Plural forms of English nouns

In this lesson, you will learn how to form the plural form of nouns.

Only countable nouns have a plural forum. Uncountable nouns (example “milk”, “flour”, “water”) do not have a plural form.

The singular form of a countable noun is used to describe one unit of it. The plural form is used when there is more than one unit.

Example with a regular noun:

Singular form of noun: car ( I have one car.)
Plural form of noun: cars ( I have three cars.)

There are several rules for how to form the plural depending on the ending of the noun in the singular form. The spelling is very important.

Regular nouns

For most regular nouns, we add –s to the end of the singular form:

singular	plural
coat	coats
dog	dogs
house	houses
road	roads
ship	ships

….and many more.

 

Nouns ending in -ch, -sh, -s (or “s” sound), -x or -z:

We add –es:

singular	plural
box	boxes
bus	buses
buzz	buzzes
church	churches
dish	dishes

Nouns ending in -y

For nouns ending in -y, the plural form depends on the letter before the “y”

Nouns ending in a VOWEL + y

(Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, u)

Add –s

singular	plural
boy	boys
day	days
key	keys

Nouns ending in a CONSONANT + y

(Consonants are all the letters of the alphabet apart from the vowels: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z)

Change the y to i and add –es

singular	plural
baby	babies
city	cities
ferry	ferries
lady	ladies

 

Nouns ending in -f or -fe

Replace the -f or -fe with –ves for these nouns:

singular	plural
calf	calves
elf	elves
half	halves
knife	knives
leaf	leaves
life	lives
loaf	loaves
self	selves
shelf	shelves
thief	thieves
wife	wives
wolf	wolves

For most other nouns ending in -f or -fe, just add –s:

singular	plural
giraffe	giraffes
roof	roofs

and many more…

 

Nouns ending in -o

For nouns ending in -o, the plural form depends on the letter before the “o”

Nouns ending in a VOWEL + o

Add –s

singular	plural
radio	radios
zoo	zoos

Irregular nouns ending in a CONSONANT + o

For these irregular nouns, we add –es:

singular	plural
buffalo	buffaloes (or buffalo)
domino	dominoes
echo	echoes
embargo	embargoes
hero	heroes
mosquito	mosquitoes
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
torpedo	torpedoes
veto	vetoes

Example:  Here are some potatoes.

Regular nouns ending in a CONSONANT + o

All the other nouns ending in a CONSONANT + o are considered regular.

We add –s:

singular	plural
casino	casinos
photo	photos
solo	solos

and many more.

There are a few nouns ending in a CONSONANT + o which have 2 possible plural forms:

We add –s or –es

singular	plural
tornado	tornados or tornadoes
volcano	volcanos or volcanoes

 

English nouns from foreign languages

There are many English words that originate from other foreign languages. These are called “borrowed words” because we borrow them! They all follow different rules for the plural form, depending on the exact origin of the word:

Latin nouns ending in -us

Replace the -us with –i

singular	plural
cactus	cacti
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
radius	radii

Certain nouns ending in -is

Replace the -is with –es

singular	plural
analysis (Greek)	analyses
axis (Latin)	axes
crisis (Greek)	crises
diagnosis (Greek)	diagnoses
hypothesis (Greek)	hypotheses
thesis (Greek)	theses

Certain nouns ending in -ix or -ex

Replace the –ix or -ex with -ices

singular	plural
appendix (Latin)	appendices
index (Latin)	indices
matrix (Latin)	matrices
vertex (Latin)	vertices

 

Irregular nouns

Some English nouns are completely irregular and do not follow any of the above rules at all. You have no choice but to learn them by heart:

Irregular nouns with different irregular plurals

singular	plural
child	children
foot	feet
goose	geese
man	men
mouse	mice
ox	oxen
person	people
tooth	teeth
woman	women

 

Irregular nouns with the same plurals

Some nouns are the same in the singular and plural:

singular	plural
aircraft	aircraft
buffalo	buffalo (or buffaloes)
deer	deer
fish	fish
hovercraft	hovercraft
moose	moose
sheep	sheep
spacecraft	spacecraft

Video lesson on our YouTube channel

This video is the same lesson in video format with a more detailed explanation. I advise you to watch it and listen to the correct pronunciation of the nouns. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. 🙂

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