Although most nouns have plurals formed according to regular rules
(see Regular plurals of Nouns), some nouns have unusual, or irregular
plurals. This page will introduce the most common ones, so that you can
learn them.
Types of irregular plural
There are many types of irregular plural, but these are the most common:
| Noun type |
Forming the plural |
Examples |
| Ends with -fe |
Change f to v
then
Add-s |
knife - knives
life - lives
wife -wives |
| Ends with -f |
Change f to v
then
Add -es |
half - halves
wolf - wolves
loaf - loaves
(But: roof - roofs) |
| Ends with -o |
Add -es |
potato - potatoes
tomato - tomatoes
volcano - volcanoes |
| ends with -us |
Change -us to -i |
cactus - cacti
nucleus - nuclei
focus - foci |
| ends with -is |
Change -is to -es |
analysis - analyses
crisis -crises
thesis - theses |
| ends with -on |
Change -on to a |
phenomenon - phenomena
criterion -criteria |
| ALL KINDS |
Change the vowel
or
Change
the word
or
Add a different ending |
man - men
foot - feet
child -
children
person - people
tooth - teeth
mouse -
mice |
| unchanging non-countable |
Singular and plural
are the same |
sheep
deer
fish (sometimes) Some of these words have a plural with a different
meaning.Eg:
- some money OR When we have collected all the different monies
- Eat some food OR What foods are prepared here?
|
Note: Some nouns don't have a singular form:
- Information
|