What are your favorite animals at the zoo?
Do you enjoy the apes?
Perhaps the geese?
I bet you enjoy zebras, with their odd hooves.
You’ve probably seen the elk.
Maybe your zoo has fish, or even octopuses.
Whatever you do, keep moving so as not to block the passersby.
The zoo, with all its different animals, gets you thinking about how many unique rules and circumstances exist for pluralizing nouns; that is, making a singular noun plural.
Sometimes pluralizing a noun is as simple as adding -s to the end; However, depending on the noun’s structure and spelling, sometimes nouns change letters when they pluralize (one wife→two wives), and sometimes they don’t change at all (one moose→two moose).
Singular Nouns vs Plural Nouns
A singular noun refers to just one person, place, thing, or idea.
- a rock
- that deer
- one fish
- my turtle
A plural noun refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
- some rocks
- those deer
- two fish (red fish blue fish)
- my turtles
Rules for Pluralizing Nouns
1. In general, pluralize a noun by adding -s at the end.
- house→houses
- drink→drinks
- bird→birds
- phone→phones
2. Add an –es at the end to pluralize nouns ending with -s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh, or -z.
- kiss→kisses
- smooch→smooches
- bush→bushes
- ibis→ibises
- quartz→quartzes
Exception: If the -ch makes a “ck” sound, use only an -s at the end.
- stomach→stomachs
- monarch→monarchs
- tech→techs
3. Some nouns ending in -s or -z require a double s (-ss) or z (-zz) in addition to the -es, to become plural.
- quiz→quizzes
- pus (ew)→pusses (ew)
4. If the noun ends with –y following a consonant, change the -y to –ies.
- copy→copies
- Wendy’s frosty→Wendy’s frosties
- city→cities
- library→libraries
- french fry→french fries
If the -y follows a vowel, just add -s.
- Sunday→Sundays
- play→plays
- boy→boys
- journey→journeys
- chimney→chimneys
5. To pluralize a singular noun ending in -f or -fe, change it to -ves.
- life→lives
- calf→calves
- loaf→loaves
- wolf→wolves
- leaf→leaves
Exception: If the singular noun ends in -ief, -oof, -eef, -rf or -ff, just add the regular -s.
- cliff→cliffs
- sniff→sniffs
- brief→briefs
- goof→goofs
- reef→reefs
- dwarf→dwarfs
6. Pluralize singular nouns ending in -o by adding an -es to the end.
- potato→potatoes
- tomato→tomatoes
- hero→heroes
- mosquito→mosquitoes
Exceptions
- bro→bros
- photo→photos
- piano→pianos
7. If a singular noun ends in -us, pluralize it by changing it to -i.
- cactus→cacti
- alumnus→alumni
- fungus→fungi
- focus→foci
Exceptions:
- octopus→octopuses or octopi
- hippopotamus→hippopotamuses or hippopotami
8. If a singular noun ends in -is, pluralize it by changing it to -es.
- thesis→theses
- diagnosis→diagnoses
- basis→bases
- oasis→oases
9. If a singular noun ends with -um, pluralize it by changing it to -a.
- bacterium→bacteria
- millenium→millenia
- colostrum→colostra
- minimum→minima
10. Many singular nouns have irregular plural forms with unexpected patterns.
- mouse→mice and louse→lice, but house→houses and spouse→spouses
- goose→geese, but moose→moose
- woman→women, man→men, but human→humans
11. Many singular nouns stay the same when you pluralize them.
- fish→fish
- bison→bison
- deer→deer
- fruit→fruit
- squid→squid
12. Some nouns sound plural in their singular form, but keep the same form if plural or singular.
- pants→pants
- news→news
- scissors→scissors
- series→series
- species→species
Like some other aspects of the English language, pluralizing nouns has plenty of exceptions and unique circumstances to keep you on your toes. Over time, these rules begin to come more naturally, and until that time, consult this guide whenever you feel stuck. Even experienced writers get tripped up with some of these tricky plurals, so always remain patient with yourself as a writer, and enjoy the process. Write on.
