English has essentially one plural rule: add -s. Greek has about seven, and which one applies depends on the noun's gender and its singular ending. That sounds heavier than it is — each ending points to exactly one plural, with no guessing — but you do have to learn the endings as a set rather than reach for a single suffix. This page gathers all of them in one place so you can see the whole system at a glance. For the full case-by-case paradigms behind each pattern, follow the links to the individual declension pages.
One idea to carry through everything below: in Greek, the plural is written into the noun's own ending, and the article changes with it. Where English keeps the fixed and adds -s to the noun, Greek changes both — ο δρόμος → οι δρόμοι, η ώρα → οι ώρες, το παιδί → τα παιδιά.
The master table
Here is every core pattern, one example per cell. Learn to recognise which row a noun belongs to and the plural falls out automatically.
| Gender | Singular ends in | Plural ending | Example (sg → pl) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | -ος | -οι | ο δρόμος → οι δρόμοι |
| -ας | -ες | ο άντρας → οι άντρες | |
| -ης | -ες | ο μαθητής → οι μαθητές | |
| -ας/-ές/-ούς (imparisyllabic) | -άδες/-έδες/-ούδες | ο ψαράς → οι ψαράδες | |
| Feminine | -α | -ες | η ώρα → οι ώρες |
| -η | -ες | η αγάπη → οι αγάπες | |
| -η (learned) | -εις | η πόλη → οι πόλεις | |
| Neuter | -ο | -α | το βιβλίο → τα βιβλία |
| -ι | -ια | το παιδί → τα παιδιά | |
| -μα | -ματα | το μάθημα → τα μαθήματα | |
| -ος | -η | το δάσος → τα δάση |
Notice the plural article too: οι for masculine and feminine, τα for neuter. That little word is often the fastest clue to a noun's gender and number.
Masculine plurals
Masculine nouns split three ways. The big -ος class swaps its ending for -οι — and be careful, because -οι is pronounced /i/, exactly like the feminine plural -ες is not. The -ας and -ης classes both go to -ες.
Οι δρόμοι στο κέντρο είναι γεμάτοι κόσμο τα Σάββατα.
i dhrómi sto kéndro íne yemáti kózmo ta Sávata
The streets downtown are packed with people on Saturdays.
Οι μαθητές έγραψαν τεστ σήμερα το πρωί.
i mathités éghrapsan test símera to proí
The students had a test this morning.
A separate group — the imparisyllabic (ανισοσύλλαβα) masculines — grows an extra -δ- syllable in the plural instead of just swapping letters: ο ψαράς → οι ψαράδες, ο καφές → οι καφέδες, ο παππούς → οι παππούδες. These are overwhelmingly occupations and family words.
Στο λιμάνι οι ψαράδες πουλούσαν φρέσκο ψάρι.
sto limáni i psarádhes pulúsan frésko psári
At the harbour the fishermen were selling fresh fish.
Παρήγγειλα δύο καφέδες κι έναν χυμό.
paríngila dhío kafédhes ki énan chimó
I ordered two coffees and a juice.
Full paradigms for each type live on Masculine nouns in -ος and the -ας / -ης pages.
Feminine plurals
The two everyday feminine classes — -α and -η — both take -ες. This is the single most reliable plural in the language: η ώρα → οι ώρες, η μέρα → οι μέρες, η αγάπη → οι αγάπες, η φωνή → οι φωνές.
Πέρασαν κιόλας τρεις ώρες και δεν τηλεφώνησες.
pérasan kiólas tris óres ke dhen tilefónises
Three hours have already gone by and you haven't called.
The exception is a large, unavoidable learned subgroup that also ends in -η in the singular but takes -εις in the plural: η πόλη → οι πόλεις (cities), η δύναμη → οι δυνάμεις (forces), η τάξη → οι τάξεις (classes). You cannot tell these apart from ordinary -η feminines by sight — they must be learned as a list, and they get full treatment on Learned feminines η πόλη → οι πόλεις.
Οι μεγάλες πόλεις έχουν πάντα κίνηση τέτοια ώρα.
i megháles pólis échun pánda kínisi tétia óra
Big cities always have traffic at this hour.
Neuter plurals
Neuters are the busiest gender for plural forms, but each ending is regular:
- -ο → -α: το βιβλίο → τα βιβλία, το δώρο → τα δώρα
- -ι → -ια: το παιδί → τα παιδιά, το ψωμί → τα ψωμιά
- -μα → -ματα: το μάθημα → τα μαθήματα, το όνομα → τα ονόματα
- -ος → -η: το δάσος → τα δάση, το μέρος → τα μέρη
Αγόρασα καινούρια βιβλία για τη σχολή.
aghórasa kenúria vivlía ya ti scholí
I bought new books for school.
