Speak Spanish: How to make plurals in Spanish

Read on to:

• See how simple it is to make the plural form of most Spanish nouns
• Learn how to predict the plural form of irregular Spanish nouns with just a few simple rules
• Find out how to get a 14-day free trial of Immerse’s award-winning Spanish conversation app with unlimited access to live classes, community events, games, and AI-powered conversation practice

Are you wondering how to get the right plural form of Spanish nouns?

When you learn a new noun in Spanish, you usually learn the singular form, like la uva (the grape). But in an actual conversation, you’ll need to know how to talk about more than one grape, unless you’re not very hungry.

In general, you can make a plural noun in Spanish by adding the letter s, just like in English. “The grapes” is las uvas. Simple!

But have you noticed that sometimes Spanish plurals are a little more complicated?

Take el pez (the fish), for instance. Do you add the letter s right after the letter z? Do you just leave it in the singular form like we do in English when we say “two fish?”

The answer to both of these questions is - no!

Read on to learn a few simple rules and become a master of Spanish plural nouns.

Plural nouns in Spanish

Most Spanish plural nouns end in the letter "s"

In Spanish, most nouns end with a vowel, and you pluralize them just by adding the letter s. This is true for masculine and feminine nouns.

Here are a few examples:

    la silla ➞ las sillas (the chairs)

    la casa ➞ las casas (the houses)

    el libro ➞ los libros (the books)

    el sombrero ➞ los sombreros (the hats)

Notice how they all end with vowels in their singular form?

Three times that Spanish plural nouns get tricky

There are only three situations when you can’t simply use an s to make the plural in Spanish:

• When the noun ends in a consonant
• When the noun ends in the letter z
• When the noun ends already ends in s

Fortunately though, there is a simple rule for each of these:

• When the noun ends in a consonant - add es.

For example:

la ciudad ➞ la ciudades (the cities)

el jardín ➞ los jardines (the gardens)

• When the noun ends in the letter z - change the z to c and add es.

For example:

el pez ➞ los peces (the fish)

el lápiz ➞ los lápices (the pencils)

• When the noun already ends in s - don’t change the noun at all.

For example:

el análisis ➞ los análisis (the analyses)

la tesis ➞ las tesis (the theses)

Don’t stop here! Read on for extra tips about making Spanish plurals…

Articles

As you probably noticed in the examples, the Spanish articles la and el also have to be changed into the plural.

La changes to las, and el changes to los. This is the same for all types of plurals, even the ones where the plural noun looks the same as the singular, like el análisis ➞ los análisis (the analyses).

Verbs

If your plural noun is the subject of the sentence, remember to use the right verb form too.

For instance, to say “The book is on the bookshelf,” you would say:

El libro está en la estantería.

To say “The books are on the bookshelf” though, you need to change the verb:

Los libros están en la estantería.

Practice makes perfect!

If you’re learning Spanish, interacting with other people is the best way to practice. There’s no better way to get skilled at using singular and plural nouns than to use them in a conversation.

So go hang out with some Spanish speakers, or…

Come practice with us in Immerse!

Immerse gives you unlimited access to live virtual reality Spanish classes, conversation events, AI practice, and more in over 40 interactive scenes. Make friends, gain confidence and speak Spanish sooner with a 14-day free trial - accessible through your Mac or PC browser, or check out our app for Quest headsets.