A noun is a word used to name a person, a place, a thing or an idea.
Nouns can sometimes be singular or plural.
Singular means one,
plural means more than one, so two, three, four or more.
In general we form a plural noun by adding the letter S to the end of the noun.
For example:
You have one car but two cars.
There is an S at the end of cars to make it plural.
We have one dog, two dogs,
one book, two books,
one house, two houses,
one apple, two apples.
So, we generally put an S at the end of a noun to make it plural.
Of course in English there are always exceptions.
When a noun ends in S, CH, SH, X or Z (or Z)
we add the letters ES to the end of the noun.
So... one bus becomes two buses.
Notice how the last syllable sounds like /IZ/ ... buses
We have one match and two matches,
one dish and two dishes,
one box and two boxes,
one quiz and two quizzes.
Notice how with nouns ending in Z (or Z) depending on the pronunciation,
we sometimes double that letter.
When a noun ends in F or FE
for example wolf ends in an F
we remove the F or FE part and add VES to the end.
So... one wolf becomes two wolves.
Notice how we need to use the slightly vibrating V (the vvvv)
and the S sound like a buzzing zzzzz sound...
wolves wolves
So we say one leaf, two leaves,
one wolf, two wolves,
one life, two lives,
one knife, two knives.
Note: there are some exceptions to this rule.
Two exceptions include roof:
one roof and two roofs or roofs
and cliff: one cliff and two cliffs.
A E I O U - These are vowels.
B C D F G H J etc. - These are consonants.
When a noun ends in a vowel + Y
we add an S to the end of the noun to make it plural.
For example: DAY ends in a vowel, the letter A and the letter Y.
So the plural of DAY is DAYS.
We just put an S at the end, one day, two days,
one key, two keys,
one boy, two boys,
one guy, two guys,
one donkey, two donkeys.
All of these words end in a vowel + a Y
so we just add an S.
But, when a noun ends in a consonant + a Y,
we remove the Y and add IES.
For example the noun BABY ends in the consonant B and Y.
To form the plural, we need to remove the final Y and then add IES.
So BABY becomes BABIES.
More examples:
one city, two cities,
one baby, two babies,
one story, two stories,
one party, two parties,
one country, two countries.
When a noun ends in a vowel + the letter O, we just add S to the end to make it plural.
ZOO ends in the vowel O followed by another O after it.
So we just add an S at the end, one zoo, two zoos,
one radio, radio ends in about I + O
so it becomes two radios,
one stereo, two stereos,
one video, two videos,
one kangaroo, two kangaroos.
But, when a noun ends in a consonant + the letter O, we need to add ES.
HERO ends with a consonant R + O,
so we add ES to the end. One hero, two heroes,
one echo, two echoes,
one tomato (or one tomato depends on your pronunciation)
becomes two tomatoes (or two tomatoes)
one potato, two potatoes.
Now there are some exceptions to this rule.
The two most common exceptions are one piano and two pianos.
We just add an S and not ES.
Another example: one photo, two photos.
These are exceptions.
There are some nouns that have very irregular plural nouns and that don't have an S at the end.
Some common irregular plural nouns are:
one man, two men,
one child, two children,
one foot, two feet,
one tooth, two teeth,
one mouse, two mice,
one person, two people,
There are many more irregular plural nouns and you can see more examples on our website.
There is a link in the description of this video.
Some other irregular plural nouns are the words that do not change in plural form.
For example: with the word sheep,
we say one sheep and two sheep.
There is no change between a singular and plural form.
We do not say "sheeps"
No, there is no S at the end.
One sheep, two sheep,
one deer, two deer,
one fish, two fish.
Yes, this is correct. We do not say two fishes!
One series, two series,
one species, two species.
You can see there is no change.
There are more irregular plural nouns such as cactus becoming cacti in plural.
These rules will appear in another more advanced English video.
You don't really need to learn them at this stage unless you are a scientist or an English teacher.
It is important to know that not all nouns have a plural form.
Nouns that do not have a singular or plural form are called uncountable nouns.
See our video about the difference between countable and uncountable nouns or more details.
I hope you found this video useful.
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Have an awesome day!