We make many nouns plural by adding ‘-s'.
Singular | Plural |
book | books |
dog | dogs |
table | tables |
pillow | pillows |
apple | apples |
Here are some example sentences.
- I have one brother and 3 sisters.
- She has a dog and two cats.
- There are many houses in the neighborhood.
- How many pillows do you have?
- Can I have one cookie?
1. If a singular noun ends in "-s, -x, -z, -ch, -sh" then we make the plural form by add ‘-es'.
Singular | Plural |
bus | buses |
box | boxes |
wish | wishes |
bench | benches |
dish | dishes |
church | churches |
brush | brushes |
- You can take many different buses into the city.
- I saw 3 foxes in the forest.
- The genie will grant you three wishes.
Singular | Plural |
strawberry | strawberries |
library | libraries |
spy | spies |
city | cities |
baby | babies |
But if the word ends in "vowel + y", then we just add an ‘-s'.
Singular | Plural |
toy | toys |
kidney | kidneys |
monkey | monkeys |
I know that this annoying. But it should not be too hard because there are not many nouns that end in "-y".
- There are many cities that I want to visit.
- When I visit my family, there are many babies. I am not sure if I want to have a baby.
- Our city only has one library, but many people think we should build more libraries.
- The child has many toys in his room.
Singular | Plural |
wolf | wolves |
knife | knives |
leaf | leaves |
Luckily, there are not many nouns like this. Here are a few example sentences.
- I saw one wolf, but my brother says he saw 3 wolves.
- She loves to cook, so she has many knives in her kitchen.
- There are many leaves on the ground.
Singular | Plural |
hero | heroes |
avocado | avocados |
potato | potatoes |
tomato | tomatoes |
torpedo | torpedoes |
zoo | zoos |
studio | studios |
- When he first started his business, he owned one studio, but now he owns over 10 studios in 5 different cities.
- I don't know any city that has multiple zoos.
- The X-Men series follows a group of heroes as they fight bad guys.
- We have many tomatoes. Please take some.
Make sure that you understand this basic English grammar well. It is important to know if you want to speak English well.