Singular vs Plural Irregular Nouns
Changing English singular words to plural
In the heading above ‘words’ is the plural of ‘word’. Many ‘words’ in English simply add an ‘s’ to change to the plural. Some are a little more complicated. The table below includes some of the more common irregular plural nouns.
- plural ending adds -es (examples: box, hero, mass, tomato, watch)
- singular ending -y is cut off and changed to -ies (examples: baby, body, city, lady, puppy)
- singular ending -f or -fe is cut off and changed to -ves (examples: dwarf, elf, half, hoof, knife, leaf, life, loaf, scarf, thief, wife, wolf)
- words taken from Latin or Greek, and ending in -us, keep the original plural form and change to end -i (examples: cactus, fungus)
Unfortunately, there are exceptions. You have one ‘roof’ on your house and several ‘roofs’ on the street. It’s not rooves.
Some are not as straightforward to learn. It is a mystery why you have one ‘mouse’ and two or more ‘mice’!
Can you think on any other examples? Do you find any words particularly tricky? Answer in the comments.
Need more help with nouns? Consider a Grammar course.
| Singular | Plural |
| Baby | Babies |
| Body | Bodies |
| Box | Boxes |
| Cactus | Cacti |
| Child | Children |
| City | Cities |
| Diagnosis | Diagnoses |
| Dwarf | Dwarves |
| Elf | Elves |
| Foot | Feet |
| Fungus | Fungi |
| Goose | Geese |
| Half | Halves |
| Hero | Heroes |
| Hoof | Hooves |
| Knife | Knives |
| Lady | Ladies |
| Leaf | Leaves |
| Life | Lives |
| Loaf | Loaves |
| Man | Men |
| Mass | Masses |
| Mouse | Mice |
| Ox | Oxen |
| Puppy | Puppies |
| Quiz | Quizzes |
| Scarf | Scarves |
| Thief | Thieves |
| Tomato | Tomatoes |
| Tooth | Teeth |
| Watch | Watches |
| Wife | Wives |
| Wolf | Wolves |
| Woman | Women |
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