English as an Additional Language/Plural forms of nouns

Generally, making plurals (more than 1 of something) is very easy in English.

Plural Formation edit

For almost all nouns we form the plural by adding s.

  • I have an apple
  • I have 5 apples.

For nouns which end with the letter y we form the plural by removing the y and adding ies.

  • I have a fly
  • I have 5 flies.

For nouns which end with the letter s (dress), ch (beach), x (box), sh (bush) or z (quiz), we form the plural by adding es.

  • I have a bus.
  • I have 5 buses.

Irregular Noun Plural Formation edit

There are also a small number of nouns which are irregular. The first word in the following list is the singular form and the second word is the plural form:

  • child - children
  • man - men
  • woman - women
  • foot - feet
  • tooth - teeth
  • goose - geese
  • mouse - mice
  • fish - fish
  • sheep - sheep
  • deer - deer
  • advice - advice
  • information - information
  • data - data

As you can see, with some words there is no change to form the plural. The plural form and the singular form are exactly the same.