Plural Rule 3 | Mr Spelling

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PLURAL SPELLING RULE 3

When a noun ends in a consonant + Y, you cannot just add S to make it plural. Instead, change the Y to I and add ES. So baby becomes babies, pony becomes ponies, and berry becomes berries. If the word ends in vowel + Y, just add S as normal.

Y → IES Pairs

SPELLING WORDS

baby→babies

pony→ponies

berry→berries

puppy→puppies

bunny→bunnies

story→stories

daisy→daisies

bully→bullies

Base forms to spell (then write the plural)

baby pony berry puppy bunny story daisy bully city party lady cherry penny fly sky

Spelling Word List

15 nouns ending in Y: write the base word and then make it plural!

Download PDF

Change Y to I, Add ES

HOW IT WORKS

Plural Rule 3: Consonant + Y Nouns

consonant + Y → Y + IES

When a noun ends in a consonant followed by Y (like B+Y in baby, P+Y in puppy, N+Y in bunny): 1) Remove the Y. 2) Add IES. The Y changes to IE before the S. This is because English doesn't like the combination of a consonant + YS at the end of a word.

When to Just Add S

WATCH OUT

Vowel + Y words just add S

boys, days

When a noun ends in a vowel + Y (AY, EY, OY, UY), just add S. Boy → boys, day → days, key → keys, toy → toys. Do NOT change the Y: that would give you boies and daies, which are wrong.

fly → flies

One-syllable words ending in Y also follow the rule even though they feel different: fly → flies, sky → skies, cry → cries. Y after a consonant always triggers the change to IES, whether the word is long or short.

verbs too!

This pattern applies to verbs as well, not just nouns. Compare: cry → cries (she cries), fly → flies (he flies). The rule is the same for making third-person singular verb forms.

Lyrics

Plural Rule 3: Change Y to IES Song

Are you ready to learn plural rule number three? I got this. Here we go.

CHORUS

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
Change the Y to an I and add ES.
That's how you make these words plural.
Change the Y to an I and add ES.

VERSE 1

Baby. Drop the Y. Add IES. Babies is the plural. Yes.
Pony. Drop the Y. Add IES. Ponies is the plural. Yes.
Berry. Drop the Y. Add IES. Berries is the plural. Yes.
Puppy. Drop the Y. Add IES. Puppies is the plural. Yes.

CHORUS

Change the Y to an I and add ES.
That's how you make these words plural.
Change the Y to an I and add ES.

VERSE 2

Bunny. Drop the Y. Add IES. Bunnies is the plural. Yes.
Story. Drop the Y. Add IES. Stories is the plural. Yes.
Daisy. Drop the Y. Add IES. Daisies is the plural. Yes.
Bully. Drop the Y. Add IES. Bullies is the plural. Yes.

CHORUS

Change the Y to an I and add ES.
That's how you make these words plural.
Change the Y to an I and add ES.

Mr. Spelling. Bye-bye.