How to Make English Plurals
Alex Case
Plurals in sentences like “I like peas” and “I have many friends” are easy to understand and make, but there are complications when it comes to making more complex regular plural nouns, the many irregular plural nouns, and plurals of more complex nouns. This article describes the rules and patterns that can make the whole range of English plural nouns both more manageable and more learnable.
How to make regular plurals
How to make regular plurals with -s and -es
Most English words simply take -s to make the plural form, as in “cats” and “dogs”. This changes to -es after words which end with sounds which are similar to /s/ such as /z/, as in “buzzes”. This -es represents an “iz” sound, so it adds an extra vowel sound and therefore one extra syllable between the final consonant of the singular and the plural suffix. For example, the one-syllable word “witch” becomes the two-syllable plural “witches”, sounding like “wichiz”. In contrast, the one syllable word “hat” adds -s to become the one-syllable plural “hats”, without an extra syllable.
Examples of -es/ “iz” after different sounds which are similar to /s/ include:
- a patch/ some patches
- a judge/ some judges
- a brush/ some brushes
- a pass/ some passes
- a whizz/ some whizzes
As can be seen from the examples above, this is the same rule as adding -s to Present Simple verbs with the third person, as in “I brush” changing to “She brushes”. The reason for both kinds of spelling and pronunciation change can most clearly be seen with singular nouns ending in -s. For example, as “a miss” obviously can’t be spelt or pronounced as “a misss” X.
The slight exception to adding “-es” after sounds similar to /s/ is with words which are spelt with a final E, where another E is obviously not needed (“a nurse” changing to “some nurses”, not “some nursees” X).
How to make regular plurals with -ies and -ys
The other rule for making regular plurals is that most final -y words change the spelling to -ies, as in:
- a try/ some tries
- a fly/ some flies
The exception is when -y forms part of a combination with another vowel, as in -ay and -oy, in which case the -y stays, for example in:
- a play/ some plays
- an alley/ some alleys
- a boy/ some boys
- a guy/ some guys
In both cases, the number of syllables stays the same as the singular (the same as -s and in contrast to -es above) and the rules are the same as third person S verbs (“He tries”, “He plays”, etc).
How to make irregular plurals
We use the term “irregular plurals” to mean that nouns like “children” and “knives” don’t follow regular rules like those in the sections above. Though they don’t follow the rules, there are some common patterns to how irregular plurals are formed, including:
- some final -f and -fe words change to -ves (“lives”, “wives”, etc)
- words ending with -o often take final -oes (“potatoes”, “heroes”, etc, without the extra vowel sound and syllable of the regular -es endings above)
- many animals don’t change their form in the singular and plural (“two moose”, “two salmon”, etc)
- many words change their vowel sounds in the plural, including some very common ones (“men”, “women”, “feet”, “teeth”, “mice”, etc)
- some words take the Old English plural -en (“children”, “oxen”, etc)
- some words ending in -s don’t change in the plural (but the pronunciation sometimes changes, as in “a series/ some series”, with the latter having the long “ee” sound in the second syllable)
There are also some which don’t follow any common pattern like “people”.
How to make plurals of Latin words
Some Latin words are used in English with both a traditional Latin plural (“syllabi”, “indices”, etc) and a regular English plural (“syllabuses”, “indexes”, etc). However, others always take the Latin plural (“some crises”, not “some crisises” X). Latin plurals that are often used in English include:
- Latin words ending with -um changing to -a (“a medium/ some media”)
- Latin words ending with -is changing to -es (“a crisis/ some crises”)
- Latin words ending with -us changing to -i (“a fungus/ some fungi”)
- Latin words ending with -on changing to -a (“a criterion/ some criteria”)
- Latin words ending with -ex changing to -ices (“a vortex/ some vortices”)
- Latin words ending with -a changing to -ae (“a vertebra/ some vertebrae”)
How to make plurals of foreign words in English
Foreign words which have become ways to talk about common things in English-speaking countries tend to take English plurals, as in “cappuccinos” and “pyjamas”. In contrast, words which are only used to talk about things in their country of origin tend to stay the same in the plural, like “some samurai”. Some are more variable, such as “some ninja” or “some ninjas”.
French words in English are similar to the Latin plurals above. There is some use of French plural spelling and/ or pronunciation, like “a gateau” and “some gateaux” (with “some gateaus” being very rare and considered wrong). However, “bureaux” is much rarer in English than “bureaus”.
Final -s in singular French words usually stays the same when changing to the plural, but English speakers sometimes pronounce the -s only in the plural (“a rendezvous” with a silent -s but “two rendezvous” with a pronounced -s).
In contrast to French and Latin, Italian plurals are rarely used in English. English speakers more often adding -s to the singular (“cellos”) or only using the form which is plural in Italian (often as an uncountable noun like “graffiti” and “spaghetti”).
How to make plurals of compound nouns
Most compound nouns simply take the plural ending above on the last word (“signposts”, “postmen”, etc). However, there are exceptions like:
- two passers-by
- three cupsful
- daughters-in-law
The general pattern is that the main, most important word takes -s.