plural nouns

A plural noun means more than one. For most nouns, add -s.

Spelling

• After s, ss, sh, ch and x, add -es: bus – buses, class – classes, dish – dishes, watch – watches, box – boxes.
• After a consonant + y, change y to -ies: city – cities, baby – babies. After a vowel + y, just add -s: day – days, boy – boys.
• Some nouns ending in -f or -fe change to -ves: knife – knives, wife – wives, half – halves, leaf – leaves.
• Some nouns ending in -o add -es: potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes. Others add -s: photo – photos, piano – pianos.

Irregular plurals

A few common nouns change in a different way. Learn them together.

• man – men, woman – women (sounds like "wimmin")
• child – children, person – people
• foot – feet, tooth – teeth, mouse – mice
• sheep – sheep, fish – fish (no change)

Saying -s

The ending has three sounds. After the sounds p, t, k and f it's "s": books, cats. After most other sounds it's "z": dogs, days. After s, z, sh, ch and x it's an extra syllable, "iz": buses, watches.

Nouns with no plural

Some nouns are not counted: water, money, information, advice, furniture. They have no -s. A few nouns are only plural and take are: trousers, jeans, glasses, scissors.

Common mistakes

• × two book → two books
• × childrens, × peoples → children, people
• × The people is nice. → The people are nice.
• × citys → cities
• × informations → information