In our article we will talk about English numbers that any user who learns this language faces. It will be a conversation not only about numbers. This will be an attempt to explain the rules for the formation of the plural in English in an accessible way. The fact is that these rules are significantly different from what we are used to encounter in Russian. Many begin to get confused and incorrectly use some words. To prevent this from happening, you need to carefully study this material.
Number formation
Let's start with the elementary, that is, with numbers. Even a small child can easily overcome this material and quickly learn to count. The main reason for this is the ease of education. Just learn the following rules:
- numbers from 1 to 12 have an individual shape and need to be learned by heart: one,two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve;
- from 13 to 19 the suffix -teen is added to the number, for example, fourteen, sixteen, etc.;
- digits denoting tens are formed by adding the suffix -ty, for example, forty, sixty, etc.;
- then you also need to remember the numbers "one hundred" - hundred, "thousand" - thousand, "million" - million;
- composite numbers are pronounced the same way as individually: 43 - forty three.
Counting in English
And now let's start a general acquaintance with the grammar of the English language and recall that, like in any other language, there are two numbers of nouns here: singular and plural. We use the singular when we talk about the presence of one element, and the plural form, respectively, when we need to indicate the presence of two or more objects. It should be noted right away that not only objects, but also animate and abstract nouns have a plural form.
So, the construction of these numbers in English is made in accordance with certain rules. If we talk about the singular, then there is nothing complicated here: we just take the word given in the dictionary, since it always stands in its initial form, that is, in the number we need. The formation of the plural form requires your attention. The form of the word will depend on which noun you use. There are simple words, compound, compound, countable, non-countable andetc. Each of these words forms English numbers according to its own rules, and we will talk about each of them separately.
The bulk of nouns in the formation of the number of interest to us in English needs only to correctly add the ending -s. For example, window - windows, boy - boys, dog - dogs, etc. It is this letter at the end of a noun that means the presence of not one, but several objects or persons. But when adding this ending, you need to remember the following:
- If a word ends in -s, -ss, -x, a combination of two or three consonants (-ch, -sh, -ght, etc.), you need to add the ending -es when forming the plural form. For example, fox - foxes.
- If a word ends with the letter -y preceded by a consonant, when adding the ending, you need to change -y to -i and also add the ending -es. For example, duty - duties.
- If the word ends in -fe, then we need to replace this letter with -v and add the ending -s. For example, life - lives.
- Words that end in -o also take on the ending -es when pluralized. For example, tomato - tomatoes; but there are exceptions here, as the words piano, photo, radio are pluralized with the ending -s (radio - radios).
- There are some nouns that can have two plural forms, for example scarf - scarfs (scarves).
All of these points are standard rules, but there are special cases. We will review them below.
Exclusion words
Nouns that do not form English numbers according to the rules are called "exceptions". These words need to be memorized. These include nouns such as:
- "man" - "men" (man), "woman" - "women" (woman), "child" - "children" (child), "goose" - "geese" (goose), " mouse" - "mice" (mouse), "tooth" - "teeth" (tooth). As you can see, no rules can explain these changes, so we just learn them by heart.
- There are also words that have the same singular form as the plural. These are words such as: fruit, fish, deer, sheep.
- You should remember nouns that do not have a single form, but are always used only in the plural: "scissors" - scissors, "trousers" - trousers, as well as glasses, scales, clothes, etc.
- There are also reverse cases, when words do not have a plural form. For example, "advice" advice, "progress" progress, as well as knowledge, money, etc. As a rule, these are abstract words that cannot be counted, that is, not countable.
Compound and compound words
Compound nouns are those that consist of two simple words and are written together. For example, book + mark=bookmark (bookmark). Compounds are called words that are made up of simple words and conjunctions and are written with a hyphen. For example, father + in + law=father-in-law (stepfather). Such nouns form numbers in English as follows:
- Complicatedwords always end with -s, e.g. bookmark - bookmarks.
- If you are dealing with a compound word, then the key information here is the presence of a noun in it. Usually in such words, the ending -s is added to the first word, for example, father-in-law - fathers-in-law. However, if there is no noun in the compound, then we will put the ending -s at the end of the whole word, for example, forget-me-not -forget-me-nots.
It is worth noting that English learners do not have any particular difficulties in this case.
Numbers in English: table
To summarize all of the above, as well as to simplify access to information, we have compiled a table where we briefly describe all the main points of plural formation that need to be studied first.
| 1 |
Most nouns N + s |
book - books |
| 2 |
Words ending in -s, -ss, -x, two or three consonants at the end of a word -ch, -sh, ght, etc. N + es |
boss - bosses |
| 3 |
Words ending in -y preceded by a consonant N y → i + es |
library - libraries |
| 4 |
Words ending in -fe, f N f → v + s |
shelf - shelves |
| 5 |
Words ending in -o N + es |
hero - heroes |
| 6 | Exclusion words |
man - men sheep-sheep - - wages advice - - |
| 7 | Compound words | schoolgirl - schoolgirls |
| 8 | Compound words | mother-in-law - mothers-in-law |
Of course, this is a very short table of number formation, but it will be a good helper for those who have carefully studied the topic and understood all its nuances. The main thing that every person interested in the English language should understand is that there are many grammatical rules in it, but even more exceptions to them. Therefore, in order to speak correctly in this language and speak correctly, you need to learn all the exceptions to the rules. Of course, it is difficult to do this right away, but as you study, you will automatically learn how to use the necessary forms. And this applies not only to grammar, but also to the phonetics of the English language.
