👥 Plurals - Plurales

Aa ⏱ ≈ 13 minutes

Beginner Spanish · Plurals

Spanish Plurals: From One to More

Spanish plurals help you talk about more than one person, place, animal, or thing. The basic spelling rules are simple, but the words around the noun often need to change too.

Your next small win: form common plural nouns with -s and -es, handle words ending in -z, and make articles, adjectives, and verbs agree with plural nouns.

Start with the spelling

Forming Plural Nouns

Add -s after most vowels

libro → libros
book → books
casa → casas
house → houses
amigo → amigos
friend → friends
manzana → manzanas
apple → apples

Add -es after most consonants

flor → flores
flower → flowers
papel → papeles
paper → papers
doctor → doctores
doctor → doctors
hotel → hoteles
hotel → hotels

Change z to c before -es

lápiz → lápices
pencil → pencils
pez → peces
fish → fish, plural

Core rule: most vowel endings add -s, most consonant endings add -es, and words ending in -z change the z to c before adding -es.

Make three nouns plural

Change libro, flor, and lápiz to plural.

Change more than the noun

Plural Agreement

When a noun becomes plural, the article, many adjectives, and sometimes the verb need to change too.

Articles become plural

el libro → los libros
the book → the books
la casa → las casas
the house → the houses
un perro → unos perros
a dog → some dogs
una silla → unas sillas
a chair → some chairs

Adjectives become plural

libro rojo → libros rojos
red book → red books
flor bonita → flores bonitas
pretty flower → pretty flowers

Verbs change with plural subjects

El perro corre.
The dog runs.
Los perros corren.
The dogs run.
La estudiante habla.
The student speaks.
Las estudiantes hablan.
The students speak.

Think beyond the noun: changing one noun from singular to plural can affect several words in the sentence.

Change the whole phrase

Change el libro rojo to plural.

Notice a few spelling details

Special Plural Patterns

canción → canciones
song → songs
avión → aviones
airplane → airplanes

Accent marks can change: some words lose a written accent when the plural changes the word's stress pattern, as in canción → canciones and avión → aviones.

Less common plural patterns
rubí → rubíes
ruby → rubies
tabú → tabúes
taboo → taboos

Some nouns ending in stressed -í or -ú can have plural forms with -s or -es. These are useful to recognize, but the basic -s, -es, and z → c rules are more important for beginners.

Watch the accent mark

Change canción and avión to plural.

Use plurals in everyday Spanish

Useful Plural Questions and Sentences

¿Cuántos libros tienes?
How many books do you have?
¿Dónde están las llaves?
Where are the keys?
¿Tienes perros o gatos?
Do you have dogs or cats?
¿Cuántas personas hay aquí?
How many people are here?
Los estudiantes estudian español.
The students study Spanish.
Los perros juegan en el parque.
The dogs play in the park.
Las flores son muy bonitas.
The flowers are very beautiful.
Necesito dos lápices nuevos.
I need two new pencils.

At school

A
¿Dónde están los libros?
Where are the books?
B
Los libros están en la biblioteca.
The books are in the library.
A
¿Y los cuadernos?
And the notebooks?
B
Están sobre la mesa.
They are on the table.

Ask about plural things

Ask where the keys are and how many books someone has.

Your turn · 8 quick questions

Practice: Spanish Plurals

Choose the answer that best fits. Focus on plural spelling, articles, adjectives, verbs, and useful plural sentences.

Audio uses your device's Spanish text-to-speech voice. Practice changing complete phrases from singular to plural so the noun, article, adjective, and verb work together.