OVERVIEW

On this page, you will learn about plural nouns.

First, read the text and study the examples.
Then, listen to audio of the text.

READ & LISTEN

One Fire Engine

Image by CARLOS62, CC BY NC 2.0

Read:

There are two types of letters in English. They are called vowels and consonants. There are twenty-six (26) letters in the English alphabet. Five (5) are vowels and twenty-one (21) are consonants. Every letter that isn't a vowel is a consonant. The vowels are underlined below.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

5 Vowels:

Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu

21 Consonants:

Bb, Cc, Dd, Ff, Gg, Hh, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

Listen:

Image by MDP01605, CC BY SA 2.0

Read:

To make a noun plural (more than one), we usually add an s at the end of the word. Here are some special rules for making plurals with different kinds of letters.

Plurals with consonants:

If the word ends with a consonant, we usually add s.

truck + s = trucks

Plurals with s, sh, ch, x, z, and o:

If the word ends with s, sh, ch, x, z, or o, add es.

church + es = churches

Plurals with consonants + y:

If the word ends with a consonant and then y, change the y to i and add es.

library
librari + es = libraries

Plurals with e:

If the word ends with e, add s.

daycare + s = daycares

Nouns with irregular plurals:

For some plurals, there is no rule. They are irregular.

Singular	Plural
man	men
woman	women
child	children
person	people

Listen: