English · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Common animals
Describe pets and other animals with regular and irregular plurals.
Understand the choice
Animal words make number and third-person verbs memorable. Contrast one dog plays with dogs play and store irregular plural mice separately.
Core rule: Singular count animals need a determiner; plurals often add -s, but mouse→mice and fish often stays fish.
Notice it in context
The dog plays while the cat sleeps on the sofa.
El perro juega mientras el gato duerme en el sofá.
Dog/cat are singular subjects, so plays/sleeps take -s.
The horse and cow stand in the field.
A horse and a cow are together in a field.
Horse and cow form a plural compound subject.
A bird sees a mouse beside the rabbit and fish.
A bird notices a small rodent beside a rabbit and fish.
Bird, mouse, rabbit, and fish appear directly.
What to remember
- Fish is the usual plural for individuals; fishes can mean species.
- Mouse has irregular plural mice.
Common trap: Do not omit an article before one singular count animal.