Your Guide to Cultural Fluency

The plural of nouns in Spanish refers to a basic transformation of words from singular to plural when speaking of several objects, instead of just one, which is called a Grammatical Number (Número Gramatical).

Spanish nouns generally have a singular form (cuaderno) and a plural form (cuadernos), which is easy to determine by following a few simple rules:

Rule No.1: Adding -S to the end of the noun  

The first rule of the plural in Spanish is to add the letter -S to the end of a word when it ends with a vowel without a TILDE ( AKA an Accent Mark)  like the words “CASA” and “MESA”. Both “Casa” and “Mesa” do not have a TILDE in their singular form and end in the vowel A.
We also add the letter -S to the words that end in “É” like BABY, this being an exception to the rule. These are some examples of sentences that show how to form the plural of nouns in Spanish by adding -S.

Rule No.2: Adding -ES to the end of the noun

The second rule says that we add the letters -ES when the word ends in a consonant. This rule applies to nouns such as “TELEVISOR” or “PAPEL” and also to those that end in a vowel with TILDE (á, í, ó, ú), but that is not É (as in “Bebé”). Here are some examples of sentences that use plural nouns in Spanish with the ending -ES:

Rule No.3: Replacing -Z by -CES

When a word ends in the consonant -Z, we replace the -Z with -CES. Some common nouns in Spanish that end in -Z are: actriz, avestruz, feliz, pez y voz. Here are some examples of sentences with plural nouns in Spanish that end in -Z.

Rule No.4: Exceptions – Words without a plural in Spanish

There are some words that do not need to change from singular to plural in Spanish. These words end in -S and -X. Basically, the ones that end in -S are originally already in the plural. Some words that do not have a plural form are: Tórax, Crisis, Paraguas, Saltamontes y Nada. Some of these words may have a singular form like “Saltamonte” (Grasshopper), but grammatically we should use them in the plural.

Today, we also want to share with you some exercises to practice the rules of singular and plural nouns in Spanish. This also applies to adjectives in the language and other types of words. We hope you find it useful.

Hay dos _______ sobre la colina. (casa)
There are two _______ up in the hill.

Los _______ están comiendo en el patio. (perro)
The dogs are eating in the backyard.

En esa tienda hay muchas marcas de _______. (televisor)
In that store there are several tv brands.

Carlos escribió diez _______  para su nuevo álbum. (canción) 
Carlos wrote ten songs for his new album.

Todos los _______ están durmiendo en su cuna. (bebé)
All the babies are sleeping in their cribs.

¿Me puedes ayudar a firmar estos ______ ? (papel)
Can you help me sing these papers?

La Academia  ha premiado a varias _______ este año. (actriz)
The Academy has awarded several actresses this year.

Me encantan los _______ de tu acuario (pez)
I like the fish in your aquarium.

¡Cálmate! Los _______ no existen. (fantasma)
Relax! Ghosts do not exist.

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