The 5 plurals that we get wrong most often: from nouns ending in -cia and -gia to compound ones

The most incorrect plurals among Italians? Cherries, suitcases, rain and oranges probably, but even compound nouns give us a lot of doubts. If as children in primary school it immediately seemed simple to us to transform words from singular to plural, we soon realized that this is not really the case. Without going to see the invariable names, there are foreignisms and exceptions that can put us in doubt. Below we analyze the most common mistakes, so you can learn the correct forms and never make mistakes again.

Nouns in cia/gia: when the i’s fall

A great classic that has put us all in doubt at least once. The rule, however, is very simple: the I is preserved forming the plural only when the C and G are preceded by a vowel. For example:

• acacia ▶ acacias
• cherry ▶ cherries
• shirt ▶ shirts
• suitcase ▶ suitcases

This also applies to nouns in which the I of the syllable is stressed:

• pharmacy ▶ pharmacies
• wake ▶ wakes

The I is eliminated when C and G are preceded by a consonant:

• drop ▶ drops
• orange ▶ oranges
• rain ▶ rains
• province ▶ provinces

This also applies to words that end with the syllable -scia:

• thigh ▶ thighs
• band ▶ bands

Of the words seen above there will be two that catch the eye: cherries and provinces. This is because it may happen that you see them written differently than the rule, i.e. “cherries” and “provincie” (common on various license plates of ancient origin that can still be found scattered around Italy). This happens because the rule we have seen above was adopted in the middle of the last century, and in the most ancient texts the Latin etymology was followed, that is provinciale And cereseae.

Invariable and irregular plurals

How does swordfish become plural? It is the same, because it is invariable. The same goes for words we often use like “series”, “species”, “crisis”, “analysis” etc.

But there are nouns that are really irregular in the plural, and which must be learned by heart, such as:

• ox ▶ oxen
• god ▶ gods
• temple ▶ temples
• bone ▶ bones (if they indicate the set of bones in the body), bones (if we indicate the individual pieces)
• mile ▶ miles (measure of distance), miles (plural of cereal)
• sheet ▶ sheets (single linen), sheets (bed linen in its entirety, including all the parts that compose it).

Compound nouns

Compound nouns are insidious, because their formation depends on the grammatical relationship between the elements that compose them, and this means that there is no single rule.

Almost all of us, at least once, have wondered what the plural of “train conductor” is. Train conductors? Trainmaster? Trainmasters? In this case, the correct plural form would be that of captain. This is because “chief” functions as the main subject between the two nouns.

But this does not apply, for example, to the word “editor-in-chief”, which can be reversed into “editor-in-chief”. In this case, “boss” functions as an attribute, so the plural becomes “editors in chief”. The capital (capitals) and paragraph (paragraphs) also follow this rule. The only exception is “cornstone”, because balance is not a noun, but an adjective, and in the plural it becomes “cornstones”.

There are several nouns that are composed of an adjective and a noun (masculine or feminine), which generally form the plural as if they were simple nouns, i.e. changing only the ending of the second element:

• Plateau ▶ plateaus
• Then there are some exceptions:
• Mezzobusto ▶ half-busts
• Midnight ▶ midnight

Then there are nouns composed of two nouns, and there are two cases:

1. 1. If the nouns are both of the same gender (both masculine or both feminine), only the second noun is plural:
      • Chest ▶ chests
      • Paperpecora ▶ paperpecore
      • dogfish ▶ dogfish
      • shrew ▶ shrews
   2. If the nouns are of different gender, however, only the first noun varies:
      • sawfish ▶ sawfish
      • cricket mole ▶ cricket mole

      But there are two exceptions: banknote (banknotes), hatch (hatches) and railway (railways).

Nouns composed of a noun (masculine or feminine) and an adjective, however, form the plural by changing the ending of both terms:

• cornerstone ▶ cornerstones
• safe ▶ safes
• Terracotta ▶ terracottas
• Gattamorta ▶ gattemorte

The only exception is stage, which in the plural becomes “stages”.

Then there are those nouns in which one of the two words is a verb. In nouns composed of a verb and a masculine singular noun, only the latter varies:

• headache ▶ headache
• curfew ▶ curfews
• mudguard ▶ mudguards

The same rule applies to compound nouns where the noun is the feminine word “hand”:

• kissman ▶ kisshand
• handrail ▶ handrails

Nouns composed of a verb and a feminine singular noun, however, remain unchanged (ashtray, tread, tongue twister remain the same as the plural). However, there are exceptions:

• screwdriver ▶ screwdrivers
• lifebuoy ▶ lifebuoys

If, however, the compound noun is made up of two verbs, the noun remains unchanged in the plural (the fugafuggi remains the fugafuggi).

Nouns in ca/ga: there is one exception

But the plural of Belgian… what is it?

As reported by the Accademia della Crusca, we know that nouns ending in -ca and -ga (for example, monarch, colleague) all form the plural in -chi and -ghi (monarchs and colleagues) if they are masculine, in -che and -ghe if they are feminine (for example, basilica/basilicas, bottega/shops). The word “Belgian”, however, is an exception to the rule, and its plural is “Belgians”, preserving the French name of the inhabitants, i.e. the “Belges”. The feminine plural, however, is regular (Belgian).

Foreignisms: from “computer” to “fan”

In recent years we have borrowed more and more words from English, but not everyone knows that the letter S should not be added to the plural.

“Computer”, in the plural remains “computer”. The same goes for other well-known words, such as “movie”, “toast”, “browser” and “meme”.

They are words whose form is blocked, and as they do not fall within the inflectional system of the language, they remain invariable in the plural. The only exceptions accepted are “fans” and “goals”, now widely used on social media, even if they are not technically correct.