The Hollywood walk of fame, a paved street with stars on the tiles that contain the names of famous actors, singers, entertainers, and more in California

Study Resource: English plural nouns reference sheet

By: Isabel McKay

The table below summarizes the rules for forming in English.

Noun Ending	Plural Rule	Singular	Plural	Notes
Most regular nouns	Add -s	dogplant	dogsplants	Can be pronounced /s/ or /z/.
-s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z…	Add -es	buschurchbox	buseschurchesboxes	An extra syllable is added. A syllable is also added for -ge and -dge nouns, but these are just spelled with an -s.
-f, -fe (only some nouns)	-f / -fe → -ves	knifeloaf	knivesloaves	Pronunciation of f changes too. Short vowels are lengthened in the plural.
-y (after a consonant)	-y → -ies	partycountry	partiescountries	No difference in pronunciation. After a consonant, just add -s.
-o (only some nouns)	Add -es	tomatovolcano	tomatoesvolcanoes	No difference in pronunciation. Only a few nouns always follow this rule, mostly: potato, tomato, torpedo, echo, hero, zero, veto, volcano. More nouns can be spelled with either -s or -es. Many nouns can only be spelled with -s.
Types of irregular nouns
Some animals we hunt to eat	NO CHANGE	fishdeer	fishdeer	Used particularly for swimming sea creatures (fish), deer, and some game animals
Words that end in -craft	NO CHANGE	aircraft	aircraft	Some nouns that end in -craft are mass nouns, so they have no plural (witchcraft, stagecraft...).
Some old nouns	Vowel change only	mangoose	mengeese	List is very short: foot, man, woman, goose, mouse, tooth, louse.
child, ox, brother	Add -en	childoxbrother	childrenoxenbrethren	Vowel changes in children and brethren too. Brethren is old and not used for genetic brothers.
Nouns ending in -us	-us → -i / -era	syllabusgenus	syllabigenera	Usually only Latin nouns. -is is pronounced "-ai."
Nouns ending in -a	-a → -ae	alumnaformula	alumnaeformulae	Usually only Latin nouns. -ae is pronounced "-ay."
Nouns ending in -ix or -ex	-ix / -ex → -ices	matrixvortex	matricesvortices	Usually only Latin nouns. -ices is pronounced "-iseez."
Nouns ending in -um	-um → -a	datumminimum	dataminima	Usually only Latin nouns.
Nouns ending in -is	-is → -es	thesisaxis	thesesaxes	Usually only Latin nouns. -es is pronounced "-eez."
Nouns ending in -on	-on → -a	criterionautomaton	criteriaautomata	Usually only Greek nouns.
Nouns ending in -au	Add -x	châteaubeau	châteauxbeaux	Usually only French nouns. Plural pronounced like the singular or like a regular plural.

There is also a short list of irregular nouns that you’ll just need to memorize. Mostly:

person → people
die → dice
penny → pence (in England)

To embark on your next language adventure, join Mango on social!

Ready to take the next step?

The Mango Languages learning platform is designed to get you speaking like a local quickly and easily.