This article details the spelling rules for turning singular nouns in plural nouns.
Note, for a look at the general principles of singular and plural nouns, see Singular and Plural Nouns.
Most nouns in English are regular. To make them plural we simply add -s to the end:
singular – plural
1 book – 2 books
1 car – 4 cars
1 house – 8 houses
In some cases, however, we need to do more when and we change the spelling.
- If a noun ends in –ch, –sh, –s, or –x we usually add -es to the end to make it plural:
singular – plural
1 church – 2 churches
1 crash – 2 crashes
1 bus – 2 buses
1 box – 2 boxes
The reason is pretty simple, trying to say these words without the /e/ sound and you’ll see what happens!
- If a noun ends in a consonant and -y then we take off the -y and add -ies to the end:
singular – plural
1 baby – 2 babies
1 curry – 2 curries
1 spy – 2 spies
- Most nouns which end in -f or -fe change the ending to –ves.
singular – plural
1 elf – 2 elves
1 loaf – 2 loaves
1 roof – 2 rooves
Note that with this last one, most people say roofs with an /f/ sound, but write rooves with a /v/ sound.
- If the noun ends in –o then we usually add an –s to the end as with most regular nouns.
singular – plural
1 piano – 2 pianos
1 video – 2 videos
- But a few nouns which end in –o add an –es to the end:
singular – plural
1 hero – 2 heroes
1 potato – 2 potatoes
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