Nouns

Countable nouns
Uncountable nouns
Uncountable nouns ending with '-s'
Nouns - plural nouns
Nouns - pronunciation of plural nouns

Nouns with the same singular and

plural forms
Nouns with unusual plural form (of
foreign origin)
Nouns with only plural form
Collective Nouns
Possessive nouns with 's

In English most of nouns belong to the category of countable nouns. Here it is only
a short list including examples of countable nouns.
accide
accoun
actor
addres
adult
nt
t
s
animal
answer
apartm
article
artist
ent
baby
bag
ball
bank
battle
beach
bed
bell
bill
bird
boat
book
bottle
box
boy
bridge
brother
bus
bush
camp
captain
car
card
case
castle
cat
chair
chapter
chest
child
cigarett
city
class
club
coat
e
college
comput
corner
countr
crowd
er
y
cup
daught
day
desk
doctor
er
dog
door
dream
dress
driver
ear
edge
effect
egg
electio
n
engine
eye
face
factory
farm
father
field
film
finger
foot
friend
game
garden
gate
girl
group
gun
hall
hand
handle
hat
head
heart
hill
horse
hospita
hotel
hour
house
husban
l
d
idea
island
issue
job
journey
judge
key
king
kitchen
lady
lake
library
line
list
machin
e
magazi
man
meal
meetin
memb
ne
g
er
messa
metho
minute
mistak
model
ge
d
e
month
motor
mouth
nation
neck
newspa
office
page
park
party
per
path
picture
plan
plane
plant
proble
produc
progra
project
ring
m
t
mme
river
road
room
schem
school
e
ship
shirt
shock
shop
sister
smile
son
spot
star
station
stream
street
student
table
task
teacher
tent
though
tour
town
t
valley
village
walk
wall
week
window
woman
year

Uncountable nouns
In English some nouns belong to the category of uncountable nouns. Not always
the same uncountable nouns in English correspond with uncountable nouns in
other languages. Below you can find a list of the most common uncountable nouns
in English. In bold you can the most troublesome cases.
Uncountable nouns
absence
access
accommodat
adv
age
ion
ice
agriculture
anger
applause
assi
atmosp
stan
here
ce
baggage
beauty
behaviour
bre
busines
ad
s
(=trade
)
capital
cardbo
capacity
cas
chaos
(=money)
ard
h
chess
childh
china
clot
coal
ood
hin
g
comfort
concer
confidence
coo
country
n
kery
side
courage
crocke
cutlery
da
dancing
ry
ma
ge
democracy
depres
design
dirt
duty
sion
earth
educat
electricity
ene
environ
ion
rgy
ment
equipment
eviden
evil
exis
experie
ce
ten
nce
ce
failure
faith
fashion
fear
finance
fire
flesh
flu
foo
freedo
d
m
fruit
fun
furniture
gar
grass
bag
e
ground
growth
hair (= all
hap
harm
the hairs on
pine
the head)
ss
health
help
history
ho
hospital
me
ity
wor
k
housework
ice
independenc
ind
inform
e
ustr
ation
y
insurance
intellig
jealousy
jew
joy
ence
elle
ry
justice
knowl
labour
laug
leisure

lightening

machinery

money

news

peace

edge
lonelin
ess
magic

love

marriage

mud

paper

moonli
ght
nonse
nse
peel

permission

policy

poetry

pride

produc
e

the post (=
letters)
progress

rain

reality

relief

respect

safety

scaffolding

rubbis
h
scener
y

seaside

shopping

sleep

soap

spelling

spite

silenc
e
spagh
etti
status

stuff

teaching

thunder

toast (=bread)

techno
logy
trade

traffic

travel

trust

truth

vocabulary

wealth

weather

hter
luck
me
at
mus
ic
par
king
phil
oso
phy
pov
erty
prot
ecti
on
reli
gion
salt

luggag
e
mercy

nature

patienc
e
pleasur
e

sec
urit
y
smo
king
stre
am
stu
pidi
ty
tim
ber
trai
nin
g
und
erw
ear
wor
k

power

purity

resear
ch
sand

sewing

snow

strengt
h
sunshin
e

time

transpo
rt

violenc
e

writing

In English there is a group of uncountable nouns which end with -'s'. Although one
may think that a plural verb should be used with such nouns, one should remember
that these nouns are followed by a singular verb. Below you can find a list with
examples of such uncountable nouns.

Uncountable nouns
STUDIES
acou
AND
stics
ACTIVITIES
athletics
class
ics
linguistics
logis
tics
physics
politi
cs
GAMES
billia
rds
ILLNESSES
diab
etes
draughts
skittl
es

aerobic

aerodyna
mics

electronic

econo
mics
mathe
matics
statisti
cs
bowls

measle
rickets

aeron
autics

geneti

cs
mechanic

thermody
namics
cards

darts

mumps

rabies

shingles

obstet
rics

Nouns, plural nouns

General rules

regular spelling

'-s' in most cases

'-es' when a noun

ends with:

consonant + -y
turns into

vowel + y takes '-s'

plural

cat

cats

tub

tubs

dog

dogs

house

potato

potatoes

tomato

tomatoes

houses

-o

-ss

-x

-ch

watch

watches

-sh

bush

bushes

dynamo

-o

ies

-ay
-ey

kimono

boxes

dynamos

kilo

kilos
kimonos

photo

photos

piano

pianos

soprano

sopranos

country

countries

classes

box

class

WARNING
words of foreign
origin take '-s'

