Spanish Plural Forms
Here we have some examples that follow this general rule :
Words ending in unaccented vowel :
la casa (the house): las casas
la cama (the bed): las camas
el barco (the ship): los barcos
el carro (the car) : los carros
(Note that I’ve also written their corresponding Definite Articles. This way you’ll know the genre of each noun. )
Words ending in consonant :
la flor (the flower): las flores
la claridad (the lightness): las claridades
el árbol (the tree) : los árboles
el color (the color): los colores
Words ending in S preceded by an unstressed vowel: They have the same form in both, singular and plural:
Days of the week, from Monday to Friday:
Lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday)
Examples:
la crisis (the crisis): las crisis
el paraguas (the umbrella) : los paraguas
Not difficult, right?
Now, let’s review other interesting rules and exceptions:
“Y” is treated as a consonant, when located at the end of a word, if we want to apply the plural rule:
For example:
la ley (the lawn): las leyes.
El buey (the ox): los bueyes
If a word ends in –ión, we’ll add –es and forget about the written accent.
For example:
la canción (the song): las canciones;
el camión (the lorry): los camiones.
If a word ends in –z, we’ll add –es and change the z to a c.
For example:
la voz (the voice): las voces;
el pez (the fish): los peces.
If a word ends in a stressed é, we’ll simply add –s.
For example:
el café (the coffee): los cafés;
el pez (the fish): los peces.
If a word ends in other stressed vowel (other than é) , we’ll add –es.
For example:
el zulú (the Zulu: los zulúes;
el hindú (the Hindu): los indúes.
El organdí (the organdy) : los organdíes
In this group we have 4 exceptions:
el papá : los papás (not “los papaes”)
la mamá : las mamás (not “las mamaes”)
el sofá : los sofás (not “los sofaes”)
el dominó : los dominós (not “los dominoes”)
Words from foreign languages maintain their original language pluralization rules:
el convoy : los convoys;
el parking : los parkings
And finally, remember that:
We must use the masculine plural form when we refer to a group of two or more nouns with different genres.
1 león (lion – masculine) + 2 leonas (lionesses – feminine) = 3 leones (masculine).
If you have any question, comment or doubt. If do, feel free to e-mail me or just post a message at the Forum. I’ll answer you as soon as possible.
¡Hasta pronto! (See you soon!)
Recommended material:
You can find below some materials / web pages that, from my point of view, can be useful and interesting:
Words ending in unaccented vowel :
la casa (the house): las casas
la cama (the bed): las camas
el barco (the ship): los barcos
el carro (the car) : los carros
(Note that I’ve also written their corresponding Definite Articles. This way you’ll know the genre of each noun.
Words ending in consonant :
la flor (the flower): las flores
la claridad (the lightness): las claridades
el árbol (the tree) : los árboles
el color (the color): los colores
Words ending in S preceded by an unstressed vowel: They have the same form in both, singular and plural:
Days of the week, from Monday to Friday:
Lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday)
Examples:
la crisis (the crisis): las crisis
el paraguas (the umbrella) : los paraguas
Not difficult, right?
Now, let’s review other interesting rules and exceptions:
“Y” is treated as a consonant, when located at the end of a word, if we want to apply the plural rule:
For example:
la ley (the lawn): las leyes.
El buey (the ox): los bueyes
If a word ends in –ión, we’ll add –es and forget about the written accent.
For example:
la canción (the song): las canciones;
el camión (the lorry): los camiones.
If a word ends in –z, we’ll add –es and change the z to a c.
For example:
la voz (the voice): las voces;
el pez (the fish): los peces.
If a word ends in a stressed é, we’ll simply add –s.
For example:
el café (the coffee): los cafés;
el pez (the fish): los peces.
If a word ends in other stressed vowel (other than é) , we’ll add –es.
For example:
el zulú (the Zulu: los zulúes;
el hindú (the Hindu): los indúes.
El organdí (the organdy) : los organdíes
In this group we have 4 exceptions:
el papá : los papás (not “los papaes”)
la mamá : las mamás (not “las mamaes”)
el sofá : los sofás (not “los sofaes”)
el dominó : los dominós (not “los dominoes”)
Words from foreign languages maintain their original language pluralization rules:
el convoy : los convoys;
el parking : los parkings
And finally, remember that:
We must use the masculine plural form when we refer to a group of two or more nouns with different genres.
1 león (lion – masculine) + 2 leonas (lionesses – feminine) = 3 leones (masculine).
If you have any question, comment or doubt. If do, feel free to e-mail me or just post a message at the Forum. I’ll answer you as soon as possible.
¡Hasta pronto! (See you soon!)
Recommended material:
You can find below some materials / web pages that, from my point of view, can be useful and interesting:
| Think Spanish Magazine | I write monthly articles for 'Think Spanish' ('Piensa en español') about Spain, its culture, travel issues... But this magazine also covers all Latin American countries. Articles include a glossary. You can also listen to all the articles as they also publish a monthly CD. |
| Puerta del Sol - Audio Magazine | A very interesting way of learning or reviewing not just Spanish grammar and vocabulary, but also a great way to find out about Spain and its culture. |
| Lo más TV | Such a funny, intelligent and useful way to learn and enjoy the Spanish language!! It is a web based activity and offers new videos, on a weekly basis, with Spanish / English captions, dictionary and games. |
| Angeles' Blog: "Spanish Word of the Day" | I'm adding a new Spanish word, everyday, including its sound file, translation, uses and descriptions. You can send your messages with questions, examples to be reviewed, etc. |
| Visual Link Spanish | Visual Link Spanish™ - Just click, listen and repeat! Don't just learn Spanish; put it into practice with a unique guided, step-by-step system. I've tested it and I wish I'd had something similar when I studied English!! |
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