Inherited fromMiddle English-s,-es, fromOld English-as, nominative-accusative plural ending of masculine a-stem (i.e. strong) declension nouns, fromProto-West Germanic*-ōs, fromProto-Germanic*-ōs,*‑ōz, fromProto-Indo-European*-es,*-oes(plural endings). The spread of this ending in later Middle English was once argued to have been the result ofAnglo-Norman influence; however,-as was already the most common Old English plural marker (used in approximately 40% of Old English nouns), and was initially more common in the North of England where French influence was weakest, only later gradually spreading south, replacing the usual southern plural ending-en. Cognate withScots-s(plural ending),Saterland Frisian-s(plural ending),West Frisian-s(plural ending),Dutch-s(plural ending),Low German-s(plural ending),Danish-er(plural ending),Swedish-r,-ar,-or(plural ending),Icelandic-ar(plural ending),Gothic-𐍉𐍃(-ōs,nominative plural ending of a-stem masculine nouns). Not directly related toGerman-er(plural ending) which has a different origin.
one computer → five computers; Kennedy → Kennedys; hanger-on → hangers-on; lapful → lapfuls; cul-de-sac → cul-de-sacs; standby → standbys; push-up → push-ups; gin and tonic → gin and tonics; pair → pairs; beef → beefs
Used to form manypluralia tantum (nouns that are almost or entirely without singular forms).
shorts
sunglasses
When appended to a number ending in at least one 0, expresses a range of numbers which share the digits before some or (usually) all of the 0s; frequently used for decades, centuries and temperatures.
We often look back on the 1960s[the years from 1960 to 1969] with rose-tinted glasses.
The Industrial Revolution went into full-swing during the 1800s[the years from 1800 to 1899 – but see usage notes].
(regular plurals): In semi-formal or formal contexts, where the plurality of a noun depends on some unknown aspect of the sentence, thes may be parenthesised: "The winner(s) will be invited to a prize ceremony."
(number): Decades formed with-s are usually pronounced as if they were written as two separate numbers. For example,1970s is read asnineteen-seventies, as if it were written as19 70s, not as*nineteen-hundred seventies or*one thousand nine hundred and seventies.
(number): When the number before the-s ends in more than one zero, there is ambiguity about the range of numbers that is meant. For example,1800s could mean "the years from 1800 to 1899; the entire 19th century" or "the years from 1800 to 1809; the first decade of the 19th century". The intended meaning can usually be derived from context.
FromMiddle English-(e)s(third-person singular ending), from NorthumbrianOld English-es,-as(third-person singular endings). Gradually replaced the older-eth, fromOld English-(e)þ,-aþ, during the Middle English and Early Modern English periods.
It is predominantly believed that-(e)s is identical to the Old English second-person singular ending-es,-est (cf. archaic Modern English-est, as inthou singest). The use for the third-person singular would have been caused by speakers ofOld Norse who switched to speaking English and confounded the endings due to analogy with their native tongue. In Old Norse, the second and third person singular indicative forms were identical (e.g.þúmasar, hann masar;þúþekkir, hann þekkir; etc.).
An alternative theory sees the shift from/θ/ in-eth to/s/ (later/z/) in-(e)s as a mere phonetic simplification due to the frequency of the ending, but the objection to this is that no such development can be observed anywhere else in English. Nevertheless the relative similarity in sound between both forms may have facilitated the spread of-es.
In Standard English, the-s suffix is only used to mark the third person singular present of verbs; however, in some varieties of English, particularly northern English, Scottish, US Southern andAAVE, the-s can be extended to other persons/numbers as well, as in:I eats me spinach;I hates the Yankees;they likes it here; etc.
