How do you make a noun plural in English?

Add -s to most countable nouns (book, books). Add -es after s, sh, ch, x, z, and many nouns ending in o (bus, buses; tomato, tomatoes). Change a consonant plus y to -ies (city, cities). Then learn the irregular pairs (child, children), the unchanged set (sheep), and the foreign plurals you meet in study (crisis, crises).

What are the most common irregular plurals?

Children, men, women, people, feet, teeth, mice, geese, and oxen cover most of daily life. Sheep, deer, fish, series, species, and aircraft stay the same. Once those are secure, the remaining irregulars are rare enough to check in a dictionary when they appear.

Is it sheeps or sheep?

Sheep. The word does not change: one sheep, two sheep, a hundred sheep. The verb and any number word carry the plural meaning: Those sheep are in the wrong field. Deer, aircraft, and species work the same way.

Why can't I say informations or advices?

Because information and advice are uncountable in English. They have no plural, they never take a or an, and they take a singular verb. To count them you use a unit: a piece of advice, two pieces of information. The same is true of furniture, luggage, homework, and weather.

Is data singular or plural?

Both, depending on the register. In scientific and academic writing data is still often plural: The data are consistent with the model. In journalism and everyday English it is usually an uncountable singular: The data is clear. Follow the style around you; do not mix the two in one text.

English grammar · Beginner

Plural Nouns: Regular -s and -es, Irregular Forms, and Exceptions

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

A plural noun names more than one of something. Most English nouns add -s or -es (book, books; box, boxes), and nouns that end in a consonant plus y change y to i and add -es (city, cities). A smaller set is irregular (child, children; mouse, mice), some nouns keep the same form in the singular and the plural (sheep, sheep), and a handful of borrowed nouns keep a foreign plural (crisis, crises). Only countable nouns have a plural; uncountable nouns such as advice and furniture do not.

The boxes on the shelves held the children's toys.

regular -es, regular -ves, and the irregular children

What it is

English marks more than one mainly by adding an ending to a countable noun. The default ending is -s. It becomes -es after s, ss, sh, ch, x, z, and after most nouns ending in o (buses, dishes, tomatoes). A consonant plus y becomes -ies (babies), while a vowel plus y keeps -s (boys). A few dozen common nouns ignore all of this and have to be learned as pairs: man/men, woman/women, child/children, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, mouse/mice, person/people. A still smaller set never changes (one sheep, two sheep), and a group of academic and scientific words keep a Latin or Greek plural (one criterion, two criteria).

One city, two cities. One boy, two boys. One child, two children. One sheep, two sheep. (Four different ways of making more than one, all of them ordinary English.)

How to spot it

Look at the ending and at the verb. A regular plural ends in -s or -es and takes a plural verb (The boxes are ready). An irregular plural may look singular (The children are ready) or may be identical to the singular (The sheep are ready), so the verb and any number word are the real clues.

The churches face the square. (regular -es after ch)
The babies were both asleep. (consonant plus y becomes -ies)
The mice had chewed the cable. (irregular: mouse becomes mice)
Two aircraft were waiting on the stand. (unchanged plural: aircraft stays aircraft)

News, mathematics, and politics look plural but are uncountable and take a singular verb: The news is on. They are not plurals, and they do not have a singular form without the -s.

Plural Nouns Quick Reference

The main ways English makes a plural

Pattern	Singular to plural	Notes
Add -s	book → books, day → days, photo → photos	the default, including vowel + y and many short o-words
Add -es	bus → buses, box → boxes, watch → watches	after s, ss, sh, ch, x, z
Consonant + y → -ies	city → cities, baby → babies, party → parties	vowel + y keeps -s: boy → boys
Most -o → -es	tomato → tomatoes, hero → heroes, potato → potatoes	exceptions keep -s: photos, pianos, kilos, radios
-f / -fe → -ves	leaf → leaves, knife → knives, life → lives	exceptions keep -s: roofs, beliefs, chiefs, cliffs
Irregular change	child → children, man → men, mouse → mice, person → people	learn as pairs; no ending rule
No change	sheep, deer, fish, series, species, aircraft	the number word or the verb shows the plural
Foreign plural	crisis → crises, criterion → criteria, analysis → analyses	common in academic English; many also have an English -s form

