Plural dos Substantivos em Inglês

Plural Nouns (Plural dos Substantivos)

Use a plural noun when you are talking about two or more people, places or things.
Just add s to make most nouns plural.

singular plural

a computer computers
a chair chairs
a train trains
a player players
a teacher teachers
a taxi taxis

N o t e s

Words called articles or determiners are used to signal nouns.

a river an armchair three biscuits
a castle an idea five eggs

The article an is used before nouns that begin with the vowels a, e, i, o and u.

an artist an eye an insect
an oven an umbrella

The article a is used before nouns that begin with the other letters, called
consonants.
But some words don’t follow these rules.

• a uniform, a unit, a user: a, not an, is used because the vowel u in these words is
pronounced like the word you;

• an hour, an heir, an honor: an, not a, is used because the consonant h in these words
is not pronounced.

singular plural
a mountain mountains
a river rivers
an envelope envelopes
an insect insects
an oven ovens
an uncle uncles

singular plural
sandwich sandwiches
witch witches
brush brushes
flash flashes
box boxes
fox foxes

singular plural
day days
tray trays
runway runways
chimney chimneys
trolley trolleys
valley valleys

Nouns that end in s, ss, ch, sh or x, are made plural by adding es.

singular plural

bus buses
glass glasses
dress dresses
branch branches
church churches
beach beaches

Most nouns that end in y are made plural by changing the y to i and adding es.

singular plural

baby babies
family families
story stories
teddy teddies
fairy fairies
puppy puppies
housefly houseflies
library libraries
city cities
lily lilies
party parties
dictionary dictionaries

Nouns that have a vowel before the y are made plural by simply adding s at the
end.

singular plural

key keys
monkey monkeys
donkey donkeys
toy toys
boy boys
cowboy cowboys


Many nouns that end in f are made plural by changing the f to v and adding es.

singular plural

half halves
leaf leaves
shelf shelves
wolf wolves
thief thieves

But some nouns that end in f are made plural simply by adding s.

singular plural

chief chiefs
roof roofs
handkerchief handkerchiefs
cliff cliffs
puff puffs

Some nouns that end in f can be made plural in two ways.

singular plural

scarf scarfs or scarves
hoof hoofs or hooves
dwarf dwarfs or dwarves
wharf wharfs or wharves

Most nouns that end in fe are made plural by changing the f to v and adding s.

singular plural

knife knives
wife wives
life lives
midwife midwives


Most nouns that end in o are made plural by adding s.

singular plural

video videos
hippo hippos
zoo zoos
kangaroo kangaroos

But other nouns that end in o are made plural by adding es.

singular plural

tomato tomatoes
potato potatoes
hero heroes

Some nouns change spelling from the singular form to the plural.

singular plural

man men
woman women
child children
person people
mouse mice
tooth teeth
foot feet
goose geese

The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form.

singular plural

sheep sheep (not sheeps)
deer deer (not deers)
fish fish (not fishes)
aircraft aircraft (not aircrafts)
salmon salmon (not salmons)


N o t e s

When you are talking about different kinds of fish, the plural can be fishes,

for example:

the various fishes of the Indian Ocean

What's the plural of the kind of mouse that you use with a computer?
The plural is either mice or mouses.

Some nouns are always plural.

trousers glasses
shorts spectacles
jeans goggles
pants scissors
tights binoculars
pajamas pliers

Some nouns are usually plural.

shoes chopsticks
sandals gloves
slippers clogs
boots socks