Plural nouns

el libro → los librosthe book → the books

Making a Spanish noun plural is mostly a matter of adding an ending, and which ending depends on how the singular word ends. When a noun has a definite article, it changes too — el/la become los/las.

Quick shortcut: word ends in a vowel → add -s. Word ends in a consonant → add -es. A handful of endings need their own small adjustment.

Nouns ending in a vowel: add -s

Most Spanish nouns end in a vowel, and for these the plural is simple — just add -s:

• el libro → los libros (the book → the books)
• la mesa → las mesas (the table → the tables)
• el café → los cafés (the coffee → the coffees)

This also covers a noun ending in a stressed vowel with a written accent, like café or sofá: the accent stays, and -s is simply added — el sofá → los sofás.

Nouns ending in a consonant: add -es

When a noun ends in a consonant, the plural adds a full extra syllable, -es, rather than just -s:

• la ciudad → las ciudades (the city → the cities)
• el papel → los papeles (the paper → the papers)
• el reloj → los relojes (the clock → the clocks)
• el profesor → los profesores (the teacher → the teachers)

Nouns ending in -z: change z to c

A noun ending in -z swaps that letter for c before adding -es. This is a spelling rule, not a sound change — the z and c represent the same sound in most of the Spanish-speaking world, and Spanish spelling simply avoids writing z right before e:

• el lápiz → los lápices (the pencil → the pencils)
• la luz → las luces (the light → the lights)
• la vez → las veces (the time/occasion → the times/occasions)

Nouns that don't change at all

A noun that already ends in an unstressed -s — the last syllable isn't the stressed one — stays exactly the same in the plural; only the article shows the difference:

• el lunes → los lunes (Monday → Mondays; the same is true of every day of the week except sábado and domingo, which end in a vowel and follow the ordinary -s rule: los sábados, los domingos)
• la crisis → las crisis (the crisis → the crises)
• el paraguas → los paraguas (the umbrella → the umbrellas)

By contrast, a word ending in a stressed -s does take -es, like any other consonant ending: el país → los países (the country → the countries).

A written-accent shift: jóvenes, exámenes

A few common nouns that end in -en carry no written accent in the singular but need one in the plural, because adding a syllable moves the stressed syllable one further from the end of the word:

Common mistakes

• ❌ los papels → ✅ los papeles (a consonant ending needs the full -es, not just -s)
• ❌ los lápizes → ✅ los lápices (the z changes to c before -es)
• ❌ los crisis → ✅ las crisis (the noun doesn't change, but the article still has to)
• ❌ los jovenes (no accent) → ✅ los jóvenes (the plural needs the written accent that the singular doesn't)
• ❌ Assuming every noun follows -s/-es → words like el lunes and la crisis already end in an unstressed -s and stay the same

Quick check

Give the plural.

1. la mano (hand)
2. el actor (actor)
3. la voz (voice)
4. el martes (Tuesday)
5. el examen (exam)
6. el autobús (bus)

Key takeaways

• Noun ends in a vowel → add -s: libro → libros.
• Noun ends in a consonant → add -es: papel → papeles.
• Noun ends in -z → change to c and add -es: lápiz → lápices.
• A noun already ending in an unstressed -s doesn't change at all — only its article shows the plural: el lunes → los lunes.
• A few nouns ending in -en (joven, examen, origen) gain a written accent in the plural that the singular doesn't have.
• The article always agrees too: el → los, la → las — see Noun gender (masculine & feminine) for how a noun gets its gender in the first place.