Common Plural Nouns Examples in English

Plurals grouped by the situation you are in, from everyday counting to the forms that do not look like plurals at all:

Counting Ordinary Things

She packed two suitcases and three boxes.: regular -s and -es
The tomatoes in this crate are still green.: o plus -es
How many parties have they got this month?: consonant plus y becomes -ies
The boys hung their coats on the pegs.: vowel plus y keeps -s

If you can put a number in front of the noun, it is countable and it has a plural. That is the first test, before you choose the ending.

Using the Irregular Everyday Set

Three children were waiting by the gate.: child → children
My feet were frozen after the walk.: foot → feet
The dentist looked at her teeth.: tooth → teeth
Two women and a man boarded first.: woman → women, man → men

Person becomes people in ordinary counting (three people). Persons appears in legal English (missing persons) and is not the everyday plural.

Leaving the Form Unchanged

A flock of sheep was blocking the lane.: sheep stays sheep; the verb is singular because flock is the head
We saw six deer at dusk.: deer stays deer
This series is new; those series are repeats.: series is identical in both numbers; the determiner and verb decide
Two aircraft took off one after the other.: aircraft stays aircraft

Fish can stay fish as a plural (two fish) or take fishes when you mean different species. Salmon, trout, and squid follow the same pattern.

Talking About More Than One Person or Type

Several people queued in the rain.: person → people
The geese flew in a low line over the marsh.: goose → geese
The knives and the loaves were already on the table.: -fe and -f become -ves
Both analyses reached the same conclusion.: foreign plural: analysis → analyses

A few nouns are plural only: clothes, scissors, trousers, glasses (for eyes). They take a plural verb and are counted with a pair of: a pair of scissors.

How Plural Nouns Work

Four spelling decisions cover almost every noun, and a fifth rule tells you when there is no plural at all.

Add -s, or -es After a Hissing Sound

The default is -s. After a sound that already hisses or buzzes (s, z, sh, ch, x), English adds a whole extra syllable, spelled -es: buses, watches, boxes, dishes. Without that extra syllable the plural would be hard to hear. Most nouns ending in o take -es as well (potatoes, heroes), but a group of short, often borrowed words take -s: photos, pianos, radios, kilos, videos.

one bus, two buses; one photo, two photos

hissing sound takes -es; photo is an -s exception

Hiss or buzz at the end: add -es. Otherwise add -s.

Change Y to I Only After a Consonant

City, baby, party, and factory become cities, babies, parties, factories. Boy, day, key, and tray keep the y and add -s, because a vowel sits in front of it. The letter before y is the whole rule; there is no exception of any size in ordinary vocabulary.

one city, two cities; one boy, two boys

consonant plus y versus vowel plus y

Consonant + y → -ies. Vowel + y → -ys.

Learn the Irregulars and the Unchanged Set as Pairs

Child/children, man/men, woman/women, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, mouse/mice, goose/geese, ox/oxen, and person/people do not follow a living suffix rule. Sheep, deer, aircraft, series, species, offspring, and many fish names do not change at all. Both groups are small and frequent, which is why they have to be memorised rather than derived.

one child, two children; one sheep, two sheep

irregular change versus no change

If the ending is not -s or -es, learn the pair.

Uncountable Nouns Have No Plural

Advice, furniture, information, luggage, homework, and weather cannot take -s and cannot follow a or a number. To count them you add a unit: two pieces of advice, three items of furniture. A few nouns have both a countable and an uncountable use (a coffee / coffee, a paper / paper), and only the countable use pluralises: two coffees, some papers.

some furniture, two pieces of furniture

no furnitures; a unit word supplies the count

If a and a number both fail, there is no plural.

