Second Grade · Reading · week 19

Suffix -s and -es

Read and spell plural and verb forms with the suffix -s or -es, knowing when to add -es after a hissing ending sound.

A suffix is a word part added to the END of a word. Adding -s often makes a word plural or shows that one person does something now: cat becomes cats, run becomes runs.

When a word already ends in a hissing sound -- s, x, ch, sh, or z -- add -es instead of just -s, so the new ending can actually be heard: box becomes boxes, wish becomes wishes.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Listen together: if a word already ends in a hissing sound, you need an extra syllable, so add es.
  • Sort a handful of words into an -s pile and an -es pile together.
  • Count the syllables out loud on the finished word -- boxes has two syllables, which shows the es really is heard.
  • Connect the endings to real objects your child can count, like two boxes or three buses.
Talk about it:
  • When do you add -es instead of just -s?
  • Can you find something at home that needs an -es plural?
  • Why does box need an extra syllable but cup does not?

Mastery looks like: They correctly add -s or -es to a base word and explain why -es was needed when it was.

Common stumbles: Adding just -s to a word that needs -es, which makes the ending impossible to say smoothly.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Prefixes & SuffixesAdd un-, re-, -ful, -less and watch a word’s meaning change.try →PluralsOne to many: -s, -es, y → ies, and tricky ones like mouse → mice.try →Parts of SpeechColor-code a sentence — noun, verb, adjective — and hear each word’s job.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
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