Singular - Plural

Nouns That Have Irregular Plural Forms

When finished, try the Nouns That have Irregular Plural Forms Quiz

There are some nouns that form the plurals differently.

Some nouns change their vowels in the middle of the singular form when forming the plural

• foot - feet

• louse - lice

• man - men

• mouse - mice

• tooth - teeth

• &

• woman - women

Compounds of words man and woman form plurals the same way:

• mailman - mailmen

Words that contain the syllable "man" such as in the word human form the plural by adding the letter s as with most plurals.

Several nouns form the plural by adding the letters en:

• child - children

• ox - oxen

Some words with descriptive adjectives and hyphens form the plural by adding the correct affix to the noun portion of the word.

• father-in-law - fathers-in law

• mother-in-law - mothers-in-law

• brother-in-law - brothers-in-law

• sister-in-law - sisters-in-law

• attorney-general - attorneys-general

• secretary-general - secretaries general

There are a number of animals that have the same singular and plural form:

• bison - bison

• deer - deer

• moose - moose

• sheep - sheep

• swine - swine

There are also some animal names that form the plural the same as the singular or use the s or es form:

• antelope - antelope or antelopes

• cod - cod or cods

• elk - elk or elks

• fish - fish or fishes

• flounder - flounder or flounders

• grouse - grouse or grouses

• herring - herring or herrings

• quail - quail or quails

• reindeer - reindeer or reindeers

• salmon - salmon or salmons

• shrimp - shrimp or shrimps

• trout - trout or trouts