PLURAL NOUNS

A la mayoría de nombres se les agrega una "-s" al final para formar el plural.

camera / cameras (cámara/s) pen / pens (bolígrafo/s) house / houses (casa/s) car / cars (coche/s)

Excepciones:

1. Palabras que terminan en consonante + "y": la "y" cambia a "i" y añadimos "es". party / parties (fiesta/s) city / cities (ciudad/es)2. Palabras que terminan en vocal + "y": añadimos una "s".

boy / boys (chico/s) toy / toys (juguete/s)3. Palabras que terminan en "s", "ss", "sh", "ch", "x", "o": añadimos "es".

bus / buses (bus/es) glass / glasses (copa/s) brush / brushes (cepillo/s) watch / watches (reloj/es) box / boxes (caja/s) tomato / tomatoes (tomate/s)4. Palabras que terminan en "f" o "fe": cambiamos la "f" o "fe" por "ves".

leaf / leaves (hoja/s) wife / wives (esposa/s)

Irregular Plural Nouns (Plurales irregulares)

Muchos sustantivos se pluralizan de un modo irregular. Existen dos casos:

1. Cuando el singular y plural no cambian. fish (pez o pescado) sheep (oveja)2. Cuando el plural varía de modo irregular. Por lo tanto, no existe regla la cual se pueda seguir y hay que

aprenderse las formas irregulares de cada uno.

Man / men Woman / women Child / children Person /people Tooth / teeth Foot / feet Mouse /mice

Plural Nouns

When you refer to more than one noun, you use the plural form of that noun.

The plural of a noun is usually formed by adding an 's' at the end of the word. For example: the plural of cat is cats; the plural of flower is flowers, and the plural of computer is computers.

If the word ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh, the plural is usually formed by adding 'es.' This is because when you add an 's' to the end of these words, you have to add an extra syllable to the the word in order to prounounce it. For example: the plural of boss is bosses, the plural of box is boxes, the plural of buzz is buzzes, the plural of lunch is lunches, and the plural of brush is brushes.

Not all plurals end in 's' or 'es'. Irregular nouns are those that do not use the regular plural ending. The following are some irregular plurals.

Type of NounRule for

Forming the Plural

Examples Exceptions

Word ends in s, x, ch, or sh

Add 'es' to the end

arch/arches, atlas/atlases, ax/axes, bash/bashes, bench/benches, bias/biases, botch/botches, box/boxes, brush/brushes, bunch/bunches, bus/buses, bush/bushes,

canvas/canvases, catch/catches, church/churches, class/classes,

compass/compasses, crash/crashes, cross/crosses, dais/daises, dish/dishes,

dress/dresses, equinox/equinoxes, etch/etches, fetch/fetches, fix/fixes, fox/foxes, gas/gases, grass/grasses,

itch/itches, kiss/kisses, larch/larches, lash/lashes, latch/latches, mantis/mantises,

march/marches, marsh/marshes, mash/mashes, mass/masses,

match/matches, moss/mosses, mix/mixes, pass/passes, patch/patches, pox/poxes,

radish/radishes, sash/sashes, sketch/sketches, starch/starches,

stitch/stitches, tax/taxes, touch/touches, trash/trashes, twitch/twitches, vehicle/vehicles, wish/wishes,

witch/witches, wrench/wrenches

axis/axes, ox/oxen

Word ends in z

Add 'zes' to the end

buzz/buzzes, fizz/fizzes, klutz/klutzes, quiz/quizzes, topaz/topazes, waltz/waltzes

Ending in 'y' preceded by

a vowelAdd an 's'

alley/alleys, attorney/attorneys, essay/essays, boy/boys, delay/delays,

guy/guys, jay/jays, key/keys, osprey/ospreys, play/plays, ray/rays,

stray/strays, toy/toys, tray/trays, turkey/turkeys, valley/valleys, way/ways

Ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant

Change the final 'y' to

'ies'

ally/allies, army/armies, baby/babies, beauty/beauties, berry/berries,

cherry/cherries, city/cities, colony/colonies, country/countries, dictionary/dictionaries,

duty/duties, enemy/enemies, fairy/fairies, family/families, ferry/ferries, fly/flies,

gallery/galleries, history/histories, injury/injuries, jelly/jellies, kitty/kitties,

lady/ladies, lily/lilies, navy/navies, history/histories, party/parties,

pony/ponies, reply/replies, secretary/secretaries, sky/skies, spy/spies,

story/stories, study/studies, symphony/symphonies, theory/theories,

trophy/trophies, try/tries, university/universities, variety/varieties,

victory/victories

Ends with 'f' or 'fe' (but not 'ff' or

'ffe')

Change the 'f' or 'fe' to 'ves'

calf/calves, elf/elves, half/halves, hoof/hooves, knife/knives, leaf/leaves,

life/lives, loaf/loaves, knife/knives, loaf/loaves, scarf/scarves, self/selves, shelf/shelves, wife/wives, wolf/wolves

belief/beliefs, chef/chefs, chief/chiefs, dwarf/dwarfs, grief/griefs, gulf/gulfs,

handkerchief/handkerchiefs, kerchief/kerchiefs, mischief/mischiefs,

muff/muffs, oaf/oafs, proof/proofs, roof/roofs, safe/safes, turf/turfs

Ends with 'o' Add 'es'

buffalo/buffaloes, cargo/cargoes, echo/echoes, embargo/embargoes,

grotto/grottoes, hero/heroes, mosquito/mosquitoes, motto/mottoes,

potato/potatoes, tomato/tomatoes, torpedo/torpedoes, veto/vetoes, volcano/volcanoes, zero/zeroes

albino/albinos, armadillo/armadillos, auto/autos, cameo/cameos, cello/cellos,

combo/combos, duo/duos, ego/egos, folio/folios, halo/halos, inferno/infernos,

lasso/lassos, memento/mementos, memo/memos, piano/pianos, photo/photos,

portfolio/portfolios, pro/pros, silo/silos, solo/solos, stereo/stereos, studio/studios,

taco/tacos, tattoo/tattoos, tuxedo/tuxedos, typo/typos, veto/vetoes, video/videos,

yo/yos, zoo/zoos

Irregular Variable

child/children, die/dice, foot/feet, goose/geese, louse/lice, man/men,

mouse/mice, ox/oxen, person/people, that/those, this/these, tooth/teeth,

woman/women

Ends with 'is' (from a

Greek root)

