Plural of Life

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

The plural of life is lives.

The Plural of Life

The plural of life is lives.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. (Martin Luther King Jr)
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must live. (Charles Bukowski)

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

Are You Good at Plurals?

Here's a quick test.

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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	dwarf life	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs lives
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 Life?

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:

Safe becomes safes.
Chief becomes chiefs.

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

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

The plural of life is always lives. Unfortunately, there is no clever way of knowing which nouns ending f or fe follow which rules. You have to know.

Another Interactive Exercise

Here are three randomly selected questions from another exercise on plurals, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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