Knowledge of irregular plural nouns is very important, especially in relation to the rules of use of subjects and predicates/verbs.
The relationship of Subject to Verb is very close, namely to determine whether the verb is made plural or singular, you must know whether the subject is plural or singular.
Generally, nouns are regular, i.e. nouns which are plural in nature, only given an
Irregular plural nouns list and examples
US -> I
The word ending in US changes to the ending I :
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| alumnus | alumni |
| cactus | cacti |
| focus | foci / focuses |
| fungus | fungi / funguses |
| nucleus | nuclei |
| radius | radii |
| stimulus | stimuli |
Example of usage:
1. The fungus is dangerous (singular)
2. The fungi are dangerous (plural)
3. The fungus endangers everyone (singular)
4. The fungi endanger everyone (plural)
IS -> ES
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| axis | axes |
| analysis | analyses |
| base | bases |
| crisis | crises |
| diagnosis | diagnoses |
| ellipsis | ellipses |
| hypothesis | hypotheses |
| oasis | oases |
| paralysis | paralyzes |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| synthesis | syntheses |
| synopsis | synopses |
| thesis | theses |
See also: Types of Nouns, Collective Nouns, Uncountable Nouns,
IX -> ICES
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| appendix | appendices |
| index | indices / indexes |
| matrix | matrices / matrixes |
EAU -> EAUX
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| beau | beaux |
| bureau | bureaus / bureaux |
| tableau | tableaux / tableaus |
*** -> EN
Sign *** means that the word does not have special indicators / features:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| child | children |
| man | men |
| ox | oxen |
| woman | women |
*** -> A
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| bacterium | bacteria |
| corpus | corpora |
| criterion | criteria |
| curriculum | curricula |
| datum | data |
| genus | genera |
| medium | media |
| memorandum | memoranda |
| phenomenon | phenomenon |
| stratum | strata |
NO CHANGE
Some of the following nouns have the same form between singular and plural or there is no change at all :
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| deer | deer |
| fish | fish |
| means | means |
| offspring | offspring |
| series | series |
| sheep | sheep |
| species | species |
OO -> EE
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| foot | feet |
| goose | geese |
| tooth | teeth |
A -> AE
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| antenna | antennae / antennas |
| formula | formulae / formulas |
| nebula | nebulae |
| vertebrae | vertebrae |
| vita | vitae |
OUSE -> ICE
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| louse | lice |
| mouse | mice |
You don’t need to memorize all the nouns in the tables above, enough you remember/recognize the ending forms and their changes/additions when becoming plural. Especially for nouns that are the same singular and plural, such as Sheep>
