pluralising

Pluralising is the process of forming plural forms of nouns to indicate more than one. In English, it is typically accomplished by adding an affix or by making a small internal change to the word, though many irregular forms exist and some nouns have unchanged or zero plural forms.

Regular plural formation in English mainly uses suffixes. The simplest is -s, as in cat -> cats. When the word ends in a sibilant sound (s, z, sh, ch, x), -es is added (bus -> buses, box -> boxes). Nouns ending in a consonant followed by a y change the y to i and add -es (city -> cities, party -> parties), while those ending in a vowel + y simply take -s (toy -> toys). For words ending in -o, pluralisation often adds -es (potato -> potatoes), but many exceptions exist (photo -> photos).

Irregular plurals involve internal vowel changes, different words, or both. Common examples include man -> men, woman -> women, child -> children, foot -> feet, mouse -> mice, goose -> geese, ox -> oxen. Some nouns have no change in the plural or use the same form for singular and plural (sheep, deer, species, series).

Other considerations include zero plurals, where the form is identical in singular and plural, and mass or collective nouns that behave differently in syntax but may appear plural in form (scissors, trousers). In addition to English usage, pluralisation in other languages often follows more complex patterns; in computing and localization, plural rules can depend on locale and context, sometimes requiring explicit plural categories beyond a simple -s/-es.