Singular and Plural Nouns

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October 9, 2022

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¡Buenos días! Today we’re looking at how to make singular nouns plural! The only background knowledge you need is that when we say a noun is “singular,” it means there’s only one of them. When we refer to it as “plural,” there’s more than one.  

Spanish Singular and Plural Nouns

We’ve made a list of rules to help you form all sorts of plurals, but generally it’s pretty simple.

Rule #1: Change the article

The first rule is that when you make a singular noun plural, you must remember to change the article that goes with it (the article is the tiny word in front), for example la chica becomes las chicas.

Here’s how to change the common articles, with examples:

ellos
el chico (the boy)los chicos (the boys)
lalas
la chica (the girl)las chicas (the girls)
ununos
un chico (a boy)unos chicos (some boys)
unaunas
una chica (a girl)unas chicas (some girls)

Rule #2: Add an -s when it ends in a vowel

When a Spanish noun ends in an unstressed vowel, it’s a simple case of adding an -s to the end of it.

un lobo (one wolf)dos lobos (two wolves)
una manzana (one apple)dos manzanas (two apples)

Rule #3: Add an -s when it ends in or

We’ve seen what to do with unstressed vowels, but what if the vowel at the end of the noun has an accent? Words ending in or also take their plurals by adding -s, just like in Rule #2. Nice and simple.

un café (a coffee)dos cafés (two coffees)
el buró (the desk)los burós (the desks)

Rule #4: Add an -es if it ends in , , or (exceptions apply)

If a noun ends in or or , we usually add -es

el panamá (Panama hat)los panamáes (Panama hats)
el bisturí (the scalpel)los bisturíes (the scalpels)
el tabú (the taboo)los tabúes (the taboos)

There are exceptions to this rule. Some of these nouns (a lot of the common ones, actually) form their plurals irregularly, such as mamá, or menú, for which we just stick an -s on the end.

la mamá y el papá (the mommy and the daddy)las mamás y los papás (the mommies and the daddies)
el menú (the menu)los menús (the menus)

Rule #5: Add an -es when it ends in a consonant other than s

The general rule for words ending in consonants is that we add -es.

el color (the color)los colores (the colors)
la ciudad (the city)las ciudades (the cities)
un rey (one king)cinco reyes (five kings)

Rule #6: If the noun ends in -s, leave it as it is

As long as there’s no stress on the final syllable, the noun remains unchanged in the plural.

el jueves (Thursday)los jueves (Thursdays)
la tesis (the thesis)las tesis (the theses, e.g. ‘The students submitted their theses.’)
el cactus (cactus)los cactus (cacti)

This rule often applies to Spanish compound nouns. We’re talking about words where a verb and a noun are joined together to make a bigger word, e.g. paraguas = parar (to stop) + agua (water)!

mi paraguas (my umbrella)mis paraguas (my umbrellas)
su cumpleaños (his birthday)sus cumpleaños (his birthdays)
el limpiaparabrisas (the windshield wiper)los limpiaparabrisas (the windshield wipers)

But if the final syllable is stressed ...

Rule #7: Add an -es when the noun ends in a stressed vowel + -s

If the noun ends in -s and the emphasis is on the last syllable when spoken (which will also be the case for words that only have one syllable!), then add -es.

el mes (month)los meses (months)
el autobús* (bus)los autobuses* (buses)

*See rule #8 to find out why we removed the accent.

Rule #8: If the noun ends in a consonant and the last syllable has an accent, you can usually remove it

In Spanish, we have rules surrounding stress and emphasis within words. If our noun ends in a consonant, then we’re most likely going to be adding -es, which adds an extra syllable onto the end of the word. 

This means that we don’t need the accent anymore. Don’t worry, you won’t mess up the stress—follow the rules and the syllables sort themselves out!

un autobús (a bus)unos autobuses (some buses)
el francés (Frenchman)los franceses (Frenchmen)
un rehén (a hostage)ocho rehenes (eight hostages)

Rule #9: If the noun ends in -en, do the opposite of #8!

Sometimes making a noun plural means we actually have to add an accent, to maintain the stress when we add the new -es syllable. This usually applies to words ending in -en.

el crimen (the crime)los crímenes (the crimes)
una imagen (an image)unas imágenes (some images)

Rule #10: If it’s a foreign word, just add -s

One of the cool things about languages is that they’re always borrowing and adapting words from each other! When a non-Spanish word (or an adapted version of it) is used in Spanish, we usually just add an -s to it!

el chalet (chalet)los chalets (chalets)
un hacker (one hacker)dos hackers (two hackers)

Rule #11: Families

When we use a surname to talk about members of a family, we don’t add -s or -es. (Royalty is an exception.)

Soy Ana Smithson. (I’m Ana Smithson.)Somos los Smithson. (We’re the Smithsons.)
Estoy enamorado de una Jones. (I’m in love with a Jones.)Estoy enamorado de una de los Jones. (I’m in love with one of the Joneses.)

Rule #12: Some nouns are only ever plural

So you don’t need to worry about changing these, e.g. los celos (jealousy), and las tijeras (scissors). You can’t have just one scissor—you need a pair!

Rule #13: Some nouns are only ever singular

So you don’t need to worry about making these plural, e.g. el tenis (tennis). You can have more than one game of tennis, but you can’t have more than one tennis. These nouns are called mass nouns. They’re uncountable.

Rule #14: Spelling changes!

This last one is just a quick note on spelling. If the noun in the singular form ends in -z, we’ll need to change it to a -c before we add -es. Don’t worry, change can be a good thing.

un pez (a fish)unos peces (some fish)
la voz (the voice)las voces (the voices)

Quiz

Try and figure out the plural form of each of the following nouns! The parts in parentheses  give you the meaning of the singular noun in English, and then the plural that you want to get to. Don’t forget to change the article!

 1. un libro (a book -> some books)

Click to reveal the correct answer

 2. el tentempié (the snack -> the snacks)

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 3. una mamá (a mommy -> some mommies)

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4. el corazón (the heart -> the hearts)

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5. el lápiz (the pencil -> the pencils)

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6. el germen (germ -> germs)

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7. una vez (one time -> a few/several times)

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8. un guardaespaldas (one bodyguard -> two bodyguards)

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9. un Hernández (a member of the Hernández family -> some members of the Hernández family)

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10. la crisis (the crisis -> the crises)

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So, there are your rules! Now you know how to turn Spanish singular nouns into plurals ... which is a very useful skill to have. Otherwise, you’d only ever be able to talk about one of anything (#notideal)! ¡Hasta la próxima!

Meta

If you want to talk about more than one of anything, you’ll need to turn singular nouns into plurals! Read our rules for forming Spanish plurals, and try our quiz.

About the author 

Annabel is a language-enthusiast from the UK. She studied Spanish and French at the University of Southampton (with an Erasmus study year in Madrid!) and recently graduated. She has interests across the Spanish-speaking world, and is a fan of language in general.

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