Is the word has singular or plural

The use of “has” or “have” is one of those verbal conjugations that can confuse English speakers. There are up to a dozen “rules” surrounding their use, but before we start to panic, let’s reduce the rules to their simplest form, using one example: do we use “the country has” or “the country have”?

“The country has” is the correct form in this case because we generally treat collective nouns as singular, and we refer to “country” as an “it” in the third person. The third-person singular refers to anyone or anything but the speaker/writer or the addressee. Grammatically, we refer to this as subject-verb agreement. 

In this article, we will explore using the collective noun “country” while maintaining proper subject-verb agreement with “has” and “have.” Collective nouns can be trickier than you might think since American and British English actually treat them differently.

The main question hinges around whether we regard a country as a singular entity or as a multitude of individuals.

“Country” is generally a countable collective noun that we use to refer to a nation as representative of its population. For more on the difference between a country and a nation, make sure you read our article on this topic.

Some collective nouns can take a singular or plural verb form, depending on the writer’s intention and whether they’re addressing an American or British audience. For example, British English often treats collective nouns as plural, while American English almost always treats them as singular (source).

In American English, you will almost always see “country has” instead of “country have” since American English treats collective nouns as singular, and “has” is the present tense third-person singular form of “have.”

The verb “to have,” meaning to possess or hold something, often functions as an auxiliary (or helping) verb when attached to a main verb (source).

We generally use terms like “first,” “second,” or “third” person to refer to personal pronouns, but we also use the third person when we refer to someone or something by name.

POV	Singular	Plural
1st person: I, we	I have	We have
2nd person: you, you (all)	You have	You (all) have
3rd person: he, she, it, they	He/she/it has	They have

You will notice that the only subject to take the word “has” is the third person singular — “he has,” “she has,” “it has.” In contrast, every other subject uses the verb “have.”

A country is a thing, so we can use the third-person pronoun “it” to stand in its place when necessary. Similarly, when we speak of plural “countries,” we can use “they.”

Which Is Correct: India Has or India Have?

Confusion also arises when we substitute the common noun “country” with a proper noun representing the name of an actual country, like India. American English will generally consider “India” as singular, but British English is different. 

British English speakers are more likely to think of the people of a country and view India as “they” — hence, “they have.” 

• American English: India has the second-highest population in the world.
• British English: India have scored 312 runs in their first innings.

As with many issues in English, correctness will depend on what dialect of English your audience expects.

Every Country Has or Have Problems

We hope that, by now, it is becoming clear that “country has” (singular) and “countries have” (plural) is the correct usage. We agree, then, that the subject/verb agreement rule is straightforward with singular and plural common nouns (source).

When we use the determiner “every” to refer to “every country,” we refer to each country without exception (source). Thus, even though we refer to more than one country, we say, “Every country has problems” because it refers to each country individually.

• Every country has many economic problems.

In contrast, for the plural “countries,” we cannot use “every” since it refers to the individual parts of a group. So instead, we would use the determiner “all” for the total number in a group.

• All countries have many economic problems.

With Coordinating Conjunctions and Compound Subjects

However, some collective nouns sometimes trip up the unsuspecting speaker or writer, especially when it comes to coordinating conjunctions and compound subjects (source). 

For example:

• The majority of countries think that this is the right decision. (not thinks)

It might be tempting to think that the collective noun “majority” is the singular subject of the sentence and that we should treat it the same as saying, for example:

• The committee thinks that this is the right decision. 

While it is true that “majority” and “committee” are singular, “majority of countries” is a compound subject formed by the use of the coordinating conjunction “of.” In this case, the closest noun to the verb — “countries” — will indicate we need the plural form of the verb: “countries think.”

Here’s another example:

• A large number of voters still vote for the popular candidate.

The subject of the sentence is the compound “number of voters.” Although “number” is a singular collective noun, the sentence takes a plural verb “vote” because of its proximity to the plural noun “voters.”

Has or Have With “State”

When naming a specific country as the subject of a sentence, we should almost always treat it as a singular subject:

• The United States has one of the world’s leading economies.
• The United Kingdom has long-standing institutions.

Even though “states” is normally plural, we refer to the United States as one entity and one country, taking a singular verb.

We would also refer to any individual state in the United States as a singular noun while referring to two or more states as plural.

• Massachusetts has greatly impacted American history.
• South Carolina and Florida have warm climates.

However, we use the plural verb form when specifically referring to the inhabitants of a state.

• The inhabitants of Massachusetts have a strong work ethic.
• Three Texans have died in winter storms.

Choosing the Word Has or Have

Proper English grammar requires that you understand which form of the verb goes with each type of subject. This also means that you need to correctly identify the subject of a sentence and know whether the subject is singular or plural.

“Has” and “have” are conjugations of the verb “to have” in the present tense. “Conjugating” a verb refers to how a verb changes its form — which we call inflection — to show a different person, tense, number, or mood. 

A similar inflection happens with nouns and adjectives when they change their form, but we refer to this change in the noun or adjective form as declension (source).

Person

There are six different “persons” in English, which we demonstrated in Table 1 at the beginning: first person singular (I) and plural (we); second-person singular and plural (you); and third-person singular (he, she, it) and plural (they).

Most verbs, including the verb “to have,” follow a regular pattern with little change for person, tense, and number, but as with all things English, there are always exceptions!

Tense

Verbs are action words, and verb tense tells us when the action in a sentence is happening. In other words, they tell us whether the action is in the present, future, or past. There are 12 tenses in English, and “to have” changes its form to indicate each of these tenses.

Number

As the subject of a sentence, a noun may be singular (one) or plural (many). We refer to singular and plural as the “number” of the noun — one or more. Like many other verbs, “have” changes its form according to whether the sentence’s subject is singular or plural. For example:

• Singular: The country has a colorful national flag.
• Plural: Countries have many different colors on their national flags.

This distinction between the singular and plural application of the verb “to have” is key to understanding whether you should use “has” or “have” with “country.”

Mood

English has three “moods” that are forms of the verb to express modality — using language to discuss possible situations, such as real or unreal, certain or possible, wished or demanded. English has indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods, but their function has no bearing on our discussion here. 

Collective Nouns

Let’s go back to our discussion of number — singular and plural, one or more — that we said was key to understanding the use of the word “has” or “have” for a country. 

We hinted earlier that some confusion may arise from the collective nature of some words and whether we should treat these words as singular or plural. Examples of such words are “team,” “group,” “crowd,” “population,” and so on. For example, which of the following is correct? 

• Liverpool have an away match against Manchester United on Saturday.
• Liverpool has an away match against Manchester United on Saturday.

If you’re typing these two sentences on a word processor, the spelling and grammar checker will tell you that the first sentence is wrong and the second is correct. This is because there is no agreement between the subject “Liverpool” and the verb “have.” But insert the word “players” after Liverpool, and the situation clearly reverses:

• Liverpool players have an away match. (✔︎)
• Liverpool players has an away match. (❌)

This is because “Liverpool” is a collective noun, and we usually treat collective nouns as singular in American English, so the verb is singular, following the rule for the third-person perspective.

But as soon as we insert the obviously plural word “players” as the subject of the sentence, the verb form switches to the plural use of “have.”

Remember our earlier mention of the difference between American and British English treatment of the collective noun. British English often treats collective nouns as plural, while American English almost always treats them as singular. Just be careful to be consistent with the number here, though. 

A native English speaker’s ear is attuned to these changes of form, and the more you read, speak, and hear the language, the sooner your ear for the language will be in tune with what sounds right.

FFor more assistance on understanding subject/verb agreement, see the related article “Here Is or Here Are: Understanding Subject-Verb Agreement.”

Plural Forms of Nouns

Watch out for nouns that look like plurals but that we actually treat as singular. This applies to words such as in some fields of study (e.g., physics, mathematics, economics), some games (e.g., darts, billiards, marbles), and some diseases (e.g., measles, mumps, rabies). There are also words such as “statistics” that could be singular:

• Statistics has been added as a course of study for my degree.

In other cases, it can be plural:

• The COVID-19 statistics have increased alarmingly.

Also, watch out that you identify the subject of a sentence correctly, as in the following examples:

• Those pants have a hole in them.

However, we could also say:

• That pair of pants has a hole in the leg.

This article was written for strategiesforparents.com.

The word pants — plural, there is no singular “pant” — takes the plural verb form “have.” But with “pair of pants,” the subject is “pair,” which is singular and takes the singular verb form “has.” It is the same for words such as scissors, pliers, and glasses. They all take a plural verb form, despite being part of a compound subject.

Final Thoughts

The number — singular or plural — of the subject of a sentence determines the form of the verb it takes. This is the rule grammarians refer to as subject-verb agreement. 

In American English, we usually regard a country or state as a singular entity, and a singular verb form follows it. This general rule remains true even when we name a specific country. The correct form is, therefore, “a country has” and “countries have.”

What is singular noun?

The singular nouns are words that only refer to one person or thing. They can be used as a subject, direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, or appositive.

For example: “I went to the store.” This sentence is about the speaker and their experience at the store. It’s also possible for a singular noun to be an appositive such as in this sentence: “Tina was wearing her best dress.”

Here, Tina is being described by what she was wearing which is called an appositive.

What is plural noun?

Plural nouns are words that refer to more than one person, place or thing. They are often used in sentences where we want to talk about a group of people, animals, or things.

Let’s take the sentence “I am teaching a class this semester.” We can change it around and say “The students have been working hard all semester long.” In the first sentence, “class” is singular and in the second sentence, “students” is plural. That means you need to use a proper noun (singular or plural) according to the situation.

It may not seem like much of a difference at first but it will make your writing sound awkward if you don’t get it right! The best way is to learn the rules of plural nouns.

We’ll break down the rules so you’ll never get your plural nouns wrong again.

Rule-1

We add ‘-s’ to the end of regular nouns to make them plurals. For examples,

Singular	Plural
Chair	Chairs
Table	Tables
Pencil	Pencils
Book	Books
Cat	Cats

Rule-2

In some cases, we add suffix “-es” to the nouns ending in “o”. See examples below.

Examples

Singular	Plural
Tomato	Tomatoes
Potato	Potatoes
Mosquito	Mosquitoes
Echo	Echoes
Zero	Zeroes

Rule-3

In some Latin or Greek words (foreign words) ending in “-o”, we add suffix ‘-s’. For example,

Singular	Plural
Avocado	Avocados
Photo	Photos
Video	Videos
Studio	Studios
Radio	Radios

Rule-4

When singular noun ends in ‘-us’, we replace ‘-us’ with ‘-i’. Examples are,

Singular	Plural
Cactus	Cacti
Fungus	Fungi
Focus	Foci
Nucleus	Nuclei

Rule-5

In singular noun ending on ‘-y’ (when the letter before -y is vowel), we add ‘-s’ to the end to make the noun plural, for example,

Singular	Plural
Boy	Boys
Alloy	Alloys
Day	Days
Ray	Rays
Guy	Guys

Rule-6

In singular noun ending on ‘-y’ (when the letter before -y is consonant), we replace ‘-y’ with ‘-ies’ to make the noun plural, for example

Singular	Plural
Lady	Ladies
City	Cities
Spy	Spies
Penny	Pennies
Army	Armies

Rule-7

In some cases, the singular nouns ending in ‘-s’ or ‘-z’, the last letter is doubled plus we add ‘-es’ to the end. See the examples,

Singular	Plural
Gas	Gasses
Quiz	Quizzes
Fez	Fezzes

Rule-8

In many cases, the singular noun ending in ‘-f’ or ‘-fe’, we replace the ‘-f’ or ‘-fe’ with ‘-ves’. For example,

Singular	Plural
Thief	Thieves
Wife	Wives
Loaf	Loaves
Half	Halves
Knife	Knives

There are some exceptions where the rule does not apply, Examples are roof -> roofs, belief -> beliefs, cliff -> cliffs

Rule-9

In case the noun ends in ‘-on’, we replace ‘-on’ with ‘-a’ to make it plural, for example

Singular	Plural
Criterion	Criteria
Phenomenon	Phenomena

Rule-10

In case the singular noun is ending in ‘-is’, to make the noun plural, ‘-is’ is replaced with ‘-es’. For examples

Singular	Plural
Oasis	Oases
Thesis	Theses
Basis	Bases
Crisis	Crises
Diagnosis	Diagnoses

Rule-11

If the nouns ends in ‘-um’, last letters ‘-um’ are replaced with ‘-a’ in plural form. Examples are

Singular	Plural
Datum	Data
Agendum	Agenda
Medium	Media
Bacterium	Bacteria
Memorandum	Memoranda

Rule-12

In some case, the singular noun is ending in ‘-ex’ or ‘-ix’, the plural will end in ‘-ices’ Examples are given below:

Singular	Plural
Matrix	Matrices
Index	Indices
Vertex	Vertices
Codex	Codices

Rule-13

There are several singular nouns which do not follow any of the above rules while making them plural

Singular	Plural
Foot	Feet
Child	Children
Mouse	Mice
Louse	Lice
Man	Men
Woman	Women
Goose	Geese
People	Person
Alumnus	Alumni
Genus	Genera

Rule-14

Many nouns have the same singular and plural form. Fro example, plural nouns for sheep is ‘sheep’. See some more examples.

Singular	Plural
Fish	Fish
Tuna	Tuna
Salmon	Salmon
Deer	Deer
Gross	Gross
Ice	Ice
Species	Species

Rule-15

Some nouns do not have plural forms. Examples are

• Love
• Hatred
• Lust
• Happiness
• Kindness

Types of Plurals

A lot of people don’t know about the types of plural nouns, but it’s important to understand that there are three types of plurals:-

1. Regular Plurals
2. Irregular Plurals
3. Compound Words

The plural noun rule is one of those things that can trip you up when you’re writing sentences

Regular Plurals

Regular plurals end in s or es. For example, bag -> bags, toy -> toys, pen -> pens etc.

Irregular Plurals

Irregular plurals have a different spelling for their endings than they do for singulars. For example ox -> oxen, goose -> geese etc.

