The Plural

The Plural

Living Plural: 's'

The vast majority of English words form the plural by simply adding an 's'. 

Here are some examples:

Sustantivo	Plural	Significado
phone	phones	teléfono
bird	birds	pajaro
car	cars	coche

Plural of Words Whistling in 's'

Nouns finishes '-ch', '-s', '-sh', '-x' and '-z' to form the plural '-s' instead of 's'. The reason is that if one "-s" was added it would be impossible to pronounce. 

Here are some examples of this case:

Sustantivo	Plural	Significado
bench	benches	banco (de sentarse)
kiss	kisses	beso
wish	wishes	deseo
box	boxes	caja
quiz	quizzes	concurso

Rule plural '-ies' (consonant) + 'and' ➜ '-ies'

If a noun ends in a consonant followed by the letter ', and' the plural form en'-ies' 

Examples of plural:

Sustantivo	Plural	Significado
lady	ladies	señora
baby	babies	bebe

Plural of (consonant) + 'or' ➜ '-oes'

A few nouns finishes consonant + 'or' form their plural '-s'. In many cases there are several ways to plural.

Singular	Plural	Significado
domino	dominoes dominos	dominó
buffalo	buffaloes buffalo buffalos	búfalo
potato	potatoes	patatas
tomato	tomatoes	tomate
echo	echoes echos	eco
embargo	embargoes	embargo
halo	haloes halos/	aureola
hero	heroes	héroe
junco	juncoes juncos	junco
volcano	volcanoes volcanos	volcán
tornado	tornadoes tornados	tornado
torpedo	torpedoes torpedos	torpedo
zero	zeroes zeros	cero

Plural '-f' or '-fe' ➜ 'see-'

Some words ending in '-f' or '-fe' form the plural irregularly in 'see-':

Singular	Plural	Significado
calf	calves	ternero
elf	elves	elfo
half	halves	la mitad
knife	knives	cuchillo
life	lives	la vida
loaf	loaves	pan
thief	thieves	ladrón
wife	wives	esposa
wolf	wolves	lobo

Unfortunately for us is not all, since many words ending in '-f' or '-fe', form the plural regularly:

Singular	Plural	Significado
brief	briefs	carta
chef	chefs	cocinero
chief	chiefs	jefe
giraffe	giraffes	jirafa
gulf	gulfs	golfo
sheriff	sheriffs	jefe de policía

There are even words that can form the plural of two ways:

Singular	Plural	Significado
scarf	scarves	bufanda
wharf	wharves wharfes	muelle (de barco)

Words in the plural invariant

Some words have the same form in the singular to plural 

many of them are animals:

Singular / Plural	Significado
bison	bisón
cod	bacalao
deer	ciervo
fish	pez
moose	alce
salmon	salmón
sheep	oveja
swine	cerdo
trout	trucha
offspring	descendiente

Examples:

he caught 2 fish
él cogió 2 peces

exception:

If we refer to fish species the plural of fish is fishes.

irregular plurals

There are English words that have irregular plural:

Singular	Plural	Significado
foot	feet	pie
goose	geese	ganso
louse	lice	piojo
man	men	hombre
mouse	mice	ratón
tooth	teeth	diente
woman	women	mujer

Are Germanic words, to form the plural in German An umlaut is added.

Plural '-sis' -> '-ses'

Singular	Plural	Significado
analysis	analyses	análisis
axis	axes	eje
basis	bases	base
crisis	crises	crisis
parenthesis	parentheses	paréntesis