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Contributor: Jennifer Blanchard. Lesson ID: 13786
It seems like there can be so many tricky rules in the English language! What's the secret? This lesson will tell you the trick for making words that end in -f or -fe plural, or more than one!
When you have a plural, or more than one of something, that changes the way it is spelled and can completely change the word!
Here are some of the weirdest plural versions that trip people up!
The plural of beef, which is cow meat, is...beeves!
An opera is actually the plural form of the word opus. So whenever you are taking about a musical performance called an opera, you are actually talking about more than one!
The plural of nieces and of nephews is the same gender-neutral word...niblings! What?!
Jot them down!
Then keep reading to see what this madness is all about!
If you're like me, you're probably wondering how people come up with some of these words to use as plurals!
While this lesson can't help you with all of them, we will for sure master plurals for words ending in -f or -fe!
The rules for doing so are a little different than when you make other words plural!
Before we begin, let's review something important!
Okay, let's get started!
Watch Irregular Plural Nouns (f to ves) Teaching Video from Allegra Brown:
Let's recap the most important facts!
To make a plural of a word ending in -f:
change the f to a v and add es
To make a plural of a word ending in -fe:
change the f to a v, keep the e where it is, and add an s
Here are some examples:
Looks simple enough, except that not ALL words ending in -f or -fe follow this rule for plurals. Yikes!
Here are some words that don't fit in with the rule!
| chef | → | chefs | |
| surf | → | surfs | |
| safe | → | safes | |
| staff | → | staffs | |
| ref | → | refs | |
| proof | → | proofs | |
| handcuff | → | handcuffs | |
| giraffe | → | giraffes | |
| cliff | → | cliffs | |
| chief | → | chiefs |
There is no rhyme or reason to why those words don't follow the rules. They are just words you'll have to remember!
But don't worry. For the rest of this lesson, you will be working with the words that DO follow the rules we are practicing!
Go to the Got It? section to see what's next!
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