plurali

Plurali, in linguistic usage, refers to the plural forms used to express more than one entity. The term is common in Italian grammar (plurale is the singular form, plurali the plural forms) but is also used more broadly in discussions of number marking in many languages. Plural forms can affect nouns, pronouns, adjectives, determiners, and, in some languages, verbs.

Plurality is usually marked morphologically, but methods vary by language. Common strategies include suffixation (dog → dogs; libro → libri), vowel changes or ablaut (man → men), and suppletion (child → children). Some languages use a zero plural with no overt marking (sheep). Others rely on irregular patterns. Examples: English dog/dogs and man/men; Italian uomo/uomini and casa/case; Spanish libro/libros; French livre/livres.

Agreement often accompanies plural marking. In many languages, plural forms require agreement with other words in the noun phrase, such as adjectives and determiners. English shows limited agreement (two big houses) since adjectives do not ordinarily inflect for number. Italian and Russian, by contrast, inflect adjectives and determiners for number and gender. Some nouns are pluralia tantum, occurring only in plural form, such as scissors, glasses, and trousers in English.

Cross-linguistic variation in plural formation reflects differences in morphology, syntax, and semantics. Studying plurali reveals how languages encode quantity, how speakers navigate referents, and how plural meaning interacts with gender, case, and word class across the world's tongues.