Compound Plurals

Compound words are made up of two words put together to make one word. For example, “bookcase” is a compound word with two parts – book and case. To form the plural form of this word, we would simply add an ‘s’ at the end (bookcases).

It’s easy to remember these rules if you think about them like this – just add an ‘es’ for regular plurals and an ‘s’ for irregular ones!

You can read here further: Regular and Irregular Nouns Rules with Examples

Singular Noun Example Sentences

1. Fungus is vicious for human health.
2. I need a knife to cut the apple.
3. There is only one chair in the hall.
4. Runabout is the most popular boat in the United States.
5. Tom has been driving the same car for the last ten years.
6. Do you think life is so easy?
7. I love to eat continental food.
8. Tina bought a new house in a colony near the forest.
9. My room is spacious and well furnished.
10. The chef baked a pie cake for the guests.
11. Do you have a camera to record the action?
12. The cat is sitting on the roof.
13. I avoid junk food because it is unhealthy.
14. They booked a table in the restaurant.
15. The baby is crying with hunger.
16. Do you still listen to radio programs?
17. The rug was so dirty that I had to vacuum it.
18. I can’t believe you left your clothes on the floor!
19. You’re going to have to clean up after yourself if you want dinner tonight.
20. In this game, players are given a singular noun and must use it in a sentence.
21. It’s time to go home now, so I’ll see you later!
22. The most common type of security system is a door alarm that will sound when someone opens your front door.
23. I’m going to a party this weekend.
24. Who is watching television?
25. Our school was founded by a man named John Smith who wanted to create a safe space for children and teenagers who were bullied at their old schools.

Plural Nouns Example Sentences

The plural noun example sentences are often used when you want to refer to a group of people or things.

1. Fungi are vicious for human health.
2. There are fifty chairs in the hall.
3. I avoid oily and high-calorie foods.
4. Pakistan is the largest exporters of footballs all over the world.
5. Jackson has a great collection of coins and stamps.
6. All the friends agreed to spend a day in the jungle camp.
7. There are many ways to whiten teeth naturally.
8. A fleet of boats was sailing in the river.
9. There are 195 countries in the world.
10. Men and women are born with 12 pairs of ribs.
11. She cut the pizza into equal halves.
12. How many subjects have you completed in this syllabus?
13. The costs of the new house are high.
14. It’s important that you know what the words mean and when they can be used.
15. The pencils are sharpened.
16. The students have their assignments due tomorrow.
17. I think both the computers need to be fixed.
18. There is a lot of food for everyone to eat.
19. We’ve been waiting on you guys forever!
20. As a result of the recent increase in crime rates, many people are opting to buy home security systems.
21. These alarms can be easily installed on existing doors with just a few screws and some wiring.
22. You don’t need any special tools or equipment – all you’ll need is an electric drill and some patience.
23. There are three cats in the yard.
24. How many people work for your company?
25. A group of students is waiting at the bus stop 30 minutes before school starts.

Worksheet for Singular and Plural Nouns

Following is a worksheet for singular and plural nouns. Answers are given at the end. Mention against each sentence whether highlighted/bold word is a singular or plural noun.

1. This is my favorite pizza topping because they give me one every time I order one. (singular/plural)
2. The sun is shining. (singular/plural)
3. My mom’s favorite color is red. (singular/plural)
4. A house has four walls, a roof, and a door. (singular/plural)
5. Cars are typically rectangular in shape with sharp corners and flat surfaces. (singular/plural)
6. A dog has fur on its back legs to keep it warm during winter months. (singular/plural)
7. The cat is under the table. (singular/plural)
8. My phone is on my desk. (singular/plural)
9. The apple fell from the tree and landed in a pile of leaves. (singular/plural)
10. I need to go back to my house because I left my wallet there. (singular/plural)
11. That’s an interesting idea, but it won’t work for me. (singular/plural)
12. I have two hands and five fingers. (singular/plural)
13. You should come over to my place sometime, we’ll have fun together. (singular/plural)
14. The books are on the desk. (singular/plural)
15. Three dogs were playing outside. (singular/plural)

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Answers

1. Singular Noun
2. Singular Noun
3. Singular Noun
4. Singular Noun
5. Plural Noun
6. Singular Noun
7. Singular Noun
8. Singular Noun
9. Singular Noun
10. Singular Noun
11. Singular Noun
12. Plural Noun
13. Singular Noun
14. Plural Noun
15. Plural Noun

Read also

• Singular and Plural Nouns for Kids
• Types of Noun with Examples
• Regular and Irregular Nouns
• Material Nouns
• Abstract Nouns
• Common Nouns
• Proper Nouns
• Countable and Uncountable Nouns

What are singular and plural nouns? English nouns are inflected for grammatical numbers, meaning that if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural. This lesson discusses the variety of ways in which English plural nouns are formed from the corresponding singular forms, as well as various issues concerning the usage of singulars and plurals in English.

Singular and Plural Nouns in English

Rule 1

Most nouns are made plural by adding -s to the end of the singular form.

For Examples:

• car – cars
• bag – bags
• table – tables
• house – houses
• dog – dogs

Rule 2

Singular nouns that end in ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’,or ‘ss’, form the plural by adding –es.

For Examples:

• bus – buses
• bench – benches
• box – boxes
• dish – dishes
• truss – trusses
• marsh – marshes
• lunch – lunches
• tax – taxes
• blitz – blitzes
• watch – watches

Excepting: 

• fez – fezzes
• gas –  gasses
• quiz – quizzes
• bus – busses

Rule 3

The plural form of some nouns that end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ is made by changing the ending to -ves.

For Examples:

• half – halves
• hoof – hooves
• calf – calves
• elf – elves
• shelf – shelves
• leaf – leaves
• loaf – loaves
• thief – thieves
• wolf – wolves
• life – lives
• knife – knives
• scarf – scarves
• wife –  wives 

Excepting:

• cuff – cuffs
• knockoff – knockoffs
• chef – chefs
• belief – beliefs
• roof – roofs
• chief – chiefs

Rule 4

Nouns ending in -o:

Nouns that end in ‘o’ preceded by a vowel are made plural by adding -s.

For Examples:

• radio – radios
• stereo – stereos
• video  – videos

Nouns that end in “o” preceded by a consonant are made plural by adding -es.

