The plural form of the word person

• Вопрос

My full name is Yaciel Edelio Tellez Toledo. I come from Cuba. I wrote to you because I am in doubt with the correct use of ‘person’ and ‘people’. That was my question — because I know that ‘person’ and ‘people’ both are nouns and I would like to know when I’m going to use ‘person’ or ‘people’.

Мое полное имя Yaciel Edelio Tellez Toledo. Я из Кубы. Я написал Вам, потому что сомневаюсь в правильном использовании слов «person» и «people» («человек» и «люди«). Мой вопрос вот в чём — я знаю, что слова «person» и «people» оба являются существительными, и я хотел бы узнать, когда я могу использовать «person«, а когда — «people«.

Yaciel Toledo, Cuba

• Ответ

Английское произношение:

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Hi Yaciel and thank you for your question, there are several points to make here. The first one is to do with singular and plural nouns, I’m sure you know that most nouns in English are made plural by putting an s on the end, so for example, girl – girls, boy – boys. But some nouns have irregular plurals, for example child – children. And ‘person’ is one of those nouns that has an irregular plural. ‘People’ is in fact the plural form of person. So for example we talk about one person and two people. So in normal everyday speech you will hear people talking about ‘many people’, ‘there were a lot of people at the concert’, for example.

Привет, Yaciel, и спасибо за ваш вопрос. Здесь стоит отметить несколько пунктов. Во-первых, надо разобраться с единственным и множественным числом. Я уверена, вы знаете, что у большинства существительных в английском языке множественное число образуется добавлением буквы s в конец слова, например, girl — girls, boy — boys. Но некоторые существительные имеют неправильное множественное число, например child — children. И «person» — одно из таких существительных, имеющих неправильное множественное число. «People» — это, по сути, множественное число слова «person». Так, например, об одном человеке мы говорим — one person, о двух людях — two people. И в обычном повседневном общении вы услышите от людей: «many people — много людей», «there were a lot of people at the concert — на концерте было много людей», например.

However it becomes slightly more complicated because sometimes you do see the word ‘persons’. For example if you’re in a lift or elevator you might see the sign ‘Four persons only’. And sometimes if you’re listening to the news, to news reports you may hear news reports talking about persons. So for example 4 persons were injured in the accident, or police are looking for 5 persons. Persons is normally a more formal use, a more formal plural form.

Однако, на самом деле всё немного сложнее, потому что иногда вы можете встретить слово «persons«. Например, в лифте можно увидеть надпись; «Four persons only — Не более четырех человек». Иногда, когда Вы слушаете новости по радио, Вы можете услышать репортажи, в которых употребляется слово «persons«. Например, «4 persons were injured in the accident — 4 человека пострадали в аварии», или «police are looking for 5 persons — полиция разыскивает пятерых человек». Persons — это обычно более официальная форма, более официальное множественное число.

It gets slightly more complicated when you find the word peoples. People can be used to mean a nationality – all of the people of one country – so for example ‘the people of Cuba’. And when you’re talking about a group of nationalities you may find the word ‘peoples’, for example, ‘the peoples of South America’. So that’s another slightly more complicated and not so common use of the word ‘peoples’.

Ещё немного сложнее становится, когда вы видите слово «peoples«. Слово «people» может употребляться для обозначения населения — всех людей одной страны — например, «the people of Cuba — население Кубы». Но когда речь идёт о группе народов, вы можете встретить слово «peoples«, например «the peoples of South America — народы Южной Америки». Это ещё один пример более сложного и нетрадиционного использования слова «peoples«.

Finally you may find the word ‘person’ attached to a number. For example ‘a two-person car’, ‘a three-person room’. This is where ‘person’ is being used to describe the noun. ‘2 – person’ is the adjective describing ‘car’ and as you know we don’t put an ‘s’ on an adjective. So far example we talk about a ‘two-week holiday’ not a ‘two-weeks holiday’ or a ‘three-year course’ not ‘a three-years course’. So hear we use ‘two-person car’.

