Let’s talk about Spanish plural nouns!

Do you know how to make Spanish nouns plural? Let’s have a quick look at the Spanish plural, and briefly talk about collective nouns.

While forming the plural in Spanish can be a bit similar to English because in both cases we can add  “-s” or “-es” at the end, there are a few rules worth noting.

How to form Spanish plural nouns

The first thing to remember is that the endings of each noun will show you whether a noun is single or plural, and the definite article (la or el) if it’s a feminine or masculine noun. As an example, let’s take la manzana, which is a feminine singular noun vs. las manzanas, a feminine plural noun. This brings us to…

Rule #1: You have to match the article to the noun in both gender and number

It doesn’t matter if it’s a definite article (el, los, la, las) or an indefinite article (un, unos, una, unas)—both articles have to match the noun in gender and number. In practical terms, if the noun is singular, the article will also be singular. If the noun is feminine, the article also has to be feminine.

Gender/number	Definite article	Indefinite article
Feminine, singular	la	una
Feminine, plural	las	unas
Masculine, singular	el	uno
Masculine, plural	los	unos

Rule #2: Add an “-s” to nouns that end in a vowel

The easiest way to form the plural in Spanish is by adding “-s” at the end of a word. And while there are exceptions to this rule, it’s a good starting point to learn about plural nouns. For instance:

• la casa (the house) becomes las casas (the houses)
• la noche (the night) becomes las noches (the nights)
• el zapato (the shoe) becomes los zapatos (the shoes)
• el niño (the boy) becomes los niños (the boys)

Remember: Spanish has the same five vowels as English, namely “a”, “e”, “i”, “o” and “u”. Learn more about the Spanish alphabet here.

Rule #3: Add an “-es” to nouns that end in a consonant

While we add an “-s” to form Spanish plural nouns if the word ends in a vowel, we’ll add “-es” if it ends in a consonant. Here are some examples:

• el color (the color) to los colores (the colors)
• la pared (the wall) to las paredes (the walls)
• el mes (the month) to los meses (the months)
• el rey (the king) to los reyes (the kings)

Rule #4: If a noun ends in “-z”, change “z” to “c” and add “-es”

However, rule #3 doesn’t apply to all consonants. Notably, for the Spanish nouns ending in “-z”. In this case, we’ll change the “z” to “c” and only after adding “-es”. Have a look at these Spanish plural nouns:

• la actriz (the actress) to las actrices (the actresses)
• la nariz (the nose) to las narices (the noses)
• la voz (the voice) to las voces (the voices)

Rule #5: If a noun ends in “-c”, change “c” to “qu” and add “-es”

Similar to rule #4 (and upcoming #6), if you see a noun that ends in “-c”, you’ll change “c” tu “qu” before adding “-es” at the end. For instance:

• el frac (the tailcoat) to los fraques (the tailcoats)

Rule #6: If a noun ends in “-g”, change “g” to “gu” and add “-es”

Likewise, if the Spanish noun ends in “-g”, change “g” to “gu” and don’t forget to add “-es”:

• el zigzag (the zigzag) to los zigzagues (the zigzags)

Rule #7: If a noun ends in “-ión”, drop the accent over “o” and add “-es”

Accent marks tell you which part of the word will be said with the most emphasis, a bit louder and longer than the rest of the word. And they only appear above vowels: á, é, í, ó, and ú. Check out this quick guide to Spanish accent marks.

If you encounter a noun that ends in “-ión”, drop the accent above “ó” (so “ó” becomes “o”) and add “-es”:

• el avión (the plane) to los aviones (the planes)
• la televisión (the television) to las televisiones (the televisions)
• el camión (the truck) to los camiones (the trucks)
• la conversación (the conversation) to las conversaciones (the conversations)
• la cuestión (the issue) to las cuestiones (the issues)

Rule #8: If a noun ends in “-s” or “-x”, don’t add anything!

There are some Spanish nouns that stay the same in both the plural and the singular, especially words ending in “-s” or “-x”. What changes then? The article!

• el tórax (the thorax) to los tórax (the thoraxes)
• el virus (the virus) to los virus (the viruses)
• el crises (the crisis) to los crises (the crises)
• el lunes (Monday) to los lunes (Mondays)
• el martes (Tuesday) to los martes (Tuesdays)
• el miércoles (Wednesday) to los miércoles (Wednesdays)
• el jueves (Thursday) to los jueves (Thursdays)
• el viernes (Friday) to los viernes (Fridays)

To note: As you can see, most days of the week in Spanish don’t change in the plural. The only exceptions are sábado/sábados (Saturday/s) and domingo/domingos (Sunday/s).

Rule #9: Use the masculine form to refer to mixed-gender groups

The Spanish language is masculine by default. Therefore, if you have a mixed group of male and female nouns, the plural will be automatically a plural masculine noun. For instance:

• 2 gatas (2 female cats) + 1 gato (1 male cat) = 3 gatos (3 cats)
• 1 perra (1 female dog) + 2 perros (2 male dogs) = 3 perros (3 dogs)
• 4 niñas (4 girls) + 3 niños (3 boys) = 7 niños (7 children)

How to use collective nouns in Spanish

There’s one more thing you should know about nouns: the Spanish collective nouns. A collective noun is a singular noun that refers to more than one thing or being. Thus collective nouns represent a group of individual nouns. Think of “a flock of sheep” or “a school of fish” in English. For instance:

• la gente (people): La gente cree que las cosas están mal (People believe things are bad)
• el equipo (team): Sobre el papel, el equipo eramuy competitivo (On paper, the team was very competitive)
• la bandada/el rebaño (flock, herd): La bandada de pájaros se acercó (The flock of birds approached)
• la multitud (crowd): El ladrón escapó y se perdió entre la multitud (The thief ran away and got lost in the crowd)

Remember: When a collective noun is shortly followed by a verb, the noun is treated as singular. Which is why we have la gente cree and not la gente screen.

That’s all folks! If you want more Spanish lessons, download our free Spanish conversation course ebook, and, in addition, check out our guide to Spanish pronouns! Thanks! 🫶