For Examples:

• potato – potatoes
• tomato – tomatoes
• hero – heroes
• echo – echoes
• veto – vetoes
• domino – dominoes

Excepting: 

• piano – pianos
• photo – photos
• halo – halos
• soprano – sopranos

Rule 5

Nouns ending in ‘y‘:

When the ‘y’ follows a consonant, changing ‘y’ to ‘i’ and adding –es:

For Examples:

• city – cities
• candy – candies
• country – countries
• family – families
• cherry – cherries
• lady – ladies
• puppy – puppies
• party – parties

When the ‘y’ follows a vowel, the plural is formed by retaining the ‘y’ and adding –s:

For Examples:

• day – days
• holiday – holidays
• ray – rays
• boy – boys
• toy – toys
• key – keys
• donkey – donkeys

Rule 6

Changing the spelling of singular noun:

For Examples:

• person – people
• ox – oxen
• man – men
• woman – women
• caveman – cavemen
• policeman – policemen
• child – children
• tooth – teeth
• foot – feet
• goose – geese
• mouse – mice
• mouse – lice

Rule 7

Some nouns use the same singular and plural form:

For Examples:

• aircraft – aircraft
• barracks – barracks
• deer – deer
• gallows – gallows
• moose – moose
• salmon – salmon
• hovercraft – hovercraft
• spacecraft – spacecraft
• series – series
• species – species
• means – means
• offspring – offspring
• deer – deer
• fish – fish
• sheep –  sheep

Rule 8

Some nouns are of Latin/Greek/French Origin:

For Examples:

Nouns of Latin Origin:

• alumnus – alumni/alumnuses
• apex – apices/apeces
• appendix – appendices/ appendixes

Nouns of French Origin:

For Examples:

• chateau – chateaux/chateaus
• bureau – bureaux/ bureaus
• tableau – tableaux/tableaus

Nouns of Greek Origin:

For Examples:

• diagnosis – diagnoses
• ellipsis – ellipses
• hypothesis – hypotheses
• oasis – oases

Singular and Plural Nouns in English | Images

Conclusion

Definition of Number (singular, plural)

Number — an inflectional grammatical category expressing quantity. As an independent grammatical category, number is characteristic of nouns, the remaining categories of words have a syntactic (conciliatory) category of number.

Special attention should be paid to the category of number in personal pronouns. For this category of words in scientific literature, it is usually not considered inflectional, since we do not mean ‘a lot of me’, and you do not mean ‘a lot of you’: the main meaning of us is’ me plus someone else ‘, and you are’ you plus someone else. ‘

The category of number includes two opposed grammatical meanings: singular and plural. This opposition is most consistently presented in the forms of nouns denoting countable (countable) objects. The singular form indicates the singularity of the subject: table, student, etc. The plural form indicates plurality: tables, students, etc. Such nouns change in numbers.

Some nouns do not change in numbers, the number for them is a constant category. There are nouns that are used only in the singular. They are called singularia tantum. This group includes:

• abstract nouns (conscience, justice, academic performance);

• real nouns (water, oil, sugar);

• collective nouns (youth, children, peasantry), etc.

Other nouns are only plural. These are the words pluralia tantum. These include:

• abstract nouns (bustle, day, twilight);

• real nouns (cream, perfume, bran);

• nouns denoting complex, including two-part or paired objects (scissors, chess, glasses, trousers), etc.

Nouns that do not change in numbers can sometimes form the form of another number, but then this is due to a change in the lexical meaning: oil — oils, running — running.

The reflection of quantity in a language depends on the linguistic consciousness of people and does not always adequately convey the real number of objects being counted. For example, the word apple has the form of singular and plural (apples), and the word onion in Russian for some reason is not used in the plural.

In some contexts, the singular and plural forms take on the opposite meaning. So, for example, you can use the plural in the meaning of the singular: There is a knock on the door! (naturally, one person knocks); We have guests! (there can be one guest). In other cases, on the contrary, the singular form is used in the plural sense: Well, the student has gone today!

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Plural only nouns

In Russian grammar, a number of nouns are used only in the plural form. We indicate them, dividing them by value into groups.

The category of number is a fickle morphological feature of nouns.

Number category in nouns

All nouns that can be counted have number forms. These are, as a rule, specific words in meaning, which can be combined with numerals. In Russian, two numbers are distinguished by meaning and form:

1. the only thing,
2. plural.

Most nouns are used in both forms:

• table — tables;
• editor — editors;
• meadow — meadows.

The plural form is formed from the singular form using the endings and — / s or -а / -я, as well as -e, for example:

• Dane — Danes;
• sea ​​- seas;
• log — logs;
• accountant — accountants;
• book — books.

There are other ways of forming these forms, for example, using suffixes:

1.-e-

• mother — mat-er-i
• daughter — daughter-er-i;

2.-e-

• sky — heaven-eu-a
• miracle — miracle-es-a;

3.th-

• tree — tree- [y’-a]
• leaf — leaves- [y’-a].

For some nouns, plural forms are formed by truncating the stem:

• flower — colors,
• peasant — peasant.

We also indicate the method of forming plural forms using alternating suffixes in the stem, for example:

• tel-yonok — tel-yat-a;
• elephant-yonok — elephant-yat-a;
• mouse-onok — mouse-at-a.

We will not ignore such a way of forming the forms of the number of nouns as Suppletivism, when the singular and plural forms have different roots, for example:

• children;
• person people.

Nouns that have only plural forms

In the Russian language, a group of nouns is distinguished that are used only in the plural and do not have the singular form. They do not have a gender category, therefore they cannot be attributed to any of the three declensions, but change according to a special type of declension as plural nouns.

We mean that for such nouns the category of number is a permanent morphological feature.

Examples

By meaning, only plural nouns can be divided into groups:

Words that have a real meaning (real nouns):

• whitewash
• blush
• slops
• canned food
• cream
• cabbage soup
• cleaning
• wallpaper
• sawdust.

Names of games, periods of time and states of nature

• tag
• hide and seek
• townships
• Weekdays
• day
• dust
• darkness
• freezing.

Complicated or paired subject names

• shorts
• jeans
• trousers
• sledge
• sled
• sled
• railings
• pincers
• wire cutters
• stretcher
• cymbals.

These nouns are combined in the nominative and accusative cases with collective numbers:

• two jeans
• three sleighs
• four sleds.

Proper nouns

• Cordilleras
• Dubai
• Carpathians
• Luzhniki
• Fili
• Kholmogory
• Raubichi.

Action names

• tour
• elections
• maneuvers
• negotiation
• seeing off
• fees
• chores.

Source: https://russkiiyazyk.ru/chasti-rechi/sushhestvitelnoe/forma-mnozhestvennogo-chisla.html

Plural of nouns in German

In German, the following means are used to form the plural of nouns:
1. Suffixes -e, — (e) n, -er, -s:
   der Tag — die Tage (day — days)
   die Zeitung — die Zeitungen (newspaper — newspapers)
   das Bild — die Bilder (picture — pictures)
   das Auto — die Autos (car — cars)
2. Umlaut root vowels:
   der Garten — die Gärten (garden — gardens)
   der Ofen — die Öfen (oven — ovens)
   der Bruder — die Brüder (brother — brothers)
3. Article
   der Koffer — the Koffer (suitcase — suitcases)
   das Fenster — the Fenster (window — windows)

• most masculine nouns: der Tag (day) — die Tage (days); der Ort (place) — die Orte (places) The root vowels of nouns in this group are sometimes taken in the plural umlaut: der Baum (tree) — die BÄUme (trees), der Fluss (river) — die Flüsse (rivers);
• many neuter nouns (do not accept umlaut): das Beispiel (example) — die Beispiele (examples), das Jahr (year) — die Jahre (years), das Geschenk (gift) — die Geschenke (present);
• a small group of monosyllabic feminine nouns (accept umlaut): die Stadt (city) — die Städte (cities), die Wand (wall) — die Wände (walls), die Bank (bench) — die Bänke (benches) and some others.