И, наконец, вы можете встретить слово «person«, употребляемое совместно с числом. Например, «a two-person car — двухместная машина», «a three-person room — трёхместный номер». Здесь слово «person» используется для описания существительного. Двухместный (2-person) — это прилагательное, описывающее машину, а, как вы знаете, окончание «s» к прилагательному не добавляется. Так, например, мы говорим «two-week holiday» (двухнедельный отпуск), а не «two-weeks holiday» или «three-year course» (трёхгодичный курс), а не «three-years course». Поэтому вы слышите, что мы говорим «two-person car».

So in summary, normally you find ‘people’ as the plural form of ‘person’ – one person, three people. Sometimes you’ll find people used to describe the nationality so you’ll find ‘peoples’ to describe different nationalities and sometimes you’ll find the word ‘persons’ in more formal styles of writing or in signs for example.

Итак, подводя итог сказанному: обычно слово «people» употребляется в качестве множественного числа слова «person» — one person — один человек, three people — три человека. Иногда вы можете услышать слово «people«, применённое по отношению к какому-либо народу, а слово «peoples» — для обозначения разных народов. И иногда вы можете найти слово «persons» в более официальном общении или, например, на указателях.

I hope that answers your question.

Я надеюсь, что ответила на ваш вопрос.

Karen Adams

человек, лицо, личность, особа, особь, персонаж, субъект, юридическое лицо, внешность

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

personable  — представительный, с привлекательной внешностью, красивый
personage  — персонаж, человек, особа, действующее лицо, выдающаяся личность, важная персона
personal  — личный, персональный, субъективный, светская хроника в газете
personate  — играть роль, выдавать себя за кого-л.
personify  — олицетворять, персонифицировать, воплощать
unperson  — бывшая персона, видный деятель, потерявший положение
personhood  — индивидуальность, личные черты человека

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): person
мн. ч.(plural): people

• Adyghe: цӏыфы (cʼəfə)
• Afrikaans: person (af)
• Ahom: 𑜀𑜤𑜃𑜫 (kun)
• Ainu: アイヌ (‘aynu)
• Aklanon: tawo
• Alabama: aati
• Albanian: njeri (sq) m
• Amis: tamdaw
• Apache:

  Chiricahua: ndé

• Arabic: شَخْص‎ (ar) m (šaḵṣ), مَرْء‎ (ar) m (marʔ), فَرْد‎ (ar) m (fard)

  Egyptian Arabic: شخص‎ m (šaḵṣ), حد‎ m (ḥad)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܐܦܐ‎ f (ʔappe(ʔ)), ܦܪܨܘܦܐ‎ m (parsˁofɑ(ʔ)), ܩܢܘܡܐ‎ m (q(ə)nomɑ(ʔ))

• Armenian: անձ (hy) (anj), անձնավորություն (hy) (anjnavorutʿyun)

  Old Armenian: անձն (anjn)

• Asturian: persona (ast) f
• Avar: гӏадан (ʻadan)
• Azerbaijani: adam (az), fərd (az), şəxsiyyət, şəxs (az)
• Bashkir: кеше (keşe), әҙәм (äðäm)
• Basque: pertsona
• Belarusian: чалаве́к (be) m (čalavjék), асо́ба (be) f (asóba)
• Bengali: ব্যক্তি (bn) (bokti), লোক (bn) (lōk)
• Bikol Central: tawo (bcl)
• Breton: den (br) m
• Bulgarian: чове́к (bg) m (čovék), персо́на (bg) f (persóna), ли́чност (bg) f (líčnost)
• Burmese: လူ (my) (lu), ပုဂ္ဂိုလ် (my) (pugguil), မနုဿ (my) (ma.nu.ssa.)
• Catalan: persona (ca) f, persón m
• Cebuano: tawo
• Central Sierra Miwok: míw·y-
• Chagatai: کِیشِی‎ (kīšī)
• Chamicuro: klistyano
• Chechen: адам (adam)
• Chichewa: munthu
• Chickasaw: hattak
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 人 (yue) (jan⁴)

  Dungan: жын (řɨn)

  Gan: 人 (nyin⁴)

  Hakka: 人 (PFS: ngìn; Guangdong: ngin²)

  Jin: 人 (reng¹)

  Mandarin: 人 (zh) (rén)

