Plural of nouns

Plural of nouns

1- To make regular nouns plural, add ‑s to the end.

Examples:

cat – cats

house – houses

2- If the singular noun ends in ‑s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add ‑es to the end to make it plural.

Examples:

bus – buses

marsh – marshes

lunch – lunches

tax – taxes

3- If the noun ends with ‑f or ‑fe, the f is often changed to ‑ve before adding

the -s to form the plural version.

Examples:

wife – wives

wolf – wolves

Exceptions:

roof – roofs

belief – beliefs

chef – chefs

chief – chiefs

4- If a singular noun ends in ‑y and the letter before the -y is a consonant, change the ending to ‑ies to make the noun plural.

Examples:

city – cities

puppy – puppies

baby - babies

5 - If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.

Examples:

ray – rays

boy – boys

toy - toys

6-  If the singular noun ends in ‑o, add ‑es to make it plural.

Examples:

potato – potatoes

tomato – tomatoes

Exceptions:

photo – photos

piano – pianos

halo – halos

Special cases

 If the singular noun ends in ‑us, the plural ending is frequently -i

cactus – cacti

focus – foci

If the singular noun ends in ‑is, the plural ending is ‑es.

analysis – analyses

ellipsis – ellipses

 If the singular noun ends in ‑on, the plural ending is ‑a.

phenomenon – phenomena

criterion – criteria

Some nouns don’t change at all when they’re pluralized.

Examples:

sheep – sheep

series – series

species – species

deer –deer

Plural for Irregular Nouns

Examples:

child – children

goose – geese

man – men

woman – women

tooth – teeth

foot – feet

mouse – mice