• most feminine nouns: die Frau (woman) — die Frauen (women), die Uhr (watch) — die Uhren (clock), die Antwort (answer) — die Antworten (answers);
• all weak masculine nouns: der Mensch (person) — die Menschen (people), der Student (student) — die Studenten (students);
• some masculine nouns not included in the weak declension group: der Staat (state) — die Staaten (states), der Strahl (ray) — die Strahlen (rays);
• masculine strong declension nouns ending in -or: der Motor (motor) — die Motoren (motors), der Doktor (doctor) — die Doktoren (doctors) (in the plural, the stress falls on the suffix);
• some neuter nouns: das Herz (heart) — die Herzen (hearts), das bett (bed) — die Betten (beds), das Ende (end) — die Enden (ends).

Pluralized nouns with a suffix — (e) n, umlaut are not accepted.

Some borrowed nouns of the neuter gender with a derivational suffix -one, form plural with the suffix -en, while they lose the derivational suffix:
das Datum (date) — die Daten (dates), das Museum (museum) — die Museen (museums).

With a suffix -R in German they form the plural:

• most monosyllabic neuter nouns: das Kind (child) — die Kinder (children), das Dorf (village) — die Dörfer (villages);
• small group of masculine nouns: der Mann (male) — die Männer (men), der Wald (forest) — die Wälder (forests), der Rand (edge) — die Ränder (the edges).

Pluralization with a suffix -er accompanied by an umlaut.

With a suffix -s form the plural:

Suffix -s accept in the plural only a few borrowed nouns of the masculine and neuter gender:
• der Klub (club) — die Klubs (clubs), der Chef (chief) — die Chefs (chiefs), das Hotel (hotel) — die Hotels (hotels), das Komma (comma) — die Kommas (commas).

Without a suffix, they form a plural:

• masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el, -en: der Lehrer (teacher) — die Lehrer (teachers), das Messer (knife) — die Messer (knives), der Wagen (car) — die Wagen (cars), das Mittel (tool) — die Mittel (tools). masculine nouns of this group of words, root vowels can take in the plural umlaut: der Garten (garden) — die Gärten (gardens), der Mantel (coat) — die Mäntel (coat). Neuter nouns in -er, -el, -en umlaut do not accept.An exception: das Kloster (monastery) — die Klöster (monasteries);
• neuter nouns with the suffixes -chen, -lein, as well as with the suffix -e and the prefix ge-: das Mädchen (girl) — die Mädchen (girls), das Büchlein (book) — die Büchlein (book), das Gebäude (building ) — die Gebäude (buildings), das Gemälde (painting) — die Gemälde (paintings);
• two feminine nouns: die Mutter (mother) — die Mütter (mother), die Tochter (daughter) — die Töchter (daughter).

The root vowels of these two nouns take the plural umlaut.

The considered methods of forming the plural in German can be summarized in the following table.

Husband. genus Female genus Wed. genus

Race	Suffixes	No suffix
th	-en	-eg
majority (possibly umlaut)	few (do not accept umlaut)	some (accept umlaut)	ending in -er, -el, -en (umlaut possible)
small group of monosyllabic nouns (accept umlaut)	most (do not accept umlaut)	—	two nouns: die Mutter — die Mütter, die Tochter — die Töchter
many (do not accept umlaut)	some (do not accept umlaut)	majority (accept umlaut)	ending in -er, -el, -en, -chen, -lein (do not accept umlaut)

Not all nouns in German have both forms of number, i.e., singular and plural. There are nouns for uncountable things that do not have a plural form in their meaning.

So, for example, real nouns, as well as some abstract and collective nouns, are used only in the singular.

These include: die Butter — butter, das Obst — fruits, das Wetter — weather, die Liebe — love, die Jugend — youth, youth, etc.

A number of German nouns are used only in the plural and do not have a singular: die Eltern — parents, die Ferien — vacation, die Alpen — Alps.

Some nouns that have two meanings have two plural forms:
• die Bank (bench) — die Bänke (benches), die Bank (bank) — die Banken (banks);
• der Rat — advice (authority) — die Räte — advice, der Rat — advice (instruction) — die Ratschläge — advice (instruction).

Compound nouns with basic element -mann plural instead of -manner are mostly in the form -leute:
• der Fachmann (specialist) — die Fachleute; der Seemann (sailor) — die Seeleute.

Since the application of the rules for the formation of the plural of nouns with their numerous exceptions is very difficult for learners of the German language, it is recommended to memorize nouns in two forms: in the singular form and in the plural form.

The plural form of a noun can be checked using a dictionary.

For example:

• Success m-s, -e (success, luck, result); th — this is a suffix with which the plural of a given noun is formed, therefore, the Erfolge (successes);
• song n-es, -er (song) plural — the Lieder (songs);
• Wahl f-, -en (choice), plural — the Wahlen (election);
• educator m-s, — (educator), plural — the Erzieher (educators);
• Volk n— (e) s, ¨-er (people), plural — die Völker (people).

It will also be helpful to read:

Source: http://deutsch-online.ru/dop_mat/grammatics/gram_tab_01_01_03

Family is or are? Collective nouns

Collective nouns are not something that can be collected, not mushrooms or berries. Collective nouns are words that denote a group of objects: objects, people, or animals.

A pile (of things), Group (of people), pack (birds) are collective nouns. This also includes words such as army, government, collective — I think you get the idea.

In contrast to the Russian language, there are several peculiarities in the use of collective nouns in English.

Universal

Let’s start by looking at these collective numbers, at what they are. Let’s start with universal words that can be used with almost all nouns — both things and people.

GROUP — group (group of stars, group of engineers)
Number — «some number» (number of countries, number of students)
Bunch — a funny word, literally means something like «bundle» (bunch of flowers).

And in spoken language, it can be used with almost anything from bunch of atoms if you teach molecular physics to bunch of zombiesif you play computer shooter.

Even «thank you» can be tied into such a bundle, thanking the phrase «thanks a bunch».

For a group of subjects

Here are some of the most common collective nouns in English for a group of subjects:

batteries — heap (pile of money)
pack — pack (pack of cigarettes)
set — kit (set of rules)
series — series (series of events)

For a group of people

But what words can be called different groups of people:

crowd — crowd (crowd of protesters)
team or crew — command (team of professionals)
gang — gang (gang of robbers)
too many — detachment (Troop of soldiers)

This can also include words such as family (a family), government (government), army (army), audience (audience, spectators), staff (staff, employees).

Generally speaking, English is quite inventive with collective nouns. Such as panel of experts, board of directors or flock of tourists… In general, there are dozens of names for groups of people of different professions. Although in real life they are not only used by very few people — and in general, very few people know. Therefore, for real life, the words group, number or bunch are always enough.

For animals

The English language is no less inventive in the names for groups of different species of animals. Here are the most common ones:

stove — herd (herd of goats)
swarm — swarm (swarm of bees)
Flock — flock (about birds, flock of seagulls)
pack — flock (about animals, pack of wolves)

Among the rare collective nouns, there are some very entertaining ones:
murder of crows (flock of crows) float of crocodiles (group of crocodiles), school of fish (school of fish), pride of lions (This word, it seems, is also in Russian — the pride of lions).

