Singular and plural nouns
In writing, most English nouns form the plural with -s. This is true of nouns which end in most consonants (e.g. road - roads, bag - bags, town - towns) and the vowels о and e (e.g. area » areas, rope - ropes). But note these variations:
Regular plurals Spelling rules
noun |
plural |
examples |
ending in consonant + y |
+ ies |
family - families, party - parties |
BUT ending in vowel + y |
+ s |
tray - trays, monkey - monkeys |
Proper nouns ending in a y preceded by a consonant form their plurals regularly |
|
Germanys (as in The two Germanys were unified in 1990. Harrys (as in There are three Harrys in our office) |
ending in –ch, -s, -sh, -x, -z |
+ es |
watch - watches, boss - bosses, fox - foxes, waltz – waltzes |
exceptions of vowel + z |
|
quiz - quizzes, fez - fezzes |
If the pronunciation of ch is /k/, add -s only |
|
patriarch - patriarchs |
ending in consonant + o |
+ es |
potato - potatoes, hero – heroes, echoes, embargoes, heroes, mottoes, Negroes, potatoes, tomatoes torpedoes, vetoes |
BUT ending in vowel + o |
+ s |
radio - radios, video - videos |
words from other languages ending in –o take -s only |
|
piano - pianos, photo - photos, canto – cantos, homo – homos, piano – pianos, portico – porticos, pro – pros (and cons), quarto (paper size) – quartos, kimono - kimonos |
abbreviations take -s only |
|
kilos (= kilograms), memos ( = memoranda), photos ( = photographs) |
musical terms of Italian origin take -s only |
|
concertos, contraltos, pianos, solos, sopranos |
proper names take -s only |
|
Eskimos. Filipinos v dynamos. |
The e is optional in: |
+ (e)s |
buffalo(c)s. cargo(e)s. commando(e)s, grotto(e)s, zoos, halo(e)s, mosquito(e)s, tornado(e)s, volcano(e)s bamboos, embryos, folios, kangaroos, oratorios, radios, |
Irregular plurals
Irregular in pronunciation only
The following are regular in spelling, but in pronunciation a final consonant that is voiceless in the singular becomes voiced in the plural: nouns ending in -th. In bath, the final /θ/ becomes /ð / in the plural, which is therefore pronounced /ba:ðz/. The same applies to mouth, oath, path, sheath, truth, wreath, youth (young man), and can also apply to berth and birth.
It does not apply nouns ending in -nth. e.g. months
The voiceless -s in house becomes [z] in the plural [hauziz].
Hoof, scarf and wharf also have a plural that is regular in pronunciation and spelling.
Handkerchiefs and roofs, regular in spelling, may end in pronunciation with /fs/ or /vz/. Treat all other words ending in /as regular, e.g. cliffs.