Pluriels irréguliers

Le pluriel des noms

En règle générale, la forme plurielle du nom est construite en ajoutant un "-s" à la forme singulière:

shoe → shoes

book → books

river → rivers

Les mots se terminant en "s" ou "z" prendront généralement la terminaison "-es" :

bus → buses

kiss → kisses

Les mots se terminant en "-y" prendront généralement la terminaison "-ies" :

party → parties

supply → supplies

Certains mots sont irréguliers au pluriel :

one man → two men

one woman → two women

one person → two people

one foot → two feet

one mouse → two mice

one goose → two geese

one tooth → two teeth

one wife → two wives

one child → two children

one knife → two knives

one thief → two thieves

one dwarf → two dwarves (ou: dwarfs)

one potato → two potatoes

one leaf → two leaves

one life → two lives

one loaf → two loaves

one half → two halves

Certains mots rarissimes ne changent pas du tout au pluriel :

one moose → two moose

one sheep → two sheep

one aircraft → two aircraft

Les mots d'origine latine ou grecque qui ont retenu une terminaison antique se conformeront généralement à la forme plurielle de leur langue d'emprunt :

one alumnus → two alumni

one syllabus → two syllabi

one alumna → two alumnae

one alga → many algae

one criterion → many criteria

one forum → many fora (ou : forums)

one thesis → two theses

one hypothesis → two hypotheses

one phenomenon → two phenomena

one cactus → two cacti (ou : cactuses)

one diagnosis → two diagnoses

one oasis → two oases

one analysis → two analyses

EXERCISE:

Retrouver le pluriel de ces noms, sans regarder la liste ci-dessus: table, child, thief, mouse, potato, tooth, alga, goose, wife, sheep, life

REPONSES

tables, children, thieves, mice, women, potatoes, teeth, geese, sheep, lives