They say that in total in English you can count up to 200 different words for different groups of objects, people or animals. Honestly, I haven’t counted them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are much more than two hundred of them.

Plural or Singular? Is or are?

In the Russian language there is no problem with the number of collective numerals: the collective has decided, the thought has accepted, the flock has smelled — everywhere the singular number.
In English, everything is not so simple. The answer depends on whether you are using British or American English.

British variant

Let’s start with the British version — choosing between a single shape family is and multiple family are depends on whether you describe family as a whole or as several individual participants.

My friend’s family are teachers. My family are teachers. Bearing in mind that “each of the family is a teacher».
Team have achieved amazing results. The team has achieved amazing results. (and not has achieved) — it means «each of the team members has achieved amazing results.» Here we are talking about the individual members — therefore — the plural.

My family is not rich. My family is not rich. Obviously, this is about the family as a whole.
The government has decided to raise taxes… The government decided to raise taxes. Even if there were those inside the government who were against raising taxes, the government as a whole, as one governing body, nevertheless decided to raise them — therefore, the only number.

American variant

In the American version, everything is much simpler — almost always collective — in the singular.

This is a tough crowd

Source: https://englishexplained.ru/collective-nouns/

What words in German have only a singular number?

There is a certain group of nouns in German that can only be plural or singular. Today we will talk about words that have only a singular number.

German nouns that are used only in the singular

There is a group of nouns in German that are used only in the singular.

These nouns in German include:

proper names:

• Germany
• der Stille Ozean

Proper names can be used in the plural, if we are talking about a whole family, about several persons (who have the same name or surname), about political formations, about allocation, opposition, about a dynasty or clan, about a proper name, which has become a common name:

• die Mullers
• zwei Brest (s)

names of substances that indicate mass, material, etc.:

• (das) Silber — silver
• (das) Butter — butter
• (das) Glas — glass

Nouns in the German language of this group can form a plural to indicate a variety, type, or by adding a compound word:

• edle Hölzer — noble wood species
• das Wasser (water) — die Mineralwässer — mineral waters

collective nouns in German; collective nouns that indicate an action or a process:

• das Obst — fruit
• Das Publikum — public
• das Geschrei — scream
• das Gezänk — quarrel

It is sometimes possible to form plurals from collective nouns in German:

• das Haar — die Haare — hair
• das Volk — die Völker — peoples

words that denote natural phenomena:

• das Hagel — hail
• die Kälte — cold

Sometimes the formation of a plural is possible:

• der Rauch — smoke
• die Rauchschwaden — puffs of smoke
• abstract concepts:
• der Hunger — hunger
• die Treue — loyalty

Sometimes it is possible to form a plural from these words by adding a compound word:

• der Rat — advice
• die Ratschläge — tips

This rule also applies to words with the same stem:

• der Streit — quarrel
• die Streitigkeiten — quarrels

Abstract concepts used in the plural can be found only in stable expressions:

• mit Freuden — with joy
• in Ehren halten — respect

Nouns in German that are used only in the plural.

There are about 130 nouns in German that are used only in the plural.

Nouns that are used only in the plural include:

some geographical names (countries, islands, mountains):

• die Alpen — Alps
• die USA — USA
• die Kurilen — Kuril Islands

astronomical names:

• die Zwillingen — Gemini

some names of faces:

• die Eltern — relatives
• die Eheleute — spouses

some diseases:

• die Pocken — smallpox
• die Masern — measles

some food:

• die Spag (h) etti — spaghetti

the following nouns in German:

• die Ferien — Holidays
• die Flitterwochen — honeymoon
• die Gewissensbisse — remorse
• die Kosten — expenses

Note! And some other nouns in German (detailed information about this or that noun can be found in the dictionary).

a number of nouns, as well as the name of species of animals and plants:

• die Möbel — furniture
• die Protozoen — protozoa
• die Weichtiere — shellfish

In German, the names of the holidays are used in the singular:

But: in wishes, these names are used in the plural:

• Fröhliche Ostern! Froche Pfingsten! — Happy Easter celebrations!

Plural forms of nouns in German

Some nouns in German can have several plural forms:

• die Generale / die Generäle — generals

the use of the plural of other nouns depends on the territory in which they are used:

• die Bögen — arcs (in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland), instead of die Bogen
• die Wägen — cars (in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland), instead of die Wagen
• die Mädels — girls (colloquially in northern Germany), instead of die Mädel

in professional language:

• die Krane — cranes, not die Kräne — in construction

to indicate different varieties or species:

• die Elektrizitäten — types of electricity
• die Verbräuche — expenses

one of the plural forms of nouns in German can be used more often than the other (outdated):

• der Borden — soil
• die Borden (less often), die Böden (more often)

sometimes the meaning of a word can depend on its plural:

• der Block — deck, die Blöcke
• der Block — quarter, die Blocks

The plural of homonyms is formed according to the general rules:

• die Bank — die Bänke — benches
• die Banken — banks
• die Mutter — die Mütter — mothers
• die Muttern — nuts

Source: https://deutschpro.ru/grammatika/sushhestvitelnye/kakie-slova-imeyut-tolko-edinstvennoe-chislo.html

German grammar (reference)

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Plural of Nouns

All German nouns can be divided into 3 types:

1. Nouns with only singular. These include real names и many abstract.

   For example: die Milch, das Fleisch (meat), der Schnee; die Kälte (cold), die Geduld (patience)

2. Nouns with only plural.

   For example: die Leute, die Geschwister, die Eltern

   Note:

   Nouns of the 1st and 2nd type (they are also called Singulariatantum и Pluraliatantum) do not always correspond to similar words in the Russian language.

   For example: die Ferien — vacation, but die Masern (Plural) — smallpox, die Pocken (Plural) — measles

   Conversely, die Uhr (Singular) — hours, die Hose (Singular) — pants

3. Most nounshaving the only thing и plural: der Tisch — die Tische, das Kind — die Kinder, die Frau — die Frauen

For education plural exist 3 grammatical tools:

1. Article, which, in the absence of other grammatical means, is the only sign of the plural of nouns: das Zimmer — die Zimmer, der Arbeiter — die Arbeiter

2. Umlaut: der Wald — die Wälder, die Hand — die Hände, der Viertel — die Viertel (quarter)

3. Suffixes: —e—en—er—sas well as a zero suffix: der Tisch — die Tische, die Frau — die Frauen, das Kind — die Kinder, das Handy — die Handys, der Arbeiter — die Arbeiter ()

Based on these suffixes in German stand out 5 methods Education plural nouns:

1. Using suffix -e(with or without umlaut)

2. Using suffix -most(without umlaut)

3. Using suffix -R(with umlaut)

4. Using suffix -s(with or without umlaut)

5. No suffix (with or without umlaut)

And a few words to support you. The topic is quite extensive, so it is best to learn plural nouns by heart using a dictionary… And, if you want to be an expert in plural education, then on the next page you will find small table с suffixes и examples.

Plural of Nouns (continuation).