  Min Bei: 人 (nêng)

  Min Dong: 儂／侬 (nè̤ng)

  Min Nan: 人 (zh-min-nan) (lâng), 儂／侬 (zh-min-nan) (lâng)

  Wu: 人 (nyin)

  Xiang: 人 (ren²)

• Choctaw: hatak
• Czech: osoba (cs) f, člověk (cs) m
• Danish: person (da) c
• Dinka: kɔc
• Dogrib: done
• Dutch: persoon (nl) m or f
• Eastern Bontoc: tako
• Esperanto: persono (eo)
• Estonian: isik (et)
• Fataluku: ma’ar
• Finnish: henkilö (fi), yksilö (fi), persoona (fi)
• French: personne (fr) f
• Gaddang: tolay
• Galician: persoa (gl) f
• Georgian: ადამიანი (ka) (adamiani), ინდივიდი (individi), პიროვნება (ṗirovneba), პერსონა (ṗersona), პირი (ka) (ṗiri)
• German: Person (de) f
• Greek: άτομο (el) n (átomo)
• Greenlandic: inuk
• Guaraní: ava (gn)
• Haitian Creole: moun
• Hausa: mutun (ha)
• Hawaiian: kanaka
• Hebrew: בֶּן אָדָם‎ (he) m (ben ádam) אָדָם‎ (he) m (ádam)
• Hiligaynon: tawo
• Hindi: मनुष्य (hi) m (manuṣya), शख़्स m (śaxs), शख्स (hi) m (śakhs), जन (hi) m (jan), व्यक्ति (hi) m (vyakti), लोक (hi) m (lok), मानव (hi) m (mānav), मानस (hi) m (mānas), मनुष्य (hi) m (manuṣya), आदम (hi) m (ādam), ज़ात (hi) f (zāt)
• Hungarian: személy (hu), egyén (hu)
• Ibanag: tolay
• Icelandic: manneskja (is) f, persóna (is) f
• Ido: persono (io)
• Ilocano: tao
• Indonesian: orang (id)
• Interlingua: persona
• Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᒃ (iu) (inok)
• Iranun: tau
• Iriga Bicolano: tawō
• Irish: duine (ga) m, daoine (ga) pl
• Italian: persona (it) f
• Ivatan: tao
• Japanese: 人 (ja) (ひと, hito), 者 (ja) (もの, mono), 方 (ja) (かた, kata) (honorific), 人物 (ja) (じんぶつ, jinbutsu)
• Javanese: uwong (jv), priyayi (jv), manungsa (jv), menus
• Jeju: 사름 (sareum)
• K’iche’: winaq
• Kamba: mundu
• Kambera: tau
• Kannada: ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ (kn) (vyakti)
• Kapampangan: tau, tawu
• Karelian: ihmini
• Kashubian: òsoba
• Kaurna: miyu
• Kazakh: адам (kk) (adam), кісі (kısı)
• Khmer: មនុស្ស (km) (mɔnuh)
• Khumi Chin: khimi
• Kikuyu: mũndũ class 1
• Kinaray-a: tawo
• Kis: omonto
• Klamath-Modoc: maqlaqs
• Kom (Cameroon): wul
• Komi-Permyak: морт (mort)
• Kongo: muntu
• Korean: 사람 (ko) (saram), 인(人) (ko) (in) (suffix), 분 (ko) (bun) (honorific)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kes (ku), şehs

• Kyrgyz: адам (ky) (adam), киши (ky) (kişi), персона (persona), инсан (ky) (insan)
• Lao: ຄົນ (lo) (khon)
• Latin: homo (la) m or f
• Latvian: persona f
• Lenape:

  Unami: awèn

• Lithuanian: asmuo (lt) m, žmogus (lt) m
• Lubuagan Kalinga: tagu
• Luhya: omundu
• Luo: ng’ato
• Lü: ᦅᦳᧃ (kun)
• Macedonian: личност f (ličnost), човек (mk) m (čovek)
• Makasae: anu
• Malay: orang (ms)
• Manchu: ^{(please verify)} ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠯᠮᠠ (niyalma)
• Maori: tangata (mi), tuatangata
• Mapudungun: che, ce
• Maranao: taw
• Maricopa: piipaa
• Mazanderani: کس‎
• Meriam: le
• Meru: monto
• Mirandese: pessona
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүн (mn) (xün)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ (kümün)

