How to Make Plurals:

How to Make Plurals:

Pluralisation in English can be a bit of a tricky game, and as with any language the key to mastering this aspect lies in practicing through reading and conversing until the variations that appear unpredictable in the beginning become second nature, a matter of habit. Having said that, there are certain principles that are generally applicable that make the task easier by giving us a broad idea of how common words are pluralised. Let us take a look at these.

For most nouns, add an ‘s’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Car - Cars

Desk - Desks

Tree - Trees

Ball - Balls

Hand - Hands

For nouns that end with ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, or ‘sh’, add ‘es’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Boss - Bosses

Box - Boxes

Topaz - Topazes

Leech - Leeches

Dish - Dishes

For some words that end with ‘o’, add ‘es’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Potato - Potatoes

Echo - Echoes

Hero - Heroes

For some words that end with 'o' add 's' at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Photo - Photos

Piano - Pianos

Logo - Logos

Radio - Radios

For some words ending with ‘f’, replace the ‘f’ with a ‘v’ and add ‘es’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Thief - Thieves

Loaf - Loaves

Half - Halves

Calf - Calves

Leaf - Leaves

For some words ending with ‘f’, add an ‘s’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Reefs - Reefs

Roof - Roofs

Chef - Chefs

For some words ending with ‘ife’, replace the ‘f’ with a ‘v’ and add an ‘s’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Wife - Wives

Knife - Knives

Life - Lives

For common nouns ending with a consonant followed by ‘y’,replace the ‘y’ with an ‘i’ and add ‘es’ at the end of the word.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Nappy - Nappies

Poppy - Poppies

Fly - Flies

Penny - Pennies

Sty - Sties

Some nouns are the same in both forms.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Fish - Fish

Sheep - Sheep

Deer - Deer

Tuna - Tuna

Trout - Trout

For some nouns, other letters must be replaced or added, sometimes changing the words completely.

SINGULAR - PLURAL

Person - People

Ox - Oxen

Child - Children

Goose - Geese

Man - Men

Foot - Feet