The Rules of Regular and Irregular Plurals

For most nouns, just add -s			For nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh, add -es
Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
hand	hands		box	boxes
rabbit	rabbits		pitch	pitches
key	keys		wish	wishes
clock	clocks		boss	bosses
football	footballs		buzz	buzzes
door	doors		glass	glasses

For some words ending in o, add -es			However, for some words ending in o, just add -s
Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
potato	potatoes		cello	cellos
tomato	tomatoes		disco	discos
hero	heroes		hairdo	hairdos
echo	echoes		logo	logos
banjo	banjoes		patio	patios
The plural of many words ending in o can be spelt with -s or -es.			photo	photos
			piano	pianos
			radio	radios

For some words ending in f, change the f to a v and add -es			However, for some words ending in f, just add -s
Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
half	halves		chef	chefs
loaf	loaves		cliff	cliffs
elf	elves		ref	refs
leaf	leaves		roof	roofs
self	selves		The plural of some nouns ending in f can be spelt using either variation.
shelf	shelves
thief	thieves
wolf	wolves

For some nouns ending in ife, change the f to a v and then add -s			For common nouns that end with consonant + y, change the y to an i and then add -es
Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
wife	wives		poppy	poppies
life	lives		fly	flies
knife	knives		penny	pennies
			spy	spies
			nappy	nappies
			sty	sties

Some nouns are the same in both singular and plural from			For some nouns, change other letters or just change the word completely!
Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
fish	fish		person	people
sheep	sheep		child	children
deer	deer		ox	oxen
tuna	tuna		foot	feet
salmon	salmon		tooth	teeth
trout	trout		goose	geese
			mouse	mice
			louse	lice
			man	men

Last updated: 30th September 2006

© First School Years - Regular and Irregular Plurals