• Mori Bawah: mia
• Mwani: munu
• Mycenaean Greek: 𐀀𐀵𐀫𐀦 (a-to-ro-qo)
• Mòcheno: mènsch m
• Nahuatl:

  Classical: tlācatl

• Nanai: най
• Navajo: diné
• Norman: pèrsonne f (Jersey)
• Northern Kankanay: ipogaw
• Northern Thai: ᨤᩫ᩠ᨶ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: person (no) m, menneske (no) n

  Nynorsk: person m, menneske n

• Nupe: ezà, zà
• Occitan: persona (oc) f
• Old English: mann m
• Old Occitan: persona
• Ottoman Turkish: شخص‎ (şahs), كیشی‎ (kişi)
• Pali: manussa m, purisa m
• Pangasinan: too
• Pashto: کسه‎ (kəsə), شخص‎ (ps) m (šaxs), فرد‎ m (fard), آدم‎ m (ādám)
• Persian: شخص‎ (fa) (šaxs), کس‎ (fa) (kas), آدم‎ (fa) (âdam)
• Pipil: takat
• Pitjantjatjara: aṉangu
• Plautdietsch: Persoon (nds) f, Mensch (nds) m
• Polish: osoba (pl) f, persona (pl) f, człowiek (pl) m
• Portuguese: pessoa (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਮਨੁੱਖ m (manukkha)
• Puyuma: taw
• Romanian: persoană (ro) f
• Russian: челове́к (ru) m (čelovék), ли́чность (ru) f (líčnostʹ), осо́ба (ru) f (osóba), персо́на (ru) f (persóna), индиви́дуум (ru) m (indivíduum)
• Rusyn: чолові́к m (čolovík)
• Sanskrit: पुरुष (sa) m (puruṣa), मनुष्य (sa) m (manuṣya)
• Scots: person
• Scottish Gaelic: pearsa m, duine m, neach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏соба f, чо̏век m, ли̏чно̄ст f

  Roman: ȍsoba (sh) f, čȍvek (sh) m, lȉčnōst (sh) f

• Shan: ၵူၼ်း (shn) (kúun)
• Sicilian: cristianu (scn) m, cristiana f
• Sinhalese: පුද්ගලයා (pudgalayā)
• Slovak: osoba (sk) f, človek (sk) m
• Slovene: oseba (sl) f, človek (sl) m
• Somali: qof (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wósoba f

  Upper Sorbian: wosoba f

• Southern Amami-Oshima: むん (mun)
• Southern Kalinga: taku
• Spanish: persona (es) f
• Sukuma: mùùn̥ʊ̀
• Swahili: mtu (sw)
• Swedish: person (sv) c
• Tagalog: tao (tl)
• Tai Nüa: ᥐᥨᥢᥰ (kön)
• Tajik: одам (tg) (odam), фард (fard), шахс (šaxs)
• Talysh: کس‎ (kas)
• Tamil: ஆள் (ta) (āḷ), நபர் (ta) (napar), புருசன் (ta) (purucaṉ)
• Taos: t’óyna
• Tatar: кеше (tt) (keşe), адәм (tt) (adäm)
• Tausug: tau
• Tboli: tau
• Tedim Chin: mi
• Telugu: వ్యక్తి (te) (vyakti), మానవుడు (te) (mānavuḍu), మనిషి (te) (maniṣi)
• Tetum: ema
• Thai: คน (th) (kon), บุคคล (th) (bùk-kon) (formal, law)
• Tibetan: མི (mi)
• Tocharian B: onolme
• Tok Pisin: man (tpi), meri (tpi), manmeri (tpi)
• Tswana: motho (tn) (1/2)
• Tupinambá: abá
• Turkish: kişi (tr), şahıs (tr), şahs (tr) (dated)
• Turkmen: adam (tk), kişi
• Tuvan: кижи (kiji)
• Tuwali Ifugao: tagu
• Ukrainian: осо́ба (uk) f (osóba), персо́на f (persóna), люди́на (uk) f (ljudýna), чолові́к (uk) m (čolovík) (now only means male (man) or husband)
• Urdu: شخص‎ m (śaxs)
• Uyghur: ئادەم‎ (ug) (adem), كىشى‎ (kishi)
• Uzbek: odam (uz), shaxs (uz), kishi (uz), persona (uz)