As in modern nonstandard varieties, the-s suffix can be used to mark the third-person plural inEarly Modern English. However, it is less common than the modern standardzero ending, and is frequently only found in restricted contexts; for instance,Shakespeare only uses it where a plural subject has "singular" semantics.[1]
^Herbert Schendl (2000) “The third person present plural in Shakespeare’s First Folio: A case of interaction of morphology and syntax?”, inWords: Structure, meaning, function. A festschrift for Dieter Kastovsky,Berlin: Mouton de Gruyte, pages263-276
In most cases where-s is found nowadays as a possessive case marker, it is a simple misspelling of-'s. However, possessive determiners derived from personal pronouns use-s (e.g.,its, notit's). The same is true of pronouns derived from possessive determiners (e.g.,theirs, nottheir's). The possessive form ofwho takes-se (whose, notwho's).
Sometimes used in place names; e.g.,Harpers Ferry (formerly spelled “Harper’s Ferry”),Queens County (note that the former name ofCounty Laois was officially “Queen’s County”, however, the apostrophe-less spelling is well-attested).
Modern sense in slang[circa 1936]. According toOED, a colloquialclipping of thehypocoristic diminutive suffix-sy. AsAHD writes,-sy itself usually being informal, ironic and/or jocular, and possibly a combination of-s(“plural marker”) and conflation of-y as adjectival with its sense as adiminutive suffix (e.g.,puppy,kitty), the latter notion probably fromScots.
When attached too- orua-stem verbs the stem and the suffix merge into-ues in the modern standard, following Gheg practice, while traditionally made-onjës following Tosk practice.
Similarly, when attached toe- orye-stem verbs they give rise to-yes in Gheg and the modern standard, while-enjës in Tosk and the old standard.
Victor Chan Haw Fung (1999) “Hong Kong English and the Internet”, inUnpublished MA dissertation (in Chinese), page40: “Some of these words have plural forms likeleng luis in (example 13).”
Nouns ending in unstressed-e generally have a plural in-s and one in-n (ziekte >ziektes,ziekten). Individual words, however, allow just one of the two ways.
Most words of Latin origin ending in-um are pluralized with the suffix-s (museum >museums) or by replacing-um with-a (>musea). The latter tends to be preferred in formal style.
From earlier forms such as-sz,-se,-sen; all ultimately from the patronymic use ofzoon with a connecting genitival interfix-s-. Bare-s as a patronymic may also represent an underlying patronymic use ofdochter, as in the nameNeeltje Jansdochter, which could reduce toNeeltje Jans by simple elision of-dochter.Thisetymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Appended to a second-person imperative to give a command or request a slightly rude or impatient tone—the tone may vary depending on the verb and other particles used.
Kuules nyt!(addressing one person. quite an established expression of frustration, speaker very impatient) ―Nowdo listen!
Kuulkaas nyt!(addressing many people, same tone as above) ―Nowdo listen!
Tees nämä tehtävät.(addressing one person, tone less impatient) ―Go do these tasks.
Appended to a second-person imperative with the particle-pa/-pä to give a command or request a slightly more persuasive or inspiring tone.
Laitapas lautaset pöytään. ―Hey,go put the plates on the table.
Appended to the impersonal indicative present form to soften the command or request or to make it more persuasive.
Tehdääs tämä huomenna. ―Let'sgo do this tomorrow.
Softens questions.
Softens questions, such as when the speaker expects the person addressed to know the answer.
Mikäs se Suomen pääkaupunki olikaan? ―What was Finland's capitalagain?
Kukas heistä olikaan sinun lapsesi? ―Which of them was your childagain?
Appended to an interrogative suffix-ko/-kö in order to bring the conversation partner or a person outside the conversation, talked about, emotionally closer to the #speaker, or to create familiarity into the conversation; also to express that closeness or familiarity—translation in English tends to vary; in some cases corresponds totag questions.
When directly attached to forms ending in-n (e.g. impersonal/passive forms), the-n is dropped (e.g.miten →mites).
When attached to imperative forms, the gemination is often ignored, unless another enclitic is also used before-s, like with-pas. Thuslaitas/lɑi̯tɑs/, butlaitapas/lɑi̯tɑpːɑs/. It may resurface before a vowel, however:laitas auto/lɑi̯tɑs(ː) ɑuto/
The spread of this suffix to the first-person singular started out from Old French verbs whose stems happened to end in a sibilant, most notably the regular conjugation in-ir, e.g.,jefenis, tu fenis (from Vulgar Latinfin-isc-o, fin-isc-is). In later Old French, final/s/ was only pronounced inliaison and inpausa. This weakened the distinction in those verbs which had originally had-s in the second-person only, but by analogy now began to take it in the first-person as well. The grammarians later on standardised the usage, prescribing-s in some cases and rejecting it in others.
Silent, except in liaison environments, when it may be pronounced/z‿/. This liaison is optional after full vowels (as intudois). After silent-e- (as intuaimes) it is rare and often discouraged.
The formation of the strong genitive singular (in-s, -es, or no ending) may be of some difficulty both for learners and native speakers.
Only one form is possible in some nouns:
Nouns in unstressed-as, -es,- is, -os, -us remain unchanged (except those in-nis, which make-nisses).
Other nouns in-s, -ß, -x, -z take-es.
Nouns ending in a vowel or in unstressed-el, -em, -en, -er, -or, -um take-s. (Only those in a diphthong or in-h allow-es, alternatively.)
Nouns forming their plural in-s take the same ending also in the genitive singular. (Apparent exceptions will generally have an alternative plural in-e.)
Otherwise, both forms are usually correct, but certain tendencies can be observed:
Thees-form is strongly preferred in a number of frequently used monosyllables, to the degree that thes-form may even sound odd. No hard rule can be given to identify these nouns; they include e.g.Land,Mann,Weg, etc.
Thees-form is also preferred, for euphonic reasons, in words ending in certain clusters like-pf, -sch, -st.
Most other monosyllables have no clear preference.
Thes-form is usually preferred in polysyllables, regardless of their being simple or compound and regardless also of stress patterns.
Note, finally, that there is a fairly strong tendency for proper nouns (used with the article) and for newer or less common loanwords to remain unchanged in the genitive singular.
The plural ending-s is most typical of loanwords (as inSchals,Parfüms,Videos), though there is a tendency for naturalised loanwords to switch to-e or-en (compareGeneräle,Lifte,Pizzen with olderGenerals,Lifts,Pizzas). Conversely,-s is also used in a certain number of native words (as inFräuleins,Mädels,Uhus). Moreover, it is the most productive plural marker in contemporary German, typically used to pluralise initialisms (LKWs), neologisms (Honks), and words that do not otherwise have a common plural form (Streits).
nulla(“zero”) + -s → nullás(“the digit or figure 0”)
(frequentative suffix,obsolete)Forms verbs with repetitive meaning. In today's Hungarian language, it is completely obsolete, and its old derivatives are also obscured, e.g.olvas(“to read”),keres(“to seek”),futos(“to run around”).
The suffix appears most obviously in thethird declension, as inurbs. Stem-final consonants are often modified or deleted before the suffix: for example,lēg-(“law”) + -s → lēx(“law”,nominative singular) anddent-(“tooth”) + -s → dēns(“tooth”,nominative singular). Etymologically, the Latin third declension includes both original consonant-stem nouns andi-stem nouns, but these two classes are not consistently distinguished in the nominative singular due to frequent syncope of nominative forms that originally ended in*-is (such as*ǵénh₁tis >gēns), as well as some analogical interchange of endings between these two classes (as in*ḱwṓ and*h₂yéwHō being replaced withcanis andiuvenis respectively). The ending-s usually does not appear in the nominative singular ofn-stem,r-stem, orl-stem nouns. Most non-neutern-stems instead drop the-n- and take the ending-ō̆ in the nominative singular (such ashomō̆, hominis orcarō̆, carnis); a smaller set end in-n in the nominative singular (as intībīcen, tībīcinis);-s appears only in a handful of irregular formations such ascanis,iuvenis,sanguī̆s.R-stem andl-stem nouns (such asāctor,cōnsul) normally have nominative singular forms ending in-r or-l respectively (which are the regular outcomes in Latin of word-final original*-rs and*-ls). Latin nominative singular forms that end in-ns,-rs or-ls are derived by consonant cluster simplification from stems ending in -t- or -d-; e.g.mōns, montis;pars, partis;puls, pultis.
Second declension non-neuter nominative singular forms originally ended in the suffix-s preceded by the Indo-European thematic vowel*-o-. Vowel reduction caused short-o- to be replaced with-u- in closed non-initial syllables, and so Proto-Italic*-os became Classical Latin-us, which is often interpreted as a nominative suffix of its own (an example ofrebracketing) rather than a sequence of stem-final vowel +-s. Likewise, in thefourth declension andfifth declension,-s is always preceded by the characteristic vowels of these declensions (-u- and-ē- respectively), with the result that-us and-ēs are frequently regarded as nominative singular suffixes for these declensions.
The suffix-s generally appears only on non-neuter nominative/vocative forms, but it is found in the neuter nominative/vocative/accusative singular ofthird declension adjectives "of one termination". From an etymological perspective, third-declension neuter nouns such asgenus, generis that end in-s in the nominative singular alternating with-r- in oblique forms do not end in this suffix: rather, they are derived from stems that originally ended in the consonant *s (which was changed to-r- by rhotacism when followed by a suffix starting with a vowel).
(often affects the value or quality of preceding consonants, may or may not cause i-mutation) Feminine noun suffix forming nouns from adjectives and verbs
In sporadic and strongly proscribed Brazilian usage, the same rules are applied to words that end in a vowel +u oro ([w]):degrau → *degrais,troféu → *troféis
afterx, Hellenisms and Latinisms are usually unchanged (following the rule for words ending ins), but sometimes have-es and thex becomesc (/s/), especially in Brazilian Portuguese:tórax →tórax,clímax →clímax orclímaces
more often than not, surnames do not take an extra morpheme in the plural; when they do, they are usually Portuguese surnames with recognisable Portuguese morphemes:oFerreira →osFerreira orosFerreiras
names of peoples that do not contain Portuguese endings usually do not take the plural morpheme:polaco →polacos;ashanti →ashanti orashantis (less common)
In informal varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, a noun phrase may take a single plural marker, usually in the article. For example, “the big houses” may beascasagrande where standard Portuguese requiresascasasgrandes. This usage is very widespread, however, it is proscribed and generally regarded as unacceptable in formal contexts and in serious writing.
Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese allows/j/ to be added before/s/ in words stressed in their final syllables. This is blocked by morpheme boundaries, such thatnós(“we”) may be pronounced/nɔjs/, butnós(“knots”) can only be pronounced as/nɔs/.vocês and colloquial formscês andocês are an exception to this rule, and can be pronounced/voˈsejs/. Note that this process is usually avoided in formal speech.
Inherited fromOld Swedish-s, fromOld Norse-s, originally the genitive singular ending of a-stem nouns. Cognate withDanish-s. The frequent use of the suffix in written and modern colloquial Swedish is possibly the result of foreign influence, either Latin or Middle Low German.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the variant suffix-es was used to mark the present passive of all-er verbs of the second and fourth conjugations. This usage is mostly considered archaic today, but-es is still used for-er verbs whose stems end ins.
See alsovara(“be”), which forms a passive voice for states or completed actions.
Verbs with the suffix-s that are not passive (including those in 2 and 3 above) are calleddeponent verbs. In such cases, the passive reading is often also possible. For example,vi slogs might also mean “we were hit” andhunden bits might mean “the dog is bitten”. However, such readings would be unintuitive unless suggested by the context.
Eithr yr ydym ni yn llefaru doethineb Duw mewn dirgelwch, sef y ddoethineb guddiedig, yr hon a ragordeiniodd Duw cyn yr oesoedd i’n gogoniant ni: yr hon nid adnabu neb o dywysogion y byd hwn: oherwydd pes adwaenasent, ni chroeshoeliasent Arglwydd y gogoniant.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they knownit, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles, such asni,na,oni andpe. After other vowel-final preverbal particles, such asfe,a andy, singular'i and plural'u are used instead.
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “-s”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
