We add -s to make most nouns plural (one car, two cars) and to make he, she and it verbs in the present (she works). The same spelling rules work for both, so once you learn them, you can spell boxes and fixes, or cities and studies, the same way.
The pattern
We need two boxes and three bags.
My roommate watches TV and fixes everything.
01Add -s or -es
Most words just take -s: car, cars; work, works. Add -es after s, ss, sh, ch, x and z, because you need an extra syllable to say the ending: class, classes; dish, dishes; lunch, lunches; box, boxes. Quiz doubles its z: quizzes.
Verbs work the same way: she misses, he washes, it fixes. Have is irregular: she has.
- I have two classes on Tuesdays.
- Can you put the dishes in the dishwasher?
- My boss watches every game.
02Words ending in y
After a consonant, change y to ies: city, cities; party, parties; study, studies; try, tries. After a vowel (a, e, o, u), just add -s: day, days; key, keys; play, plays; pay, pays.
- We visited three cities in one week.
- She studies at night after work.
- I lost my car keys again.
- He plays soccer on Saturdays.
03Words ending in f, fe and o
Many words ending in f or fe change to ves: knife, knives; shelf, shelves; life, lives; half, halves. Some just add -s: roof, roofs; chef, chefs; belief, beliefs.
Most words ending in o take -s: photo, photos; video, videos; radio, radios; piano, pianos. A few common ones take -es: potatoes, tomatoes, heroes, echoes. The verbs go and do also take -es: goes, does.
- We bought new shelves for the garage.
- The chefs at that restaurant are amazing.
- I took a hundred photos at the Grand Canyon.
- She goes to the gym before work.
04Irregular plurals
Some very common nouns don't use -s at all, so learn them by heart. A few, like sheep, deer and fish, stay the same. Remember that people is already plural: people are, not peoples are.
| one | two or more |
|---|---|
| person | people |
| child | children |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| foot | feet |
| tooth | teeth |
| mouse | mice |
| deer | deer |
05Common mistakes
We drove through five citys on our road trip.
We drove through five cities on our road trip.
After a consonant, y changes to ies.
Our kitchen needs new shelfs.
Our kitchen needs new shelves.
Shelf changes f to ves in the plural.
She watchs the news every morning.
She watches the news every morning.
After ch, add -es, for verbs as well as nouns.
There were a lot of peoples at the game.
There were a lot of people at the game.
People is already plural, so don't add -s.