Plural ‘s’ – we need to hear it!

Prononciation
Plural ‘s’ – we need to hear it!
Plural 's' and a bit of STRESS!

Plural ‘s’ – we need to hear it! Forgetting to pronounce the plural ‘s’ has to be one of the most frequent problems for French speakers and one of the most difficult to correct.

One apple

Two apples

Lots of apples

It looks simple, doesn’t it…  Why then, do people have so much trouble remembering to add the sound? BECAUSE in French, the ‘s’ at the end of nouns isn’t pronounced and it gets forgotten. This only occurs in a conversation but for an English speaker it’s an indication of a person’s language abilities.

It’s a simple mistake that is very difficult to correct.

There is more than one 's'

Have you ever thought about how many sounds there are for the plural ‘s’ in English? There are 3 sounds that we make. Click on the letters to hear the sounds.

/ s /

cups

shops

documents

/ z /

bottles

apples

shelves

/ ɪz /

glasses

houses

churches

Now it's your turn

Below, I’ve added a list of 100 common business nouns. How would you pronounce them? What ‘s’ sound would you use? 

Here are the rules:

  1. Say the word in its singular form,
  2. Say the word again in its plural form.  – Add the /s/ , /z/ , /ɪz/ to the end of the word. Can you guess the correct sound?
  3. Click on the word to hear the pronunciation. Were you correct?

An additional challenge

Word stress

Can you repeat the rhythm?

As an addiitional exercise can you say the word with the correct ‘word stress’ (accentuation)? For example: ‘advantages’ has 4 syllables : ad – van – ta – ges. My voice stresses the ‘van‘.

I have shown the first 3 words with the correct ‘word stress’. Listen carefully and try and repeat the same rhythm. Can you say word with the correct stress pattern?

account

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

achievement

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

advantage

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

advert

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

agenda

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

agreement

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

alternative

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

answer

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

apology

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

appointment

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

approval

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

authorisation

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

bill

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

brand

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

budget

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

change

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

commission

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

comparison

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

competition

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

consumer

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

competitor

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

confirmation

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

cost

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

creditor

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

currency

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

customer

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

deadline

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

debtor

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

debts

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

decision

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

decrease

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

delivery

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

department

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

description

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

difference

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

disadvantage

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

employee

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

enquiry

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

environment

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

estimate

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

experience

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

explanation

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

facility

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

factory

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

guarantee

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

goal

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

good

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

improvement

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

increase

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

industry

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

instruction

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

interest

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

inventory

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

invoice

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

limit

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

loss

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

margin

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

market

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

meeting

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

message

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

mistake

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

objective

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

offer

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

opinion

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

option

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

order

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

payment

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

penalty

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

permission

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

possibility

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

price

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

proceedure

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

product

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

profit

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

purchase

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

quantity

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

reduction

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

refund

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

reminder

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

report

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

responsibility

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

result

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

retailer

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

rise

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

risk

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

salary

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

sale

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

share

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

success

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

signature

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

stock

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

subsidiary

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

supply

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

suggestion

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

target

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

trainee

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

wage

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

worker

/ s /
/ s /
/ z /
/ z /
/ ɪz /
/ ɪz /

I hope you enjoyed this exercise. Word stress is a difficult area for French speakers and can be a common cause of confusion during a conversation.

Use the words in a sentence

Can you use any of these words in a sentence? Think about your job or your compnay. Which nouns could you use to talk about them?

If you have a problem with a specific sound, or the pronunciation of a certain word, please add a comment and tell me, or contact me direct.

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