  Cyrillic: одам (odam)

• Vietnamese: người (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) pösod (vo), (♂) hipösod, (♀) jipösod (vo), (collective ♂♀) pösodef (vo), (diminutive ♂♀) pösodil, (diminutive ♂) hipösodil, (diminutive ♀) jipösodil, (♂♀) men (vo), (♂) himen, (♀) jimen, (collective ♂♀) menef (vo)
• Walloon: djin (wa) f, sakî (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: tawo
• Welsh: person (cy) m
• West Frisian: persoan (fy) c
• White Hmong: tib neeg
• Wintu: wintʰu·h
• Wolof: nit (wo)
• Written Oirat: ᡍᡉᡉᠨ (küün), ᡍᡉᡏᡉᠨ (kümün)
• Yagnobi: одам (odam)
• Yami: tao
• Yiddish: פּאַרשוין‎ m (parshoyn)
• Yogad: tolay
• Yoruba: èniyàn, ẹni
• Yucatec Maya: may, wíinik
• Yámana: yamana
• Zazaki: kes (diq), merdum (diq)

  Dimli: merdım (diq)

  Kirmancki: mordım

• Zhuang: boux, vunz
• Zou: mi
• Zulu: umuntu (zu) class 1/2
• ǃXóõ: tâa

Persons, people, and peoples: we know what they mean, but the relationship between them can be confusing. What’s the correct plural of person—persons or people? Why does people have its own plural?

Some of these questions have easy answers. But there are a number of nuanced aspects to their use, including those related to legal language, personal identity, and decisions about whether to emphasize individuals or groups. Then there are questions about capitalization, particularly for terms like people of color and Indigenous Peoples.

In this article, we’ll address the frequently asked questions surrounding persons, people, and peoples, including:

• When should persons be used instead of people?
• When should peoples be used instead of people?
• When should peoples be capitalized?
• What are the possessive forms of persons, people, and peoples?

What is the plural of person? Persons or people?

Both persons and people are acceptable plural forms of person. They’re not necessarily always interchangeable, but there is some overlap.

The plural form people is more common. That’s because it can be used in any context to refer to multiple individuals—one person, two people (or 100 people or 8 billion people, etc.).

Usually, you’ll see persons in more formal contexts, especially in legal and technical text, as well as a few other situations.

When to use persons vs. people

Persons is especially associated with its use in legal language, in which it’s often used rather than people to ensure clarity by emphasizing that the text is referring to multiple individuals, as opposed to a group as a whole, as in Occupancy is limited to 200 persons or Any person or persons found to be in violation of these rules shall be prohibited from participating.

When persons is used in this way outside of legal texts, it has historically been regarded as overly formal or stilted—it wouldn’t be natural to say I invited 10 persons to the party, for example. Increasingly, however, there are cases in which persons is thought to be more appropriate than people for other reasons.

This is especially the case in situations when you want to talk about individuals within a group, rather than the group as a whole. In this way, persons is sometimes used with terms related to identity to emphasize individuality, such as saying Jewish persons instead of Jewish people. Regardless of intent, though, statements that are about individuals with a common identity can lead to overgeneralizations or stereotyping, so it’s always best to consider whether the individuals’ common identity is an essential part of what you’re trying to say. Choosing how to refer to people can also be informed by preferences around language that’s person-first (as in person with autism) or identity-first (as in autistic person).

More generally, the word people can also be a collective noun that refers to a specific group, nation, tribe, or community, as in We are a resilient people or The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the American people.

Learn more about collective nouns and how to use them.

When to use peoples

The word peoples is specifically used as the plural of people in its sense as a collective singular noun referring to a nation, or tribe, or other community, as in Indigenous Peoples or the many peoples of the world.