For convenience, consider the following table on the formation of the plural of nouns:

Male gender	Neuter gender	Feminine
1. Typically —e	1. Typically —er	1. Typically —(e) n
a). Most nouns receive an umlaut:	das Kind — die Kinder, das Lied — die Lieder Some nouns get umlaut: das Buch — die Bücher	a). Polysyllabic nouns (Zeitung — die Zeitungen), as well as nouns with suffixes -e, -he, -R:
der Gast — die Gäste, der Stuhl — die Stühle	2. Zero suffix	die blume — die Blumen, die Schwester — die Schwestern
b). Some nouns do not receive an umlaut:	a). Nouns with suffixes -R, -most, -he, -salt	b). Some monosyllabic nouns:
der Tag — die Tage, der Hund — die Hunde	das Ufer — die Uferdas Mittel — die Mittel	die Frau — die Frauen die Form — die Formen
v). Internationalism with suffixes (inanimate)-to the, -at, -Item, -With, -year, -og, -ent:	b). Nouns with diminutive suffixes -chen, -lein	v). Internationalisms with suffixes ie there—(t) ät, -tion, -ik, -ur, -anz, -etc, -age, -a:
der Vokal — die Vokale, der Kanal — die Kanäle,	das Madchen — die Mädchen, das Fraulone — die Fräulone	2. Suffix -e (with umlaut):
G). Internationalisms with suffixes (animate)their, -ier, -year, -to the, -ar, -With, -on:	v). Prefixed nouns -give and suffix -e	die Hand — die Hände, die Bank — die Bänke
der Ingenieur — die Ingenieure	das Gemüse — die Gemüse	3. Zero suffix (+ umlaut):
2. Suffix-R	3. Suffix-e	die Mutter — die Mütter, die Tochter — die Töchter
der Mann — die Männer	a). Monosyllabic nouns:
3. Suffix-most	das Jahr — die Jahre
a). Nouns with a suffix -e:	b). Nouns with a suffix -niswhich is subsequently doubled:
der Junge — die Jungen	Das Ergebnis — die Ergebnisse
b). The following nouns:	v). Internationalisms on -ent, -at, -phon, -out, -one, -and, — em
der Mensch — die Menschen, der Herr — die Herren etc.	das problem — die Probleme, das Institut — die Institute
v). Internationalisms with suffixes -ant, -ent, -ist, -and,-to the, -Item, -ot, -log, -graph, -nom, -soph, -ismus	4. Suffix— (e) n
der Student — die Studenten	a). Small group of nouns of the type das Auge
4. Zero suffix (nouns with suffixes -he. -R, -most)	b). Internationalisms with suffixes -one, -ions, -a Das Museum — die Museen, das Thema — die Themen
der Vater — die Väter
5. Suffix-s (borrowing)	5. Suffix-s (borrowing)
der Klub — die Klubs	das Auto — die Autos

Exercise 1

Put plural nouns and the article / and / or accompanying word in Dativ / Akkusativ / Genitiv in the correct form.

Source: http://www.studygerman.ru/online/manual/substantiv2.html

Singular and plural nouns

In terms of numbers, it is mainly countable nouns that change. Uncountable nouns, as a rule, are used only in the singular form:

sugar — sugar, love — love, friendship — friendship.

In the plural, they are used only when the variety of species, concepts expressed by them is meant, or when they are used in another meaning in which they are already countable. For example:

air — air, movement — movement (as a general concept), music — music, milk — milk, knowledge — knowledge, hair — hair (on a person’s head).

BUT: air — aria, melody — »airs — arias, melodies, movement — movement (for example, political or dance) -> movements — movements (the same), hair — hair -» hairs — hairs, etc.

The plural of nouns is usually formed by adding an ending -s to the singular form:

book — book — »books — books, day — day -> days — days, house — house -> houses — houses.

Reading the ending «-s»:

after voiceless consonants — [s]: books [buks] after voiced consonants and vowels — [z]: friends [frendz], days [deiz]

after sibilants and sibilants (-es) — [iz]: boxes [‘boksiz]

Exception l. Nouns ending in the singular with letters o, s, ss, sh, ch, x (sibilants and sibilants, as they are called), plural ending -Is:

hero — hero -> heroes — heroes, kiss [kis] — kiss -> kisses — kisses, brush — brush -> brushes — brushes, bench — bench -> benches — benches, box — box -> boxes — boxes.

BUT: In words of foreign origin ending in o, only the ending is added to the noun in the plural -s:

piano — grand piano -> pianos — grand pianos, photo — photography — »photos — photos.

Exception 2. For nouns ending in y with a preceding consonant, y is dropped and the ending is added instead -ieswhich reads [-iz]:

country [‘kAntri] — country -> countries [kAntriz] — countries, city — city cities — cities, family — family families — families.

BUT: If there is a vowel in front of y, then the plural is formed according to the general rule, that is, by adding an ending -s:

day — day — »days — days, boy — boy -» boys — boys.

3. Twelve nouns ending in -f or -faith, in the plural lose these letters. An ending is added instead of -f or -fe -ves… These are nouns:

wife — wife, life — life, knife — knife, wolf — wolf, self — essence, human form, calf — calf, shelf — shelf, leaf — leaf (plants), loaf — loaf (bread), thief — thief, half — half, sheaf — pack (paper), etc.

For example: wife [waif] — wife — »wives [waivz] — wife, knife [naif] — knife -> knives [naivz] — knives, shelf — shelf -> shelves — shelves.

4. Some nouns are plural by changing the root vowel:

man — man -> men — men, woman — woman — »women — women, foot [fut] — leg feet [fi: t] — legs, tooth — tooth -» teeth — teeth.
HO: child — child -> children — children.

5. For compound nouns, the plural is formed by adding an ending -s to the second word:

armchairs — armchairs, bookcases — bookcases.

BUT: If these words are united by a preposition, then the first word is put in the plural: sisters-in-law — daughters-in-law.

Words borrowed from Greek or Latin languages ​​form a plural form according to the rules of these languages:

appendix — appendix — »appendices — appendices (to the book), crisis — crisis -> crises — crises, basis — base, bases — bases, radius — radius -> radii — radii.

Names Nouns used only in the singular

1. Uncountable nouns (both real and abstract) are usually used only in the singular:

   iron — iron, salt — salt, milk — milk, sugar — sugar, love — love.

2. Nouns advice (advice, advice), information (message, information), progress (success, success), knowledge (knowledge) are used only in the singular.

   He gave me some good advice. He gave me some good advice.
   My coach was satisfied with my progress. My coach was pleased with my progress

3. The nouns news (news, news), money (money), fruit (fruits, fruits) are used in the singular. But, for example, the plural is used to denote different types of fruits — fruits.

   What is the news? What’s the news? It’s his money. This is his money.

   Fruit is cheap in autumn. In the fall, fruits are cheap.

4. Among countable nouns, there are those that are used only (or mainly) in the singular form. These are the names of some animals, objects, etc.:

   two sheep — two sheep, six fish — six fish, ten swine — ten pigs, five deer — five deer.

Nouns Plural only nouns

1. Nouns usually denoting paired objects:

   spectacles — glasses, trousers — trousers, scissors — scissors, scales — scales.

