Plurals of nouns

Most nouns make their plurals by simply adding s to the end (e.g. cat/cats, book/books, journey/journeys). Some do change their endings, though. The main types of noun that do this are: Nouns ending in -y If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, make the plural by changing -y to -ies: singular berry activity daisy plural berries activities daisies

Nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z If the noun ends with -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z, add -es to form the plural: singular church bus fox plural churches buses foxes

Theres one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a k sound, you add -s rather than -es: singular stomach epoch plural stomachs epochs

Nouns ending in -f or -fe With nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves: singular knife half plural knives halves

Nouns ending in -o Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the plural, and some can be spelled either way. As a general rule, most nouns ending in -o add -s to make the plural: singular plural solo solos zero zeros avocado avocados

Those which have a vowel before the final -o always just add -s: singular plural studio studios zoo zoos embryo embryos

Heres a list of the most common nouns ending in -o that are always spelled with -es in the plural: singular plural buffalo buffaloes domino dominoes echo echoes embargo embargoes hero heroes mosquito mosquitoes potato potatoes tomato tomatoes

torpedo veto

torpedoes vetoes

Here are some of the common nouns ending in -o that can be spelled with either -s or -es in the plural: singular banjo cargo flamingo fresco ghetto halo mango memento motto tornado volcano plural banjos or banjoes cargos or cargoes flamingos or flamingoes frescos or frescoes ghettos or ghettoes halos or haloes mangos or mangoes mementos or mementoes mottos or mottoes tornados or tornadoes volcanos or volcanoes

The Rules of Regular and Irregular Plurals For most nouns, just add -s Singular hand rabbit key clock football door Plural hands rabbits keys clocks footballs doors For nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh, add -es Singular box pitch wish boss buzz glass Plural boxes pitches wishes bosses buzzes glasses

For some words ending in o, add -es Singular potato tomato hero echo banjo Plural potatoes tomatoes heroes echoes banjoes

However, for some words ending in o, just add -s Singular cello disco hairdo logo patio photo Plural cellos discos hairdos logos patios photos pianos radios

The plural of many words ending in o can be spelt with -s or -es.

piano radio

For some words ending in f, change the f to a v and add -es Singular half loaf elf leaf self shelf thief wolf Plural halves loaves elves leaves selves shelves thieves wolves

However, for some words ending in f, just add -s Singular chef cliff ref roof Plural chefs cliffs refs roofs

The plural of some nouns ending in f can be spelt using either variation.

For some nouns ending in ife, change the f to a v and then add -s Singular wife Plural wives

For common nouns that end with consonant + y, change the y to an i and then add -es Singular poppy Plural poppies

life knife

lives knives

fly penny spy nappy sty

flies pennies spies nappies sties

Some nouns are the same in both singular and plural from Singular fish sheep deer tuna salmon trout Plural fish sheep deer tuna salmon trout

For some nouns, change other letters or just change the word completely! Singular person child ox foot tooth goose mouse louse man Plural people children oxen feet teeth geese mice lice men