Φέτος έχω τρία μαθήματα το πρωί και δύο το απόγευμα.
fétos ého tría mathímata to proí ke dhío to apóyevma
This year I have three classes in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Τα δάση καίγονται κάθε καλοκαίρι εξαιτίας της ζέστης.
ta dhási kéghonde káthe kalokéri eksetías tis zéstis
The forests burn every summer because of the heat.
The full grids are on Neuter nouns in -ο and its sibling pages.
The one trap that catches everyone: the neuter plural in -α
Here is the error the brief-writers and the textbooks all warn about, because it is so natural for an English speaker. A feminine singular noun typically ends in -α (η γυναίκα, η ομάδα, η ώρα). But so does a neuter plural (τα παιδιά, τα βιβλία, τα νερά). The ending -α does double duty, and beginners routinely misread a neuter plural as a feminine singular.
The word τα παιδιά means "the children" — it is the plural of το παιδί. It does not mean "the girl." The tell is the article: τα is the neuter plural article, while a feminine singular would take η (or μια). And everything agreeing with the noun goes plural too.
Τα παιδιά έπαιζαν στην αυλή μέχρι να νυχτώσει.
ta pedhiá épezan stin avlí méchri na nichtósi
The kids were playing in the yard until it got dark.
Common Mistakes
1. Reading a neuter plural in -α as a feminine singular. τα παιδιά is "the children" — neuter, plural, taking τα and plural agreement.
❌ Η παιδιά είναι χαρούμενη.
Incorrect — παιδιά is a neuter plural ('children'), not a feminine singular; it takes τα and plural agreement.
✅ Τα παιδιά είναι χαρούμενα.
ta pedhiá íne charúmena
The children are happy.
2. Giving a masculine -ος noun the feminine -ες plural. The -ος class pluralises in -οι, not -ες.
❌ Οι δρόμες ήταν κλειστές.
Incorrect — a masculine -ος noun takes -οι: οι δρόμοι.
✅ Οι δρόμοι ήταν κλειστοί.
i dhrómi ítan klistí
The roads were closed.
3. Leaving an imparisyllabic noun unchanged in the plural. καφές needs the extra -δ- syllable: καφέδες.
❌ Ήπια δύο καφές το πρωί.
Incorrect — the plural of καφές is καφέδες, with the added syllable.
✅ Ήπια δύο καφέδες το πρωί.
ípia dhío kafédhes to proí
I had two coffees this morning.
4. Using -ες for a learned -η feminine. η πόλη belongs to the learned group and takes -εις, not -ες.
❌ Επισκέφτηκα πολλές πόλες στην Ιταλία.
Incorrect — η πόλη is a learned feminine; its plural is πόλεις.
✅ Επισκέφτηκα πολλές πόλεις στην Ιταλία.
episkéftika polés pólis stin Italía
I visited many cities in Italy.
Key Takeaways
- Plural endings by class: masculine -ος → -οι, -ας/-ης → -ες, imparisyllabic → -άδες/-έδες/-ούδες; feminine -α/-η → -ες, learned -η → -εις; neuter -ο → -α, -ι → -ια, -μα → -ματα, -ος → -η.
- The plural article is οι (masc/fem) or τα (neuter) — often your quickest gender-and-number clue.
- The most common beginner error: a neuter plural in -α (τα παιδιά) misread as a feminine singular. The article τα and plural agreement give it away.
- Each pattern has a full paradigm on its own declension page — this table is the map, those pages are the terrain.
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Start learning Greek→Related Topics
- Masculine Nouns in -οςA1 — The largest masculine class — nouns like ο δρόμος, ο ουρανός and ο άνθρωπος — with its full singular and plural paradigm, the accent shift that hits antepenult-stressed nouns in the genitive, and the -ε vocative.
- Feminine Nouns in -αA1 — The most common feminine pattern — η γυναίκα, η ώρα, η μέρα, η θάλασσα — with its plain paradigm, the -ας genitive singular, and the one tricky cell: the accent-shifting genitive plural (η θάλασσα → των θαλασσών).
- Neuter Nouns in -οA1 — The friendliest noun class in Greek: neuter -ο nouns (το βιβλίο, το νερό) where the nominative, accusative and vocative are always identical, so in the singular only the genitive -ου stands apart.