero heroes; photo photos, piano pianos, radio radios |
Irregular Plurals
A few very common nouns change their vowel instead of adding an ending (foot feet), and some are simply one-offs (child children). There's no shortcut here: learn them as pairs.
| singular | plural | pattern |
|---|---|---|
| man | men | vowel change |
| woman | women | vowel change |
| child | children | unique |
| tooth | teeth | vowel change |
| foot | feet | vowel change |
| goose | geese | vowel change |
| mouse | mice | vowel change |
| person | people | unique (persons also exists in formal use) |
| ox | oxen | unique |
Same in Singular and Plural
Some nouns - mainly animals and certain other words - use the same form for singular and plural.
| word | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| sheep | one sheep | five sheep |
| fish | one fish | many fish (fishes = different species) |
| deer | one deer | a herd of deer |
| aircraft | one aircraft | several aircraft |
| species | one species | many species |
| series | one series | two series |
Plurals of Compound Nouns
For compound nouns, add -s to the main noun, which is not always the last word.
- mothers-in-law
- passers-by
- swimming pools, car parks
Practice
city ___
child ___
Which sentence is correct?
leaf ___
box ___
day ___
tomato ___
man ___
tooth ___
Which word is the same in singular and plural?
There were many ___ waiting outside.
Which is the plural of 'mother-in-law'?
wife ___
Which word takes -es because it ends in -ch?
foot ___
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