singular

baby

fly

babies

flies

lady

ladies

cry

cries

day
key

days
keys

proper nouns

-oy

boy

boys

-uy

guy

guys

Fry

Kennedy

the Frys

the Kennedys

nouns ending with

-f / -fe

EXCEPTIONS

loaf

loaves

knife

knives

ves

life

calf

calves

leaf

leaves

shelf

shelves

thief

thieves

wife

wives

wolf

wolves

half

halves

wharf

chief

some nouns have

both forms

-s
or
-ve
s

cliffs

handkerchiefs

roof

hoof

hoofs / hooves

scarf

scarfs / scarves

dwarf

dwarfs / dwarves

feet

louse

lice

woman

roofs

foot
mouse

mice
women

goose

geese

man

men

tooth

teeth

child

chiefs

cliff

wharves

lives

nouns which
change vowels

handkerchief

children

ox

oxen

Pronunciation of plural nouns

The pronunciation of plural nouns is very important. Below you will find the rules which should
be followed in the pronunciation of plural nouns.

regular spelling

when a noun ends with a

vowel or voiced consonant
with the exception of
/z/ and / dz /

when a noun ends with

voiceless consonant with
the exception of:
/s/, /f/ /tf/
when a noun ends with a
consonant
/z/, /s/, /f/, /dz/ or /tf/
or when a singular noun
ends with
s, ss, sh, ch, z

pron
unci
atio
n

/z/

/s/

/ iz /

singu
lar

plural

bed
stove
dog

beds
stoves
dogs

room

rooms

clock
cat

clocks
cats

roof

roofs

month

months

gas
glass
nose
brush
watch
judge

gases
glasses
noses
brushes
watches
judges

a consonant + -y turns into

ies

a vowel + y takes -s

-ay
-ey
-oy
-uy

proper nouns

nouns ending with -f / -fe

-ves

some nouns have double

forms

-s or
-ves

nouns which change

vowels

box

boxes

countries

babies
flies
ladies
days
keys
boys
guys
the Frys

the Kennedys

countr
y
baby
fly
lady
day
key
boy
guy
Fry
Kenne
dy
loaf
wife
wolf
half
hoof

scarf

wharf

loaves
wives
wolves
halves
hoofs / hooves
scarfs /
scarves
wharfs /
wharves

foot
louse
mouse
woma
n
goose
man
tooth

feet
lice
mice

women

geese
men
teeth

Nouns with the same singular and plural forms

In English there is a group of nouns with the same singular and plural forms. Here it is a list
with examples of such nouns.
Singular =
Plural
cro
ssr
bis
oad
on
s
dee
dic
r
e
gre
frui
enfl
y
t

gro
use

mo
ose
rein
dee
r
she
ep

gall
ows
gra
pef
ruit
insi
gni
a
me
ws

cod

fish
gol
dfis
h

hali
but
mul
let
sal
mo
n
she
llfis
h
tro
ut

whi
teb
ait
airc
raft
hov
erc
raft

offs
pri
ng
seri
es
spe
cie
s
bou
rge
ois
cha
ssis

cor
ps

pat
ois
pre
cis
ren
dez
vou
s
me
ans
spa
cec
raft

Nouns with very unusual plural form

In English there is a group of nouns with very unusual plural form. This group consist
mainly of nouns of foreign origin especially of Latin and Greek. Below you can find a
list with examples of such nouns.

Singul
ar

analys
is
appen
dix
axis
bacter
ium
basis

cactus
criteri
on
crisis
datum
diagn
osis
focus
formul
a
fungu
s
index
mediu
m
nucleu
s
oasis
octop
us
pheno
meno
n
stimul
us
syllab
us
termin
us
thesis

Plural

analyses
appendixes/
appendices
axes

bacteria
bases
cactuses/ca
cti

criteria
crises
data

diagnoses
focuses/foci
formulae /
formulas

fungi
indexes/indi
ces
mediums/m
edia

nuclei
oases
octopuses/o
ctopi

phenomena

stimuli
syllabuses/s
yllabi
termini /
terminuses
theses

Nouns with only plural form

In English there is a group of nouns with only plural form. Below you can find a list of
such nouns.
Pl
ur
al
tro

use
rs
scri
sso
rs
pli
ers
sho
rts
jea
ns
go
ods
clo
the
s
BU
T: a
clo
th
gla
sse
s
BU
T: a
gla
ss
spe
cta
cle
s

Collective nouns
In English there is a group of nouns which despite their singular form they stand for
collection. Below you can find a list of examples of such nouns.

No
un
s
cro
wd
cre
w
fa
mil
y
jur
y
flo
ck
tea
m
These nouns can be used with verbs in plural and singular. In the last case we refer
to the collection as a whole.
My family consists of 5 people.
My family are always quarrelling with one another.
The crew of this ship is too numerous.
The crew were all wondering about the deck
Possessive nouns with s
In English possessive form of nouns is created by adding to the noun
apostrophe (') and letter -s.
General rules

Possessives
John's car

the girl's father

James's sister

a dog's life

the boys' father

our neighbours'
dog

the Browns' house

the Joneses' car

the children's toys

typical possessive form

plural nouns get

apostrophe after the
final letter

plural nouns get

apostrophe and -s

women's rights

men's clothing

gentlemen's
agreement

nouns referring
to things

nouns in case of
personification
of the names of
countries, town,
rivers, some
nature
phenomena

in expressions
referring to
time and
measure
concepts

a pound of sugar

the door of the

room
the conquest of
space

a proof of honesty

Poland's economy

England's sons

Warsaw's pride

the sun's rays

a day's journey

a four-weeks'
holiday

a three-miles'
walk

a yard's distance