The plural form

🔊 The teacher reads for you

Astronomy speaks in the plural: planets, comets, asteroids, heavenly bodies, clear skies — and the theories and hypotheses of the scientists who study them. Each of these plurals follows a spelling rule, and a few follow none. You already know how to form the plural; this lesson makes sure you can spell every plural right, the irregular ones of science included. Why is it bodies, not bodys — and hypotheses, not hypothesises?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

تكوين جمع الأسماء بإضافة ⁦-s⁩ أو ⁦-es⁩ ⁦(planets · matches · heroes)⁩
تطبيق قواعد الإملاء: ⁦y⁩ بعد حرف ساكن تصير ⁦ies⁩ ⁦(body → bodies)⁩، وتبقى بعد حرف علّة ⁦(day → days)⁩
جمع الأسماء التي يتغيّر فيها حرف علّة ⁦(man → men · crisis → crises)⁩ أو يتحوّل فيها ⁦f⁩ إلى ⁦v⁩ ⁦(life → lives)⁩
تمييز الأسماء التي تحتفظ بـ ⁦f⁩ في الجمع ⁦(chief → chiefs · belief → beliefs)⁩

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

الاسم المعدود وغير المعدود ⁦(countable · uncountable)⁩
الحروف الساكنة وحروف العلّة ⁦(consonants · vowels)⁩
المضارع البسيط مع ضمير الغائب المفرد ⁦(he works · she teaches)⁩

1. Regular plurals: -s, -es, -ies

أغلب الأسماء تُجمع بـ ⁦-s⁩؛ وبعد ⁦-s · -ss · -sh · -ch · -x⁩ نضيف ⁦-es⁩؛ و ⁦y⁩ بعد حرف ساكن تصير ⁦ies⁩.

We add -s to form the plural of most nouns: book → books, idea → ideas, planet → planets. The ending is -es when the noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch or -x: match → matches, bus → buses — and after some nouns ending in -o: hero → heroes. If a noun ends in a consonant + y, the y changes to ie before -s: city → cities. But if it ends in a vowel + y (-ay, -ey, -oy, -uy), the y does not change: play → plays, monkey → monkeys. The same spelling rules give the -s of verbs after he, she, it: teach → teaches, go → goes, carry → carries.

The Solar System — a text full of plurals

If you were out in space, billions of miles away from our planet, you would see the Earth as a tiny ball moving in a wide path around a star that you might recognize as our Sun. You would also see, at various distances from the Sun, seven other spherical bodies of different sizes — the other planets — all travelling in the same direction in almost circular paths around the Sun. Moving around some of the planets are smaller balls — the satellites or moons of the planets. […] like the rest, the Sun is an incandescent body made up of highly compressed gases. […] When the skies are clear, we can see the twinkling of these other stars at night. […] Earth makes its path around the Sun in just 365 ¼ days. From the Book of Popular Science and Alan E. Nourse, The Giant Planets

Regular plurals — the spelling rules

The singular ends in …	Rule	Examples
most endings	+ s	book → books · idea → ideas · planet → planets
-s · -ss · -sh · -ch · -x	+ es	bus → buses · match → matches
some nouns in -o	+ es	hero → heroes
consonant + y	y → ies	city → cities · body → bodies · sky → skies
vowel + y	+ s	day → days · monkey → monkeys

Look at the letter BEFORE the y: a consonant changes it, a vowel keeps it.

Task 1 — Pick out the words ending in -s from the text and classify them according to the rules.

استخرج من النصّ الكلمات المنتهية بـ ⁦-s⁩ وصنّفها حسب القواعد.

Rule	Words from the text
+ s	miles · distances · sizes · planets · paths · balls · satellites · moons · stars
+ es	gases (gas)
consonant + y → ies	bodies (body) · skies (sky)
vowel + y → s	days (day)

Billions is a plural too — billion → billions — but in « 365 ¼ days » and « billions of miles » the rule is the simplest one: + s.

2. Irregular plurals

بعض الأسماء يتغيّر فيها حرف علّة، أو تتحوّل فيها ⁦-is⁩ إلى ⁦-es⁩، أو ⁦f⁩ إلى ⁦v⁩؛ وبعضها يحتفظ بـ ⁦f⁩. هذه تُحفظ.

Some nouns change their vowels to form the plural: man → men, crisis → crises, emphasis → emphases. Nouns in -is, frequent in science, make their plural in -es: thesis → theses, hypothesis → hypotheses. Some nouns change the consonant f into v, and add -es: life → lives, leaf → leaves, loaf → loaves. But other nouns keep their f: chief → chiefs. Since some f nouns change and others do not, learn them one by one.

Irregular plurals

What changes	Examples
a vowel	man → men · woman → women
-is becomes -es	crisis → crises · emphasis → emphases · thesis → theses · hypothesis → hypotheses
f becomes v, + es	life → lives · leaf → leaves · loaf → loaves
nothing: f stays, + s	chief → chiefs · belief → beliefs · proof → proofs

Task 2 — Put the nouns in brackets into the plural. Pay attention to the spelling.

The (theory) about the creation of the world can be divided into two (category): religious and scientific. The first category is constituted of divine (thesis) elaborated by (man) and (woman) with strong religious (belief). These (man) and (woman) are more interested in divine (mystery) than in producing tangible (fact) about the (origin) of the world and its evolution. The second category is composed of a number of (hypothesis) put forward by astrophysicists and astronomers.

Task 2 — the text in the plural

النصّ بعد جمع الأسماء.

The theories about the creation of the world can be divided into two categories: religious and scientific. The first category is constituted of divine theses elaborated by men and women with strong religious beliefs. These men and women are more interested in divine mysteries than in producing tangible facts about the origins of the world and its evolution. The second category is composed of a number of hypotheses put forward by astrophysicists and astronomers.

Two rules at work in one text: y → ies (theories, categories, mysteries) and the irregular plurals (theses, men, women, hypotheses). And belief keeps its f: beliefs.

Task 3 — Give the singular and plural noun forms of the verbs prove and believe.

ما الاسم المشتقّ من الفعلين في المفرد والجمع؟

prove → a proof → two proofs
believe → a belief → two beliefs

Watch the trap: he believes is the verb; strong religious beliefs is the noun. The noun keeps its f.

Do this alone, in writing. Write five sentences about the sky and the scientists who study it. Use one plural from each rule: + s, + es, y → ies, a vowel change or -is → -es, and f → v. Then underline each plural and name its rule.

اكتب وحدك خمس جمل عن السماء وعلمائها، في كلّ جملة جمع من قاعدة مختلفة.

A model answer

The planets travel round the Sun in almost circular paths. (+ s) The Sun is made of highly compressed gases. (+ es) On clear nights, the skies are full of heavenly bodies. (y → ies) Astronomers put forward hypotheses about the origin of the universe. (-is → -es) Some men and women have spent their lives watching the stars. (vowel change · f → v)

In the exam, the plural is tested in the text exploration — you put the nouns in brackets into the plural, or you classify words according to their ending. Have three things ready: ① -es after -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x (and heroes); ② consonant + y → ies, but vowel + y → s (city → cities, day → days); ③ the irregular plurals of science — crises, theses, hypotheses — and man → men, life → lives, belief → beliefs. The frequent mistake: ✗ « two categorys » → ✓ « two categories ».

What I keep — Most nouns take -s; nouns in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x (and hero) take -es; a consonant + y becomes -ies (body → bodies), a vowel + y stays (day → days). Some plurals are irregular and must be learnt: man → men, crisis → crises, hypothesis → hypotheses, life → lives — while chief, belief and proof keep their f.

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