Plurals                                                                                                 Practice exercises

If a noun ends in a vowel, add an -s

e.g.

un amigo - a friend, muchos amigos - many friends

una tortuga - a tortoise, dos tortugas - two tortoises

If a noun ends in a consonant, add -es

e.g.

un país - a country, varios países - various countries

una pared - a wall, cuatro paredes - four walls

Notes

1. If a noun ends in a -z, the ending changes to -ces to keep the 'th' sound; e.g. un pez - a fish, cincuenta peces - fifty fish

2. Compound nouns (verb + noun) do not change in the plural, e.g. el sacapuntas - the pencil sharpener, los sacapuntas - the pencil sharpeners; el abrelatas - the tin opener, los abrelatas - the tin openers.

3. When a noun is put into the plural, the stress still falls in the same place.   Therefore, accents sometimes have to be added or alternatively removed; e.g. el joven - the young man, los jóvenes - the young men; un avión - a plane, dos aviones - two planes.

4. Masculine plural forms can contain both genders, e.g. los tíos - uncles or uncle and aunt, los reyes - kings or king and queen