Plural Nouns in English: Simple Guide with Examples
What are those mysterious plurals, and how do they work in English?
This guide will fill you in on the six specific rules for making nouns plural in English. I’ll be giving you some common examples of nouns for each rule, as well as important exceptions to remember.
Contents
- How Do Plurals Work in English?
- Regular Plural Nouns
- Irregular Plural Nouns
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How Do Plurals Work in English?
The difference between the singular (one) and plural (more than one) forms of a noun is reflected in spelling. The most basic way to make an English noun plural is by adding -s, but as you’ll see below, there are a number of spelling rules to follow to make a noun plural and also many exceptions.
Regular Plural Nouns
The majority of English nouns are regular, which means they all follow the same format for their plural forms. Here are the main strategies for dealing with regular nouns:
Adding -s
For most regular English nouns, you simply add the letter -s to the noun.
It’s easy, but remember that another form looks very similar, and that’s the possessive form: “a dog’s bowl,” which means the bowl belongs to the dog. So watch out for that.
Here are a few common examples:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| dog | dogs |
| car | cars |
| apple | apples |
| mouth | mouths |
| photograph | photographs |
| photo | photos |
| taco | tacos |
| piano | pianos |
| boy | boys |
| roof | roofs |
| giraffe | giraffes |
| lemon | lemons |
| canyon | canyons |
| salon | salons |
Exception: adding -a to certain nouns ending in -on
You probably won’t encounter this class of nouns very often, but it’s still important to know where you might need to use these words:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| criterion | criteria |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
Adding -es
This category of nouns is a little more complicated, but there are certain rules you can memorize.
Nouns that end with -s, -x, -z, -sh or -ch
When the noun ends with the letters -s, -x, -z, -sh or -ch, simply add -es after the noun.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| bus | buses |
| box | boxes |
| buzz | buzzes |
| wish | wishes |
| watch | watches |
| clash | clashes |
Nouns that end with -o
For most nouns ending with the letter -o, you have to add -es after the noun instead of -s.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| potato | potatoes |
| tomato | tomatoes |
| hero | heroes |
| cargo | cargoes |
Exception: adding -es to nouns ending with -is
You still need -es to form the plural here, but you don’t just stick it onto the singular form.
For nouns ending in -is , drop the -is and then add -es.
Let’s look at some common examples:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| axis | axes |
| oasis | oases |
| crisis | crises |
Adding -ves: nouns ending with -f or -fe
For some nouns ending with -f or -fe, instead of adding -s after the noun, you change the F to V and then add -es
Here are a few common examples:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| elf | elves |
| calf | calves |
| leaf | leaves |
| knife | knives |
| scarf | scarves |
| thief | thieves |
| wife | wives |
Adding -ies: nouns ending with consonant + y
There’s only one common type of word where you need to add -ies in the plural form. However, as you’ll see below, there’s also an important exception to this rule.
For nouns ending with the letter -y, the general rule is to drop the -y and add -ies after the noun.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| fairy | fairies |
| candy | candies |
| sky | skies |
| library | libraries |
| memory | memories |
Exception: adding -s to nouns that end with vowel + y
Good news! There’s actually an easy way to remember when you need this exception. Just look for a vowel before the letter -y in the singular form.
If a vowel comes before the letter -y, then it’s easy. You simply add -s after the noun.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| journey | journeys |
| day | days |
| way | ways |
| monkey | monkeys |
| toy | toys |
| guy | guys |
Adding -i: nouns ending in -us
For nouns ending in -us, drop -us and add -i at the end of the word.
A few common examples are:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| cactus | cacti |
| fungus | fungi |
| stimulus | stimuli |
Irregular Plural Nouns
If you’ve been an English learner for some time, you know there’ll always be special cases that don’t fit into any fixed formats or follow any rules. They are irregular, which means different.
Common Irregular Nouns to Memorize
They do things differently from everyone else and that’s what makes them so interesting. They don’t follow the standard rules and have to be memorized.
Let’s look at some examples:
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| child | children (not "childs") |
| mouse | mice (not "mouses") |
| man | men (not "mans") |
| woman | women (not "womans") |
| ox | oxen (not "oxes") |
| die | dice (not "dies") |
Nouns with the same plural and singular forms
Talk about easy! There are some words that are exactly the same in their singular and plural forms.
Some common examples are below. You might notice that a lot of these words have to do with biology or animals.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| sheep | sheep |
| deer | deer |
| fish | fish |
| species | species |
| cattle | cattle |
| fruit | fruit |
Nouns that don’t change
Then there are some nouns that have no singular forms or no plural form. Because of this, you only have to learn the one form.
This is especially true with what’s called mass nouns. They have no distinct plural forms. Typically, they refer to nouns that often come in groups, or nouns that are somewhat abstract.
| Singular form | Plural form |
|---|---|
| - | pants |
| - | scissors |
| - | jeans |
| - | shorts |
| livestock | - |
| news | - |
| slang | - |
| bravery | - |
| love | - |
| money | - |
So now, I hope you have a clearer picture of how to make nouns plural in English.
Outside of this list, try to listen to how native speakers use these in their speech. If you don’t have natives around you, find a language exchange partner, or start watching English-language movies and TV shows.
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As you watch English language content (especially with subtitles), you’ll get more familiar with how plurals work in English by hearing them in context.
It may take some time to become familiar with the rules but that’s okay. To learn them quicker, print out a copy of these rules and keep them handy for your reference. Pretty soon, you’ll be an expert at plural spellings. Good luck!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
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If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
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