Plural Nouns: Regular vs. Irregular

Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. When we talk about more than one person, place, or thing, we use plural nouns. But not all nouns form their plurals in the same way. Understanding the difference between regular and irregular plural nouns makes your writing clearer and more accurate.

Regular and Irregular Plural Nouns: Let’s Learn the Rules

The plural of most nouns is formed by adding final –s: song – songs, boy – boys, book – books.
Final –es is added to nouns that end in –sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x: squash – squashes, bench – benches, class – classes, atlas – atlases, bush – bushes.
The plural of words that end in –z is spelled –zes: quiz – quizzes
The plural of words that end in a consonant + -y is spelled -ies: baby – babies, country – countries, family – families.
Final –s is added to nouns that end in a vowel + -y: boy – boys, key – keys, day – days, guy – guys.
Proper nouns that end in –y just add an –s ending: The last four Januarys have been very cold.
To nouns ending in –o we add –es: hero – heroes, potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes, echo – echoes.
Some nouns that in –o add only –s to form the plural: auto – autos, ghetto – ghettos, kangaroo – kangaroos, kilo – kilos, memo – memos, photo – photos, piano – pianos, radio – radios, solo – solos, soprano – sopranos, studio – studios, tattoo – tattoos, video – videos, zoo – zoos, bamboo – bamboos.
Some nouns that in –o add either –es or –s to form the plural (with –es being the more usual plural form): volcano – volcanoes / volcanos, cargo – cargoes / cargos, zero – zeroes / zeros, memento – mementoes / mementos, mosquito – mosquitoes / mosquitos, tornado – tornadoes / tornados.
We change the ending –f or –fe into – ves: calf – calves, half – halves, knife – knives, leaf – leaves, life – lives, loaf – loaves, self – selves, sheaf – sheaves, shelf – shelves, thief – thieves, wife – wives, wolf – wolves.
Some nouns that end in –f simply add –s to form the plural: belief – beliefs, chief – chiefs, cliff – cliffs, roof – roofs, handkerchief – handkerchiefs, kerchief – kerchiefs, proof – proofs.
We add –s or –ves to: hoof – hooves / hoofs, scarf – scarves / scarfs.
Some nouns have irregular plural forms that do not end in –s:
man – men, woman – women, child – children, ox – oxen, foot – feet, goose – geese, tooth – teeth, mouse – mice, louse – lice, person – people, penny – pence.
Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms: one deer – two deer, one fish – two fish (fishes is also possible, but rarely used), one offspring – two offspring, one series – two series, one sheep – two sheep, one shrimp – two shrimp (shrimps is also possible), one species – two species, one aircraft – two aircraft, one salmon – two salmon, one trout – two trout, one headquarters – two headquarters, one means of transport – many means of transport.
Nationality nouns ending in –ese and –ss have the same singular and plural forms: a Chinese – the Chinese, a Japanese – the Japanese, a Swiss – the Swiss.

Some nouns that English has borrowed from other languages have foreign plurals:

-is changes to –es: analysis – analyses, basis – bases, crisis – crises, hypothesis – hypotheses, oasis – oases, parenthesis – parentheses, thesis – theses, axis – axes;
-us changes to –i: cactus – cacti /cactuses, fungus – fungi, nucleus – nuclei, stimulus – stimuli, syllabus – syllabi / syllabuses, radius – radii (But: crocus – crocuses, octopus – octopuses, walrus – walruses);
-um changes to –a: datum – data, bacterium – bacteria, curriculum – curricula, medium – media, memorandum – memoranda, symposium – symposia (But: stadium – stadiums, album – albums);
-a (but not –ia) is changed to –ae: antenna – antennae, formula – formulae / formulas, vertebra – vertebrae (But: agenda – agendas, banana – bananas, phobia – phobias);
– on (but not – tion) changes to –a: phenomenon – phenomena, criterion – criteria (But: balloon – balloons, carton – cartons)
-ix changes to –ices or –ixes: appendix – appendices / appendixes, index – indices / indexes

Noncount nouns are used only in singular.

This list is a sample of nouns that are commonly used as noncount nouns. Many other nouns can also be used as noncount nouns.

Whole groups made up of similar items: baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, machinery, mail, makeup, money / cash / change, postage, scenery, traffic, etc.
Fluids: water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc.
Solids: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc.
Gases: steam, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc.
Particles: rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat, etc.
Abstractions: beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality, importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laughter, luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, recreation, significance, sleep, truth, violence, wealth, advice, information, news, evidence, proof, time, space, energy, homework, work, grammar, slang, vocabulary, cloth, etc.
Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, etc.
Fields of study: chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics, psychology, phonetics, economics, mechanics, etc.
Recreation: baseball, athletics, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, darts, billiards, etc.
Activities: driving, studying, swimming, traveling, walking, etc. (and other gerunds)
Natural phenomena: weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, lightning, rain, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire, gravity, etc.

Often to transform the noncount noun into a count one we may add a piece of:
bread – three pieces of bread, furniture – a piece of furniture, luggage – two pieces of luggage, advice – three pieces of advice (три поради), information – a piece of information.

We can use singular or plural verbs with nouns like committee, company, family, government, jury, the public, the youth: What will you be doing while the family is (or are ) on holidays?

We can use only plural verbs with nouns like cattle, the military, people, the police, vermin: The cattle are in the field. There are tоo many people in the world.

Nouns ending in –ics (athletics, aerobics, gymnastics, electronics, physics, mathematics) take a singular verb: Mathematics is not the most popular school subject.

Acoustics, economics, phonetics and statistics take a singular verb only when they refer to the academic subject: Statistics is a branch of economics.

News is not plural: No news is good news. It’s good news.

Nouns that have a plural form and are followed by a plural verb: glasses (=spectacles), jeans, pants, shorts, trousers, pyjamas, pliers, scissors, tights, binoculars, tongs, scales, clothes, riches, wages, goods, outskirts, premises, stairs, congratulations, lodgings, foundations, authorities, contents, traffic lights, headphones.

We can use a pair of with nouns which mean one thing that has two parts: a pair of jeans, a pair of glasses.