Nouns: countable and uncountable / regular and irregular plurals

Countable Nouns

Some words take an ‘s’ when you talk about more than one. These words are called count or countable nouns.
Example

1 apple  
2 apples 

Uncountable Nouns

Other words do not take an ‘s’ when you talk about more than one. These words are called non-count or uncountable nouns.
Example

1 piece of cheese   
2 pieces of cheese 

The word “food” is a non-count noun.
Example

I like food.
I like some food for breakfast.
I like a lot of food for dinner.



Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms, and the plural is usually formed by adding "-s" to the singular. Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms, and the plural is usually formed by adding “-s” to the singular. How to form the plural :

Noun ending	Forming the plural	Example
s, x, ch or sh	Add -es	boss bosses tax taxes bush bushes
consonant + y	Change y to i then add -es	baby babies candy candies curry curries
most others	Add -s	cat cats face faces day days

Although most nouns have plurals formed according to regular rules, 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	Example
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
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	Singular and plural are the same	sheep deer fish (sometimes)