Plural facts for kids

Plural is a way we show that there is more than one of something. When you talk about one thing, it's called singular. When you talk about two or more things, it's plural. For example, cat is singular, but cats is plural.

In English, we usually add an -s to the end of a word to make it plural. So, dog becomes dogs, and book becomes books. But, like many things in English, there are some special rules and exceptions!

Making Words Plural in English

Most words in English follow a simple rule: add -s to the end. But some words change in different ways:

Words Ending in 's'

If a word already ends in -s, it often stays the same in the plural form.

• species (one species, many species)
• mumps (a sickness, always looks plural)
• innings (in baseball, one inning, many innings)

However, if it's a name ending in -s, you usually add -es.

• Jones becomes the Joneses (meaning the Jones family).

Compound Words

Compound words are words made of two or more parts, like mother-in-law. When you make them plural, you usually add the -s to the most important noun part.

• son-in-law becomes sons-in-law
• Lord Mayor becomes Lord Mayors

Words Ending in 'y'

This rule depends on the letter before the y:

• If there's a consonant (like b, c, d, f, g, etc.) before the y, you change the y to i and add -es.
  • spy becomes spies
  • city becomes cities
• If there's a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) before the y, you just add -s.
  • day becomes days
  • toy becomes toys

But, for people's names, you usually just add -s even if there's a consonant before the y.

• Mary becomes Marys

Words Ending in 'f' or 'fe'

Many words ending in -f or -fe change the f to v and add -es.

• leaf becomes leaves
• knife becomes knives
• dwarf can be dwarfs or dwarves (both are correct!)

Special Plurals

Some words have very different plural forms that you just have to learn.

• person becomes people (though persons is sometimes used in formal writing)
• child becomes children
• man becomes men
• woman becomes women
• foot becomes feet
• tooth becomes teeth
• mouse becomes mice

Words That Don't Change

Some words stay the same whether they are singular or plural.

• Many animal names: sheep, deer, fish (you can say one fish or many fish).
• Other words: aircraft, offspring, series, species.

It's okay if you make mistakes with plurals sometimes! Even native English speakers find them tricky because there are so many rules and exceptions.

Plurals in Other Languages

Most languages in Europe also have plural forms, but they use different endings than English. For example, in Spanish, you might add -s or -es depending on the word.

However, some languages, like Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, usually do not add any special ending to show that a word is plural. They might use other words or the context of the sentence to show if there is one or many.

See also

In Spanish: Plural para niños