2. The names of some objects, in contrast to the Russian language, are used in English only in the plural:

   clothes — clothes, goods — goods, contents — content, etc.

NOTE:

The noun people (peoples) in the plural means people (peoples), in the singular meaning people.

There were many people in the square. There were many people in the square.
There are many peoples in Russia. There are many peoples (lives) in Russia.

Source: https://catchenglish.ru/grammatika/chislo-sushchestvitelnykh.html

Noun (nomen substantivum)

Nouns denote objects and phenomena.

Genus

Every noun in Latin belongs to one of three genders:

• Male (genus masculinum)
• Female (genus femininum)
• Medium (genus neutrum)

Animated nouns are classified by gender according to biological sex.

Moreover

К masculine include the names of months, mountains, winds, large rivers, peoples, professions.

К feminine include the names of countries, cities, islands, precious stones, trees.

К middle-class traditionally include the names of metals, elements, fruits, as well as unshakable words.

The gender of the noun is indicated in the dictionary, it is designated by one of three letters: “m«(Male),»f«(Female),»n» (average).

Number (numerus)

In Latin, nouns can be used in the singular or plural.

Singular (numerus singularis) — to designate one object,

Plural (numerus pluralis) — to denote many objects.

In dictionary and reference entries, the number of a noun is indicated by two letters: Sg (singular) or Pl (plural).

Case (casus)

A noun can stand in one of six cases:

Read more about cases in the article «Cases in Latin».

Nominative case (casus nominativus) — answers the questions: «Who?» «What?», The sentence in the nominative case contains the subject or the nominal part of the predicate. It is denoted by the letter «N«Or a combination of»Name«.

Read more in the article «Nominativus (Nominative)».

Genitive case (casus genetivus) — answers the questions: «Whom?» «What?», In a sentence in the genitive case there is an inconsistent definition to another noun. It is identified by the letter «G» or «January«.

Read more in the article «Genetivus (Genitive)».

Dative case (casus dativus) — answers the questions: «To whom?» «What?», In the dative sentence there is an indirect addition accompanying the action. It is denoted by a capital letter «D«Or a combination of»Dat«.

Read more in the article «Dativus (Dative case)».

Accusative case (casus accusativus) — answers the questions: «Whom?» «What?», The sentence in the accusative case contains the direct object to which the action is directed. It is denoted by «Ac» or «Accor«.

Read more in the article «Accusativus (Accusative)».

Separative or decisive case (casus ablativus) — answers the questions: «By whom?» «What?» It is designated by the letters «Ab» or «Apple«.

Details in the article «Ablativus (Instrumental, prepositional, ablative, ablative)».

Vocal case (casus vocativus) — an appeal to a person or object, is not a member of the sentence. It is denoted by the letter «V«Or a combination of»You«.

Details in the article «Vocativus (Vocal case)».

Declension (declinatio)

Every noun in Latin belongs to one of 5 declensions. The declension is determined by the end of the genitive singular.

• I declension -ae
• II declension -i
• III declension -is
• IV declension -us
• V declension -ei

There are also varied words «vesper» (II or III), «domus» (II or IV).

They often talk about the types of declension and equate them with 5 declensions. Strictly speaking, this is not the case. There are significantly more types of declension in Latin than declensions.

It should be noted that in Latin, the knowledge of a noun belonging to a particular declension gives only an approximate idea of ​​the ending of a word in a particular case. It is the types of declension that give the exact idea of ​​the endings.

The system of declension types in Latin is more ramified than the declension system, because it takes into account the variability within 5 declensions, and therefore it is easier to use it to solve a practical problem — declension of words.

Many textbooks have a very strange attitude to the types of declension. There is no general system of declension types and in different sources you can find different versions, but, as already mentioned, it is customary to talk about 5 declensions or 5 types of declension, and then make a reservation that there is, for example, declension IIIa, which is somewhat different from declension IIIb …

Here we will not indicate the specific names of the types, since they are called differently by different authors, but we will try to describe the most detailed classification. So:

В I declination nouns of 2 types:

(the declination paradigm is the same).

In II declension — 6 types:

1. ending in -us (in N.Sg.) masculine and feminine,
2. ending in -ius (in N.Sg.) is masculine,
3. ending in -ir (in N.Sg.) is masculine,
4. ending in -er (in N.Sg.) is masculine,
5. ending in -um (in N.Sg.) neuter,
6. ending in -ius (in N.Sg.) neuter.

The declination of all types is different.

A special type of declension is formed by the noun «deus» — god.

In the III declension — 6 types:

• 2 consonants:
  1. masculine and feminine,
  2. neuter.
• 2 vowels:
  1. ending in -e, -al, -ar of the neuter gender (equisyllabic and equisyllabic);
  2. equisyllabic, ending in -is feminine.
• 2 mixed:
  1. equisyllables ending in -es, -is (masculine and feminine);
  2. unequal with different endings (masculine and feminine).

Almost all types are in the details, but they are different.

Certain types of declension are formed by the words «vis» — strength, «bos» — bull, Iuppiter — Jupiter.

В IV declension — 2 types:

1. ending in -us masculine and feminine,
2. ending in -u neuter.

В V declension types are not highlighted.

The belonging of a word to one or another type of declension is somewhat more difficult to determine than to determine the declension itself. Determining the type of declension requires a slightly more subtle analysis of the word, but over time it becomes a very useful habit.

A separate article will be devoted to the types of declension, which is now (unfortunately) in development.

Dictionary form of the noun

In the dictionary (with the exception of educational dictionaries, they are generally a separate conversation), the noun is in the nominative singular.

Immediately after, separated by a comma, the end of the genitive singular is indicated (the same by which the declension of the noun is determined), but if the basis of the nominative and genitive cases are different, then the whole word can be indicated in the second place. After that, separated by a space (usually in italics), the belonging of the noun to one of 3 genders (m, f or n) is indicated.

For example:

ramus, im branch
Nominative — ramus,
Genitive — branches (II declension),
Genus — m — male.

or

lanx, lancis f bowl
Nominative — lanx,
Genitive — lancis (hence, III declension)
Genus — f — female.

Endings of nouns in declension

Case	I	II	III	IV	V
masculine gender	neuter gender	on a consonant	on i
Singular
N	-a	-us, -er, -ir	-one	-e, -al, -ar	-us, -u	-Is
G	-ae	-i	-i	-is	-is	-us	-ei
D	-ae	-o	-o	-i	-i	-ui	-ei
Ac	-am	-one	-one	— em	-e	-one	— em
Ab	-a	-o	-o	-e	-i	-u	-e
V	=N	-e	=N	=N	=N	=N	=N
Plural
N	-ae	-i	-a	-Is	-ia	-us	-Is
G	-arum	-orum	-orum	-one	-ium	-uum	-erum
D	-is	-is	-is	-ibus	-ibus	-ibus	-ebus
Ac	-as	-ancestor	-a	-Is	-ia	-us	-Is
Ab	-is	-is	-is	-ibus	-ibus	-ibus	-ebus
V	=N	=N	=N	=N	=N	=N	=N

Source: https://alia-lingua.info/substantivum.s