Common Mistakes with Plural Nouns

Incorrect: I have two childs.

Correct: I have two children.

Child is irregular. Adding -s is the default strategy, and it fails on the small set of everyday nouns that change in other ways: children, men, women, feet, teeth, mice, people.

Incorrect: The furnitures in this flat are new.

Correct: The furniture in this flat is new.

Furniture is uncountable, so it has no plural and takes a singular verb. To count it, add a unit: two pieces of furniture, three items of furniture.

Incorrect: She visited several citys on the trip.

Correct: She visited several cities on the trip.

After a consonant, y becomes i and you add -es. Citys would only be possible if the letter before y were a vowel, as in boys and days.

Incorrect: The news are on at six.

Correct: The news is on at six.

News looks like a plural but is an uncountable singular. The same trap appears with mathematics, physics, and politics when they name the subject: Mathematics is difficult, not are.

Foreign Plurals, Compounds, and Nouns That Look Plural

Three corners that sit outside the -s rule and that show up often in study, travel, and work.

Latin and Greek plurals

A set of academic nouns keeps a classical plural, especially in -is → -es, -on → -a, and -um → -a. In everyday English several of them also accept a regular -s, and the regular form is spreading.

one crisis, two crises; one thesis, two theses: -is becomes -es, with a change of vowel sound
one criterion, two criteria; one phenomenon, two phenomena: -on becomes -a
one appendix, two appendices (or appendixes in some US use): both forms occur; follow the house style

Data and media began as plurals (datum, medium) and are now often treated as uncountable singulars in general English: the data is clear. In scientific writing the plural verb is still common: the data are clear.

Compound nouns and always-plural nouns

A compound usually pluralises the head: mothers-in-law, passers-by, but cupfuls and teaspoonfuls, where ful is treated as the head. Nouns that name two-part objects are plural only and are counted with a pair of.

both my sisters-in-law arrived together: the head sister takes the -s
a pair of trousers, two pairs of scissors: always-plural nouns counted with pair
Her glasses were on the bedside table.: glasses meaning spectacles: plural verb

Clothes is plural only and has no singular cloth in the same meaning (cloth is the material). A clothing item is a garment, a piece of clothing, or the specific word: a shirt, a coat.

Quick Check: Plural Nouns

Write the plural of each noun, or choose the verb that agrees.

1. one box → ___

Answer: boxes

x takes -es

2. one baby → ___

Answer: babies

consonant plus y becomes -ies

3. one tooth → ___

Answer: teeth

irregular vowel change

4. one sheep → ___

Answer: sheep

unchanged plural

5. The scissors ___ (is / are) on the desk.

Answer: are

always-plural noun, plural verb

Plural Nouns FAQs

How do you make a noun plural in English?: Add -s to most countable nouns (book, books). Add -es after s, sh, ch, x, z, and many nouns ending in o (bus, buses; tomato, tomatoes). Change a consonant plus y to -ies (city, cities). Then learn the irregular pairs (child, children), the unchanged set (sheep), and the foreign plurals you meet in study (crisis, crises).
What are the most common irregular plurals?: Children, men, women, people, feet, teeth, mice, geese, and oxen cover most of daily life. Sheep, deer, fish, series, species, and aircraft stay the same. Once those are secure, the remaining irregulars are rare enough to check in a dictionary when they appear.
Is it sheeps or sheep?: Sheep. The word does not change: one sheep, two sheep, a hundred sheep. The verb and any number word carry the plural meaning: Those sheep are in the wrong field. Deer, aircraft, and species work the same way.
Why can't I say informations or advices?: Because information and advice are uncountable in English. They have no plural, they never take a or an, and they take a singular verb. To count them you use a unit: a piece of advice, two pieces of information. The same is true of furniture, luggage, homework, and weather.
Is data singular or plural?: Both, depending on the register. In scientific and academic writing data is still often plural: The data are consistent with the model. In journalism and everyday English it is usually an uncountable singular: The data is clear. Follow the style around you; do not mix the two in one text.