Do you know how to count objects around you? Let's try to count chairs or pens on the table. If you have found that you have two chairs in your room or three pens on the table, it means that you have more than one.   

When talking about these objects you will use a plural form. What does it mean? You need to add s to show everyone these are plural nouns. 

Here are some tips on how to recognize and form plural forms correctly: 

Tip №1 : Imagine that you have got a lot of cookies. You want to share with your friends. If you say the word “cookies” (with the letter s), you can demonstrate to everyone that you have a lot.  

If you say ‘a cookie’, it means that you have only one and you can`t share it with a lot of people. 

Therefore, we say one cat, but two cats; one book, but three books. So this turns out to be like a piece of cake! That's why the words which we can name in plural form using s are called regular. 

Sometimes we use es to form a plural noun. 

Example 1: Do you know that cats like playing with boxes? Here we have 3 cats. We add S to show their quantity. How many boxes do you need for these cats? We need 3 boxes. To show the plural form of cats we use s, but we need to use es, when talking about boxes.   

So, if the word ends with -s, -x, -sh, -ch, - ss, we add es. Therefore, we say boxes, buses, bushes, benches.   

Example 2:  

Have a look at this baby. He is so cute and lovely. When we say ‘baby’, it means that there is only one child. And here we have two babies.   

What has changed? ‘Baby’ turns into ‘babies’. We can find ies here. 

Also, we say ladies, cherries, puppies, cities. Have you noticed the pattern? If the word ends with y and there is a consonant before it (p, d, b, r, etc) we add es, and y turn to e: city - cities, puppy - puppies, kitty - kitties.

Example 3: Have you noticed that your noun ends with o? This is also the case when we use es: potato - potatoes, tomato - tomatoes.

There is a fun way to practice your knowledge. Write down all the words in plural forms that end with “s'' and “es”. Now propose your kids play a game. Let boys pick up all the cards with the ending “e” and girls pick up the words with “es”. This activity will help your students learn all these rules by heart. 

Example 4: Have you ever counted how many leaves are in the ground in the autumn? Have ever seen that ‘leaves’ ends with es? There is one leaf, but plenty of leaves. What does it mean? If the word ends with f, we add es to form the plural noun, but we need to change f into v. Therefore, we say: leaf - leaves, knife - knives, life - lives, wife - wives.
 

What about irregular plural nouns?  

Sometimes irregular nouns can be crafty. We can't use the same 's' rule for them, that's why we call them irregular ones. Here are these tricky words: man - men, foot - feet, mouse - mice, child - children, woman - women, goose - geese, person - people, ox - oxen.

There is one tip on how to learn them. You may use cards having printed the picture above or written singular and plural forms of irregular nouns by yourself. Get two boxes ready. The first one will be used for singular forms. The second one is for plurals.  

Let the game start! Here we take the word 'man'. Is it a singular or plural form? The answer is the singular one; therefore, we put this card in the “Singular” box. Now can you find the plural form? The plural form of man is men. Therefore, we put the word “man” in the box with plural nouns. You can do this with all the irregular nouns. 

Now let's have a look at these animals. They don`t like to change their singular form into plural, so we never change them: fish, deer, shrimp, tuna, swine.
  

We wish you happy studying! 

Now you may check yourself:  

1. Make the nouns below plural. Be careful, they are irregular: 

Woman _____________ 

Child _____________ 

Person _____________ 

Fish _____________ 

Foot _____________ 

Ox _____________ 

Deer _____________ 

Mouse _____________ 

2. Write the words in the plural: 

· There were ___________ (bird) on the branch. 

· The __________ (child) have been playing in the garden all day long. 

· I brush my __________ (tooth) every day. 

· How many __________ (tomato) are there left? 

· These ___________ (cherry) are so sweet.