Pronouncing ‘-s’ and ‘-es’ Suffixes

• If you add the letter ‘s’ to a word ending in a ‘voiced’ consonant sound, or a vowel sound, the ‘s’ suffix is pronounced as /z/.

        Example:

Car – Cars	/k/ - /kz/	plural noun
Run – Runs	/rn/ - /rnz/	present tense, single subject

          

• If you add the letter ‘s’ to a word ending in a ‘voiceles’ consonant sounds, the ‘s’ suffix is pronounced /s/.

Example:

Student - Students	/'stju:dnt/ - /'stju:dnts/	plural noun
Help – Helps	/hlp/ - /hlps/	present tense, single subject

 

• If you add the letters ‘es’ to a word ending in //, //, //, // and /z/ sounds, it is pronounced /Iz/.

Example:

Watch – Watches	/ w/ - / wIz /	plural noun
Judge – Judges	/ / - / Iz /	plural noun
Brush – Brushes	/ br/ - / brIz /	plural noun