How to Pronounce Plural Nouns American English
Today I’m going to go over how to pronounce
plural nouns. A noun is made plural when an
S or an ES is added to the end of the word. For
example, cat, cats. Church, churches. The
The way this ending is pronounced depends on
the last sound of the noun in singular form.
In determining how to pronounce the S or ES of
a noun, there are three different cases. First,
when the last sound of the noun in singular
form is voiced, second, when it is unvoiced,
and third, both voiced and unvoiced, special
cases. When the last sound of the noun in
singular form is voiced, then the ‘’s’ is
pronounced as a [z], as in, beds, zz, zz,
zz. What would be a voiced sound? First, any
vowel or diphthong. So let’s take for example
the word ‘tree’. This noun ends in the ‘ee’
as in ‘she’ vowel sound. It is voiced. So,
the ’s' in the word ‘trees’, zz, zz, is
pronounced as a [z]. Zz. Example with a diphthong:
the word ‘cafe’ ends in the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’
diphthong. As a diphthong, it is voiced. Therefore,
the ’s' will be pronounced as a [z]. Cafes,
zz, zz, zz, cafes. Also, a consonant can be
voiced. But not every voiced consonant is
in that category. That is because some are
in the third category for special cases. The
ending consonants in this category, where
the plural will be pronounced as a Z, are:
An example, the word ‘apple’. ‘Apple’ ends
in the L consonant sound, which is one of
the ending voiced consonant sounds in this
category. Therefore, it will be pronounced
as a [z] when it is in plural form. Apples,
zz, zz, apples. When the final sound of the
noun in singular form is unvoiced, then the
S will also be unvoiced, pronounced as an
[s], ss. For example, the word ‘ship’. P is
an unvoiced consonant sound, therefore, ships,
ss, ss, ss, the plural will be an unvoiced
sound as well, the S. Ships. The unvoiced
consonants in this category, where the ’s'
is pronounced as an [s], are:
In the third category,
the plural is made not simply by
adding an -S, but by adding an -ES. Therefore
it is pronounced with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’
vowel followed by the Z consonant sound: -es,
-es,-es. There are six ending sounds that make
up this category.
Because this category adds a vowel sound and a
consonant sound, the IH and the ZZ sound, words
in this category will have an extra syllable
added on when they are made plural. In the
other two categories, we were simply adding
one sound, and it did not change the number
of syllables in the word. Let’s take an example.
The word ‘wish’. It ends with sh, which is
one of the sounds in this third category.
Therefore, the plural will be spelled with
an -ES, and it will be pronounced ‘wishes’,
zz, with the ‘ih’ sound followed by the Z
sound. Wishes. So, ‘wish’, one syllable, ‘wishes’,
two syllables. The extra syllable added by
the plural will always be unstressed. So it
will be lower in pitch than the stressed syllable
in the word. Wishes. Now, let’s look at some
example nouns and determine how the plural
will be pronounced. Age. It ends with the
‘dj’ sound. This is in the third category.
Therefore it is pronounced ‘ages’. Two syllables,
with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ vowel followed by
the Z consonant sound. Ages. Time. It ends
with the mm M consonant sound. It’s voiced,
it’s not a special case, therefore, the S
is pronounced as a [z]. Times, times, zz.
Box. The final sound in this word is the
’s' sound. ‘S’ falls in the third category.
Therefore, we make it plural by adding an
‘e’ and an ’s'. And it is pronounced with
the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ and the, zz, Z consonant
sound. Boxes, boxes. Dog. Dog. It ends with
the G sound. That’s a voiced sound. It is
not in the third category, therefore, the
’s' is pronounces as a [z]. Dogs, dogs. Cat.
The final sound here is the T, which is unvoiced.
It is not a special case, so the plural S
will be pronounced simply as an [s]. Cats,
cats. I hope this video has made how to pronounce
a plural noun more clear. That’s it, and thanks
so much for using Rachel’s English.