Change final 'is' to 'es'

analysis/analyses, axis/axes, basis/bases, crisis/crises, ellipsis/ellipses,

hypotheses/hypothesis, neurosis/neuroses, oasis/oases, paralysis/paralyses,

parenthesis/parentheses, synopsis/synopses, synthesis/syntheses,

thesis/theses

Ends with 'us' (if the word is from the

Latin)

Change final 'us' to 'i'

alumnus/alumni, bacillus/bacilli, cactus/cacti, focus/foci, fungus/fungi,

locus/loci, nucleus/nuclei, radius/radii, stimulus/stimuli, syllabus/syllabi,

abacus/abacuses, crocus/crocuses, genus/genera, octopus/octopuses (not octopi, since octopus is from the Greek

language), rhombus/rhombuses,

terminus/termini, torus/tori walrus/walruses

Ends with 'um'

Change final 'um' to 'a'

bacterium/bacteria, curriculum/curricula, datum/data, erratum/errata,

gymnasium/gymnasia, medium/media, memorandum/memoranda, ovum/ova,

stratum/strata

album/albums, stadium/stadiums

Ends with 'a' but not 'ia'

(from a Latin root)

Change final 'a' to 'ae'

alga/algae, alumna/alumnae, antenna/antennae, larva/larvae,

nebula/nebulae, pupa/pupae (or pupas), vertebra/vertebrae, vita/vitae

agenda/agendas, alfalfa/alfalfas, aurora/auroras, banana/bananas,

barracuda/barracudas, cornea/corneas, nova/novas, phobia/phobias

Ends with 'on' (from a

Greek root -- not 'tion')

Change final 'on' to 'a'

automaton/automata, criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomena,

polyhedron/polyhedra

balloon/balloons, carton/cartons and many, many others

Ends with 'ex'Change final 'ex' to 'ices' vertex/vertices, vortex/vortices

annex/annexes, complex/complexes, duplex/duplexes, hex/hexes, index/indexes

or indices

UnchangingSingular and plural are the

same

advice, aircraft, bison, corn, deer, equipment , evidence, fish (sometimes),

gold, information, jewelry, kin, legislation, luck, luggage, moose, music, offspring,

sheep, silver, swine, trousers, trout, wheat

Only the plural exists

Unchanging

barracks, bellows, cattle, congratulations, deer, dregs, eyeglasses, gallows,

headquarters, mathematics, means, measles, mumps, news, oats, pants, pliers,

pajamas, scissors, series, shears, shorts, species, tongs, tweezers, vespers

Compound nouns

The plural ending is

usually added to the main

noun

attorney general/attorneys general, bill of fare/bills of fare, chief of staff/chiefs of

staff, court-martial/courts-martial, daughter-in-law/daughters-in-law, father-

in-law/fathers-in-law, full moon/full moons, he-man/he-men, journeyman/journeymen, lady-in-waiting/ladies-in-waiting, lieutenant colonel/lieutenant colonels, maid-of-honor, maids-of-honor, master-at-arms/masters-

at-arms, middle class/middle classes, mother-in-law/mothers-in-law, post

office/post offices, secretary of state/secretaries of state, sergeant

major/sergeants major, son-in-law/sons-in-law, passer-by/passers-by, she-wolf/she-wolves, stepsister/stepsisters, ten-year-

old/ten-year-olds

Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

Did you know that not all nouns are countable in English? Knowing the difference between countable and uncountable nouns can help you in many areas of English grammar.

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted. Most nouns in English are countable.

Examples:

I have two dogs. Sandra has three cars.

Jessie has ten dollars.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are not counted in English. This usually has to do with the way English speakers think of these nouns. We often picture these nouns as a single concept or one big thing which is hard to divide. Many of these words are countable in other languages, but they ARE NOT countable in English. Generally, we do not use plural forms of these words; however some of these words do end in "s", so don't get confused.

Examples:

Mack drinks a lot of water. Cindy gives great advice.

Paul enjoys politics. Ends with "s" but uncountable

Uncountable nouns tend to belong to one of the following categories:

Liquids and Gases

water coffee

milk

air

oxygen

Solid and Granular Substances

wood

metal

cheese

sand

rice

Energy Words and Forces

electricity sunshine

radiation

heat

magnetism

Subjects

French chemistry

economics

science

math

Grouped Concepts

fruit money

food

vocabulary

news

Information and Abstract Concepts

information advice

education

democracy

intelligence

Uncountable Plurals

Sometimes in English, we do use uncountable nouns in plural forms. This is most commonly done with liquids and substances. It usually takes on the meaning of "cups of", "bottles of" or "types of".

Examples:

We'll have two coffees. Cups of coffee I bought three waters. Bottles of water

The company produces two leathers. Types of leather

Different Meanings

There are certain words which have multiple meanings. It is possible for one meaning to be countable and the other to be uncountable. Take for example the word "light":

Examples:

I couldn't see anything because there was no light. Uncountable noun The Christmas tree was covered with hundreds of lights. Countable noun

Generally, the rules are still the same. The first use of "light" is a form of energy. The second use of "light" means "small light bulbs", which are normal countable objects.