This usage emphasizes that you’re talking about several different specific groups that share a commonality. This can be important for clarity—the many people of the world means something different than the many peoples of the world.

In practical terms, using peoples in this way can help to prevent erasure and homogenization of groups that are often lumped together in ways that obscure their specific, complex identities. In this way, the term Indigenous Peoples emphasizes the vast diversity among the world’s Indigenous groups while also implying that there are, in fact, separate and distinct groups.

When should People and Peoples be capitalized?

You may have noticed that Peoples is capitalized in Indigenous Peoples in this article (and in other articles that use the term).

Capitalization is increasingly used as a form of respect and distinction for terms that relate to identity. (Dictionary.com capitalizes Indigenous across the dictionary when it relates to identity in this way, just as we do for the word Black.)

The word Peoples is most often capitalized when it follows a specific modifier, as in Hispanic Peoples and Indigenous Peoples. In cases when it’s capitalized, it is often due to the fact that it refers not to people in general but to specific, distinct communities.

Similarly, the term People of Color is also sometimes capitalized, though not always, likely because it is typically used as a broad term that encompasses more specific identities, including Black and Indigenous people, for example (relatedly, this is what’s represented in the first part of the the abbreviation BIPOC).

What are the possessive forms of person, persons, people and peoples? Where should I put the apostrophe?

Is it people’s or peoples’? Person’s or persons’? All of these are valid possessives, but they indicate different things. Here is a breakdown of each possessive form, along with examples of their use.

Person

• Possessive form: person’s (singular possessive)
• Example: One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Persons

• Possessive form: persons’ (plural possessive)
• Example: The suspect confessed to the theft of several persons’ social security numbers.

People

• Possessive form: people’s (plural and singular possessive)
• Plural example: Tech support should be able to fix all six people’s issues by the end of the day.
• Singular example: The French people’s love of fine food is well known.

Peoples

• Possessive form: peoples’ (plural possessive)
• Example: The goal of the festival is to celebrate many different peoples’ cultures.

Examples of persons, people, and peoples used in a sentence

Here are some examples of the ways that each word is commonly used.

• We were hoping that at least one person would apply for the job, but we received applications from 60 people!
• The person or persons who may have witnessed the incident are being sought by police.
• My partner and I, as persons with autism, have a unique perspective on the issue.
• The class will be focused on the history, peoples, and cultures of the region.
• Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a time to honor Indigenous Peoples in the Americas and around the world.

1.

Why is it always taught that the word «person» has not plural form while it is actually has?

A language teacher or a pedagogist may be able to provide a better answer, but I remember from my own days learning French that we would sometimes be taught things which I would later discover to be simplifications or generalisations and in many ways untrue.

I assume that teachers make the judgement that whatever confusion is generated by teaching things that are not strictly true is outweighed by the benefits of getting the basic principles across and avoiding unnecessary complexity that might cause even worse confusion.

2.
In legal and bureaucratic documents «persons» is the usual plural in all meanings. In a lift or elevator, you will often see a safety notice advising that it is fit to carry a «maximum of 5 persons» (or whatever).

«Persons» is also the plural of a specific sense of the word «person». This sense is the one used in phrases such as «carrying a weapon on one’s person». This sense is always pluralised as «persons», even when found in non-legal and non-official contexts (though its plural is relatively rarely needed outside of such contexts). «Person» here means your body or the clothing you are wearing or bags you are carrying. («On/about your person» formal «in a pocket, bag, or something else that you are holding».)

«Persons» is also the plural of the specialised grammatical term («the first and third persons» — not «the first and third people»!).

As for the general rule, Oxford Dictionaries says:

The words people and persons can both be used as the plural of person, but they have slightly different connotations. People is by far the commoner of the two words and is used in most ordinary contexts: a group of people; there were only about ten people; several thousand people have been rehoused. Persons, on the other hand, tends now to be restricted to official or formal contexts, as in this vehicle is authorized to carry twenty persons; no persons admitted without a pass.

Cambridge says:

Persons (plural) is a very formal word. We only use it in rather legalistic contexts: [notice in a lift] Any person or persons found in possession of illegal substances will be prosecuted.