Plural

Plural is the grammatical category used to indicate more than one of a noun or pronoun. It is contrasted with singular, which denotes a single item. In many languages, nouns have separate singular and plural forms, and verbs or adjectives may change to agree with the noun in number. Some languages also include dual or other numbers.

Formation in English: regular plurals usually end in -s or -es (book/books, bus/buses). Nouns ending in -y change to -ies (party/parties). Some form with -f or -fe to -ves (knife/knives). There are many irregular plurals: man/men, woman/women, child/children, foot/feet, mouse/mice, goose/geese. Some plurals involve vowel changes (tooth/teeth). A few nouns are identical in singular and plural (sheep, deer). Pluralia tantum are nouns that exist only in the plural (pants, scissors, glasses); others are singularia tantum (information, bread).

Not all nouns change; mass nouns such as water or sand are usually not inflected for number, but may take plural forms in specific senses or when referring to types (waters, coffees). Determiners and adjectives typically align with number in count contexts (many books, those apples). English supports both singular and plural agreements with verbs for some collective nouns depending on dialect (the team is vs the team are).

Across languages, plural systems vary. Some languages have a dual number or several plural classes; others lack a morphological plural and rely on determiners or numerals to indicate quantity. Plural formation often interacts with counting, class systems, and article usage, shaping how plural references are expressed in syntax and meaning.