Singular & Plural Nouns

A noun is a person, place, or thing. Nouns can be singular (one) or plural (two or more).

Common and Proper Nouns

Common nouns are general names for people, places, or things.

Proper nouns are specific names and always begin with a capital letter.

Common Noun	Proper Noun
a person	Ali
a city	London
a country	Brazil
a building	Eiffel Tower
a company	Coca-Cola

Singular Nouns

Singular means one. A singular noun often has a, an, the, or one in front of it.

• a truck
• an umbrella
• the bank
• one sandwich

Regular Plural Nouns

Plural means two or more. Most regular nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es.

Rule	Singular	Plural
Add -s to most nouns	banana, flower, toy	bananas, flowers, toys
If the noun ends in vowel + -y, add -s	boy, key, day	boys, keys, days
If the noun ends in consonant + -y, change -y to -i and add -es	candy, puppy, city	candies, puppies, cities
If the noun ends in -s, -z, -x, -ch, or -sh, add -es	kiss, box, dish	kisses, boxes, dishes
Many nouns ending in consonant + -o add -es	potato, tomato, hero	potatoes, tomatoes, heroes
Many nouns ending in -f or -fe change to -ves	knife, wife, leaf	knives, wives, leaves

Note: Some nouns ending in -o just add -s: photo → photos, piano → pianos, radio → radios.

Irregular Plural Nouns

Irregular nouns do not follow the normal rules.

Type	Singular	Plural
Vowel change	man	men
Vowel change	woman	women
Vowel change	foot	feet
Vowel change	tooth	teeth
Vowel change	goose	geese
Different word	child	children
Different word	person	people
No change	fish	fish
No change	deer	deer
No change	sheep	sheep
-f / -fe → -ves	knife	knives
-f / -fe → -ves	wife	wives
-f / -fe → -ves	calf	calves
Latin/Greek forms	cactus	cacti or cactuses

Count and Non-Count Nouns

Most nouns in this lesson are count nouns. You can count them: one book, two books.

Some nouns are non-count nouns. We do not usually add -s to them.

Count Noun	Non-Count Noun
one apple / two apples	water
one chair / three chairs	rice
one dollar / five dollars	money
one idea / many ideas	information

Say some water, a glass of water, or two bottles of water. Do not say two waters when you mean two glasses or bottles.

Pronunciation of Plural Endings

The plural ending -s has three different sounds:

Sound	When to use it	Examples
/s/	After voiceless sounds: f, k, p, t, th	books, cats, maps
/z/	After voiced sounds: b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, and all vowels	dogs, beds, cars, trees
/ɪz/	After s, z, x, ch, sh sounds	kisses, boxes, dishes, watches

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Common Mistakes

Mistake	Better	Why
two childs	two children	Child has an irregular plural.
three boxs	three boxes	Add -es after x, ch, sh, s, and z sounds.
many informations	much information / a lot of information	Information is non-count.
one apples	one apple	Use singular after one, a, or an.

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Practice

Exercise 1 — Common or Proper?

1 / 23

'London' is a ___ noun.

AproperBcommon

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Summary

• A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.
• A singular noun means one: a book, one child, the city.
• A plural noun means two or more: books, children, cities.
• Most regular plurals add -s: banana → bananas.
• Some plurals add -es or change spelling: box → boxes, city → cities, knife → knives.
• Some nouns are irregular: child → children, person → people, foot → feet.
• Some nouns do not change in the plural: one sheep, two sheep.
• Non-count nouns usually do not take plural -s: water, rice, information.

Keep practicing by sorting nouns into singular, plural, irregular, and non-count groups.