1.b. NUMBER (SINGULAR AND PLURAL) The rules to make nouns plural in Spanish are fairly straight-forward: - If a noun ends in a vowel, make it plural by adding –s niño – niños mesa – mesas costumbre – costumbres - If the noun ends in a consonant, make it plural by adding –es señor – señores ciudad – ciuidades The accompanying articles also must change, of course el niño – los niños una señora – unas señoras Some nouns will require extra spelling changes when making them plural: - if a word ends in a consonant and there is a written accent on the final syllable, this accent disappears when you add –es to make it plural: un inglés – unos ingleses una tradición – unas tradiciones - if a noun ends in –z, this becomes -c- when adding –es to make it plural: una perdiz – unas pedices un lápiz – unos lápices - a few compound nouns do not change when you make them plural: el paraguas – los paraguas un abrelatas – unos abrelatas el paracaídas – los paracaídas
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