Spelling rules: Changing 'y' to 'ies'

There are so many spelling rules and it can be difficult to learn and remember them all when
you are learning English. Usually when you are talking about more than one item or thing, you
add the letter ‘s’ on the end, however this isn’t always the case if the word ends in the letter ‘y’.

When do you change 'y' to 'ies'?

If you are writing about your day and you see a baby, you could write ‘Today, I saw a baby’, but
if you saw more than one baby, you would write ‘Today, I saw two babies’.

The next day you might be writing about your day again, and you saw a donkey so you would
write ‘Today, I saw a donkey’, but if you saw more than one donkey, you would write ‘Today, I
saw two donkeys’.

Both words (baby and donkey) end in the letter ‘y’, so how come the first example removes the
letter ‘y’ and adds the letters ‘ies’ to make it plural, whilst the second example only adds the
letter ‘s’ to make it plural?

The spelling rule

The spelling rule is: when the word has a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) before the letter ‘y’, you add the
letter ‘s’ and when the word has a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z)
before the letter ‘y’, you remove the ‘y’ and replace it with ‘ies’.

So, when the word has a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) before the letter ‘y’, you add the letter ‘s’.

Examples:
 Key = Keys
 Delay = Delays
 Holiday = Holidays
 Annoy = Annoys

And when the word has a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z) before

the letter ‘y’, you remove the ‘y’ and replace it with ‘ies’.

Examples:
 Accompany = Accompanies
 Emergency = Emergencies
 Embassy = Embassies
 Quality = Qualities

To improve your English language skills, or to learn more English spelling rules, book your
English lessons now.
 7 Plural Spelling Rules
boys, countries, businesses, heroes, videos, boxes, rulers, women, children, dogs, washes,
memories, sheep

Do you know when we add -ies, -ves, -s and -es ?

We're going to look at these important spelling rules then there's a spelling test so read carefully.

1. Add -s to regular plurals. Adding an s is all you need to form a regular plural: file - files,
centre - centres, girl - girls, book - books, computer - computers, ambition - ambitions...

2. Add es to words ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, -z:

wash - washes, box - boxes, match - matches, glass - glasses, bus - buses, business - businesses...

*There's one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a 'k' then add -s
(stomach - stomachs)

Click here to find out why we add -es to these words, and watch the Adding -es video.

3. Change to ves or add s.

Some words ending in f or fe change to ves: knife - knives, life - lives, wife - wives, shelf - shelves

Exceptions: add s: roof - roofs, proof - proofs, chief - chiefs

Words ending in ff add s: cliffs, sniffs, scoffs, toffs stiffs, tiffs...

These words can be either ves or s: scarf - scarves or scarfs, dwarf - dwarves or dwarfs

Click here for more info on the -ves or -s rule and spelling test

4. Change y to ies or s
a. If the word ends in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) + y then just add s:
boy - boys, journey - journeys, key - keys, tray - trays

b. If the word ends in a consonant + y change y to ies:

country - countries, baby - babies, body - bodies, memory - memories
Click here to go to the y to -ies or -s video and exercise

5. Adding s or es to words ending in O:

a. If a word ends in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) + 'o' then we sometimes add s.
radio - radios, stereo - stereos, video - videos

b. If a words ends in a consonant + 'o', we sometimes add s, sometimes es. No rules for this - you
just have to learn the common words, or use a dictionary.

kilo - kilos, zero - zeros, piano - pianos, photo - photos

but hero - heroes, potato - potatoes, volcano - volcanoes, tomato - tomatoes.

Click here to go to the Making Plurals with O Words video and exercise

6. Irregular plurals
woman - women, man - men, child - children, person - people, tooth - teeth, foot - feet, mouse -
mice, penny - pence

7. No change between plural and singular.

There are some words that are the same in the plural as in the singular: sheep, series, fish*, cod,
salmon, aircraft, cattle, scissors, deer, trousers

fish or fishes? The plural form fish is more common. Fishes is used when talking about different
types of fish. (Oxford Dictionary)