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Plural Nouns

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Regular Plural Nouns
Most Nouns
Nouns Ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x
Nouns Ending in -f or -fe
Irregular Plural Nouns
Exceptions
Pronunciation of Plural Nouns
See Also

Regular Plural Nouns
Irregular Plural Nouns
Pronunciation of Plural Nouns

Definition

A plural noun refers to more than one person, place or thing.

Regular Plural Nouns

Rules

When forming regular plural nouns, check the last letters of the words to decide if you:

add -s or -es
change -y to -ies
change -f or -fe to -ves

Most Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Add -s	cat floor cabinet smile disk	cats floors cabinets smiles disks

Nouns Ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x

	-s	-sh	-ch	-x
Add -es	access → accesses floss → flosses atlas → atlases stress → stresses	dish → dishes crash → crashes radish → radishes wish → wishes	bench → benches lunch → lunches match → matches patches → patches	fox → foxes ax → axes tax → taxes box → boxes

Nouns Ending in -o

Generally	add -es	hero → heroes tomato → tomatoes potato → potatoes volcano → volcanoes
Sometimes	add -s	logo → logos photo → photos piano → pianos pro → pros
vowel + o	add -s	bamboo → bamboos cameo → cameos folio → folios video → videos

Nouns Ending in -y

consonant + y	replace the -y by -ies	country → countries gallery → galleries hobby → hobbies injury → injuries
vowel + y	add -s	boy → boys donkey → donkeys holiday → holidays valley → valleys

Nouns Ending in -f or -fe

Generally	replace -f or -fe by -ves	calf → calves half → halves leaf → leaves self → selves wolf → wolves	knife → knives life → lives wife → wives
Sometimes	just add -s	chef → chefs giraffe → giraffes cafe → cafes gulf → gulfs safe → safes
Sometimes	both -ves and -s are correct	dwarfs or dwarves hoofs or hooves scarfs or scarves wharfs or wharves

Irregular Plural Nouns

Some nouns do not follow the normal add -s or -es in the plural form. They are called irregular plural nouns.

Changing Forms in the Plural
mouse → mice louse → lice	person → people man → men woman → women	goose → geese tooth → teeth foot → feet	child → children ox → oxen

Exceptions

For Advanced Users

Pronunciation of Plural Nouns

'S' is pronounced
/S/

'S' is pronounced
/Z/

'S' is pronounced
/IZ/

Nouns ending with the sounds

/p/ /t/ /k/ /f/

Nouns ending with the sounds
/b/ /d/ /g/ /v/
/m/ /n/ /l/ /r/

and all VOWEL sounds

Nouns ending with the sounds

/s/ /z/ /sh/ /ch/

groups (group/s/)
acts (act/s/)
clocks (clock/s/)
chiefs (chief/s/)

dreams (dream/z/)
balls (ball/z/)
stars (star/z/)
potatoes (potato/z/)

choices (choic/iz/)
dishes (dish/iz/)
houses (hous/iz/)
pouches (pouch/iz/)