Singular and Plural Nouns

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Usually, the first page of a grammar book tells you about nouns. Nouns give names of concrete or abstract things in our lives. As babies learn "mom," "dad," or "milk" as their first word, nouns should be the first topic when you study a foreign language.

For the plural form of most nouns, add s.

bottle – bottles
cup – cups
pencil – pencils
desk – desks
sticker – stickers
window – windows

For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

box – boxes
watch – watches
moss – mosses
bus – buses

For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

wolf – wolves
wife – wives
leaf – leaves
life – lives

Some nouns have different plural forms.

child – children
woman – women
man – men
mouse – mice
goose – geese

Nouns ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.

baby – babies
toy – toys
kidney – kidneys
potato – potatoes
memo – memos
stereo – stereos

A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

sheep – sheep
deer – deer
series – series
species – species

[Quiz 1.1]

Choose the correct form of the noun in each sentence.

1) I have three (child, children).
2) There are five (man, men) and one (woman, women).
3) (Baby, Babies) play with bottles as toys.
4) I put two big (potato, potatoes) in the lunch box.
5) A few men wear (watch, watches).
6) I put a (memo, memos) on the desk.
7) I saw a (mouse, mice) running by.
8) There are few (bus, buses) on the road today.

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