Plural form of nouns

THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es.

Examples

  • boat => boats
  • hat => hats
  • house => houses
  • river => rivers

Words that end in -ch, x, s or s-like sounds, however, will require an -es for the plural:

Examples

  • witch => witches
  • box => boxes
  • gas => gases
  • bus => buses
  • kiss => kisses
  • Jones => Joneses

Note: There’s one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add -s rather than -es:

Examples

singular plural
stomach stomachs
epoch epochs

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Examples

  • a cry => cries
  • a fly => flies
  • a nappy => nappies
  • a poppy => poppies
  • a city => cities
  • a lady => ladies
  • a baby => babies

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:

Example

singular plural
knife knives
half halves
scarf scarves

Nouns which end in two vowels plus -f usually form plurals in the normal way, with just an -s

Example

singular plural
chief chiefs
spoof spoofs

There are some irregular formations for noun plurals.

Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Examples of irregular plurals

Singular Plural

woman

women

man

men

child

children

tooth

teeth

foot

feet

person

people

leaf

leaves

half

halves

knife

knives

wife

wives

life

lives

loaf

loaves

potato

potatoes

cactus

cacti

focus

foci

fungus

fungi

nucleus

nuclei

syllabus

syllabi/syllabuses

analysis

analyses

diagnosis

diagnoses

oasis

oases

thesis

theses

crisis

crises

phenomenon

phenomena

criterion

criteria

datum

data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples

Singular Plural

sheep

sheep

fish

fish

species

species

aircraft

aircraft

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Examples

  • news  -> The news is on at 6.30 p.m.
  • athletics -> Athletics is good for young people.
  • linguistics -> Linguistics is the study of language.
  • darts -> Darts is a popular game in England.
  • billiards -> Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb.

Examples

  • trousers -> My trousers are too tight.
  • jeans -> Her jeans are black.
  • glasses -> Those glasses are his.

others include:

  • savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits