Plural of Belief

The Plural of Belief

The plural of belief is beliefs.

• I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. (Bertrand Russell)
• You don't have to sacrifice who you are to follow your beliefs. (Bryan Clay)

The noun belief adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below).

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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	lamp scythe	add s	lamps scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	bus dress	add es	buses dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	hero zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	heroes zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	story penny	change the y to an i and add es	stories pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	storey () donkey	add s	storeys donkeys
Nouns ending f or fe	life belief	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	lives beliefs
Exceptions	man louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	men lice
More exceptions	salmon sheep	some nouns do not change at all	salmon sheep

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Belief?

There is confusion because the rule for forming plurals with nouns ending in f or fe isn't straightforward. Most nouns will drop the f or fe and gain a ves. For example:

• Knife becomes knives.
• Leaf becomes leaves.

Some just add s. For example:

• Chief becomes chiefs.
• Cliff becomes cliffs.

With some words, both versions are accepted. For example:

• Scarf becomes scarfs or scarves.
• Dwarf becomes dwarfs or dwarves.

The plural of belief is always beliefs. Unfortunately, there is no clever way of knowing which nouns ending f or fe follow which rules. You have to know. (For example, you have to know that thief becomes thieves, but belief becomes beliefs.)

Of note, the verb to believe (which means to accept a truth without proof) becomes believes in the third person present tense. (For example: Tommy still believes in Santa Claus.)

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