Plural Nouns — regular & irregular

A1 — grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing

Sofía: Moving day! There are ten boxes: five with books, five with... more books.

Ben: My feet hurt. And I dropped a box on my teeth. Don't ask.

Kenji: In Japanese, one book and ten books are the same word. English has rules... and then it has children, men and women.

Abuela Carmen: And people, my dear. One person, two people. English is like my recipes: rules first, exceptions forever.

Common mistake: “I have two childs.” — Correct: “I have two children.”

Plurals say there is more than one — most nouns add -s or -es, but the most common words in English break the rules: children, people, feet.

• +s book → books — libro(s)
• +s apple → apples — manzana(s)
• +es box → boxes — caja(s)
• +es watch → watches — reloj(es)
• -ies city → cities — ciudad(es)
• -ies family → families — familia(s)
• irreg child → children — niño(s)
• irreg foot → feet — pie(s)
• irreg tooth → teeth — diente(s)
• irreg man → men · woman → women — hombre(s) · mujer(es)
• irreg person → people — persona(s) → gente
• = fish → fish · sheep → sheep — pez/peces · oveja(s)

• There are three boxes on the table.
• The children are in the garden.
• Colombia has many beautiful cities.
• My feet are tired after the walk.
• There aren't any watches in the box.
• The children aren't at school today.
• Those people aren't from here.
• How many children are there in the class?
• Are the boxes heavy?
• Are there many people at the market?
• Are the children happy? Yes, they are.
• Are your feet cold? No, they aren't.
• Are there two men at the door? Yes, there are.

Practice

1. The plural of 'child' is ___. (children, childs, childrens)
2. The plural of 'box' is ___. (boxs, boxes, boxies)
3. One person, two ___. (persons, peoples, people)
4. 'City' becomes 'cities' because it ends in consonant + y.
5. The plural of 'foot' is 'foots'.
6. Colombia has many beautiful ___ (city).
7. My ___ (foot) are tired after the walk.
8. There are three ___ (watch) in the box.
9. Unscramble: the, children, are, in, the, garden
10. Unscramble: are, there, many, people, at, the, market
11. Find the mistake: I have two childs.
12. Find the mistake: There are many persons at the party.
13. Find the mistake: My tooths are white.
14. There is a box on the table. — Write it in plural (three).
15. The children are at school. — Write the yes/no question.
16. Are the boxes heavy? — Answer with a short answer (Yes).
17. The children are at school today. — Write the negative form.
18. There aren't any watches in the box. — Write the affirmative form (use 'some').
19. Are there many people in your family? (short answer)
20. Do fish have feet? (short answer, No)

Listening

Sofía: OK, moving plan. How many boxes are there?

Ben: Ten boxes. Five are full of books.

Kenji: And the other five?

Ben: More books. And two watches, three caps... and a fish.

Sofía: A fish?!

Ben: Don't worry! Fish don't need many things. He has his box... with water, obviously.

Reading

Market day in the neighborhood. There are people everywhere: men with boxes of mangoes, women with baskets, children running between the tables. Abuela Carmen knows everybody. 'Those two men sell the best fish,' she says. 'And that woman has cherries from her own trees.' Kenji counts in his notebook: fifteen families, six dogs, hundreds of apples, and one grandmother who knows the names of all the people — and the prices of all the things.

• There are many people at the market.
• The two men sell cherries.
• Kenji counts fifteen families.
• Abuela Carmen doesn't know anybody at the market.