Forming Spanish Plurals
Here are a few simple rules to help you make any Spanish noun into a plural.
Just like in English, you can simply add –s to many Spanish words to make them into a plural.
Any noun that ends with an unstressed syllable can be made into a plural just by adding -s.
| la playa |
the beach |
| las playas |
the dance |
|
| el baile |
the dance |
| los bailes |
the dances |
When the word ends with a consonant or a stressed vowel, you need to add –es to the singular to make it plural (NB the stress remains on the same syllable in the plural, but the accent is removed):
| la producción |
the production |
| las producciones |
the productions |
|
| el autobús |
the bus |
| los autobuses |
the buses |
Exceptions:
| café – cafés |
coffee shop/s |
| mamá – mamás |
mum/s (mother/s) |
| pamá – papás |
dad/s (father/s) |
| pie – pies |
foot/feet |
| té – tes |
tea/s |
Nouns ending in –z change this to c in plurals:
| la luz |
the light |
| las luces |
the lights |
|
| la cicatriz |
the scar |
| las cicatrices |
the scars |
Nouns with a final syllable ending in s which is not stressed do not change in the plural:
| un paraguas |
an umbrella |
| unos paraguas |
umbrellas (or some umbrellas) |
|
| el lunes |
Monday |
| los lunes |
Mondays |