The pronunciation of the S in plurals, 3rd person singular verbs
or genitive Saxon
The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in the third person singular depends on the final consonant
sound before that S.
The ending is pronounced /s/ after a voiceless sound, it is pronounced /z/ after a voiced sound and is pronounced /ɪz /
after a sibilant sound:
• Voiceless: helps /ps/ -- sits /ts/ -- looks /ks/
• Voiced: crabs /bz/ -- words /dz/ -- gloves /vz/,
• Sibilant: buses /sɪz / , bridges /dʒɪz / or wishes /shɪz /
1. The /ɪz/ sound
If the last consonant sound of the word is a sibilant sound , the final S is pronounced as /ɪz/. This /ɪz/ sound is
pronounced like an extra syllable.
Examples of words ending in the /ɪz/ sound:
• -CE: races (sounds like "race-iz") , embraces, places, convinces
• -S / SE: buses, gases, rises, pauses, nurses
• -X: fixes, mixes, boxes, taxes
• -ZE: amazes, freezes, prizes, quizzes, seizes
• -SS: kisses, misses, passes, bosses, glasses, dresses
• -CH: churches, sandwiches, witches, teaches, watches, reaches
• -SH: dishes, eyelashes, hairbrushes, wishes, pushes, crashes,
• -GE: garages, wages, changes, ages, judges, arranges, challenges
Remember: after verbs ending in -sh, -ch, -s, -ss and -x, we add the -es to the end of the verb (in third person) and the
pronunciation is /iz/ as an extra syllable.
2. The /s/ sound
If the last consonant of the word is voiceless, then the S is pronounced as /s/.
NOTE: The consonants c, s, sh, ch and x are voiceless though they use the sibilants ending seen above.
Examples of words ending in the /s/ sound:
• -P/ PE : cups, stops, sleeps, landscapes, types, telescopes
• -T/ TE: hats, students, hits, writes, graduates, institutes
• -K/ KE: cooks, books, drinks, walks, likes, snakes
• -F: cliffs, sniffs, beliefs, laughs, graphs, apostrophes (the -gh and -ph here are pronounced like a F)
• -TH: myths, tablecloths, months (voiceless th /ɵ/), baths, earths
3. The /z/ sound
If the last letter of the words ends in a voiced consonant (or sound), then the S is pronounced like a Z /z/(without
creating another syllable). This Z sound is similar to the sound a bee makes zzzz.
We also use this ending when the word ends in a vowel sound (e.g. bees, flies etc.)
Examples of words ending in the /z/ sound:
• -B/ BE : crabs, rubs, describes, tubes • -NG: kings, belongs, sings, meanings, things
• -D/ DE : cards, words, rides, ends • -R/ RE: wears, cures, fires, signatures, figures
• -G: rugs, bags, begs • -VE: gloves, wives, shelves, drives
• -L/ LE: deals calls, falls, hills, crocodiles, styles, • -Y: plays, cries, buys, boys, factories, says
• -M/ ME: plums, dreams, times, comes • -THE: clothes, bathes, breathes
• -N/ NE: fans, drains, runs, pens, hormones, stones • -VOWEL SOUNDS: sees, seas, toes, photos
Say the following words out aloud and then put them in the correct column according to the
pronunciation of the sound of the plural or 3rd person singular “s”:
Boys damages graduates lessons minutes products
Cheques earns hates lives paints sandwiches
Closes faces hours loves phrases things
Cooks girls James’s messages places wants
/s/ /z/ /iz/
