Plural Nouns

In English, to make a plural noun is usually to add 's' or 'es' at the end of the singular noun. For example:

a car - cars
a cow - cows
a window - windows
a PC - PCs
a tomato - tomatoes
a mosquito - mosquitoes
et cetera...

But some nouns need special care if to make their plural forms in that their plural forms don't end with 's' or 'es'.

a child - children
an ox - oxen
a mouse - mice (Beware: if it is the computer device instead of the animal: a mouse - mouses)
a louse - lice
a sheep - sheep
a man - men
a woman - women
a policeman - policemen
a foot - feet
a goose - geese
et cetera...

Some nouns of Latin, Greek and other foreign origins also take special care:

an alumnus - alumni
a radius - radii
a matrix - matrices
a château - châteaux
a fulcrum - fulcra
a cactus - cacti
a stadium - stadia
a formula - formulae
a cello - celli
a paparazzo - paparazzi
et cetera...

Proper Nouns

Proper noun is a specific name given to something or somebody. The easiest way to tell whether a noun is a proper noun or not is that a proper noun ALWAYS begins with a capital letter.

Examples are:

Mars, Indonesia, Harry, Amir, Jakarta, New York, Africa, Hong Kong, etc.

It is easy to identify a proper noun, isn't it? Can you tell 20 other proper nouns you know?

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns or count nouns denote things that can be counted. The examples of countable noun are: a cow, a cat, a house, a car, a rocket, an aeroplane, etc. Count nouns have plural forms. The plural forms of the previous examples are: cows, cats, houses, cars, rockets and aeroplanes.

Uncountable nouns or noncount nouns denote things that cannot be counted. The things may be able to be measured but they cannot be counted. The examples of the noncount nouns are: milk, coffee, tea, sugar, rice, flour, etc. Uncountable nouns do not have plural forms.

Now, as an excercise, can you name five other countable nouns and five other uncountable nouns?

Denifinte and Indefinite Articles

What is a definite article? A definite article is a determiner that restricts or particularises a noun. In English there is only one definite article that is 'the'. 'The' is mostly used when we refer to a thing which is only one and nothing more but one! The examples for the usage of the definite article in this case are: "the sun" (we have only one sun..... you can't find another sun elsewhere in your life!), "the moon", "the earth", etc...

A definite article is also used when we refer to a thing that has already been mentioned before! The following example will explain the usage:
"There is a book on the table"
"Can you give me the book, please?"

A definite article is also used to show the superlative degree of an adjective. Check the following examples:
"They three are smart students but Arif is the smartest amongst the three"
"Amongst the countries in ASEAN, Indonesia is the biggest country by area and by population".

Now, what is an indefinite article? An indefinite article is a determiner that expresses nonspecificity of a noun. There are a lot indefinite articles in English that are "a", "an", and "some" to say three of them. "a" and "an" are used for singular nouns whilst "some" are used for plural nouns. "a" is used for a noun that starts with consonant sounds while "an" is used for a noun that starts with vowel sounds.

The examples for the usage of "a" and "an" are:
"a balloon"
"a cat"
"a car"
"a piano"
"a computer"
"a university" etc...

"an apple"
"an orange"
"an orangutan"
"an umbrella"
"an hour" etc...

The example for the "some" usage is given below in sentences:
"I remember there are some apples in the fridge. If I'm not mistaken there are three of them!"
"There are some students in the class. Maybe there are about ten of them in it!"

Noun (kata benda)

A noun is a word that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, etc. And it can function as the subject or the object in a sentence.

The following are the representatives of nouns:

a chair ( sebuah kursi )
a table ( sebuah meja)
an apple (sebuah apel)
an orangutan (seekor orangutan)
a policeman (seorang polisi)
hair (rambut)
the sun (matahari)
Indonesia (Indonesia)
Great Britain (Britania Raya)
Jakarta (Jakarta)
Singapore (Singapura)
Mars (Planet Mars)
Barrack Obama (Barrack Obama, presiden Amerika Serikat saat ini)

Exercise:

Use your Indonesian-English dictionary to find out the English nouns of the following Indonesian nouns:

1. Sebuah Mobil
2. Sebuah Sepeda Motor
3. Sebuah Televisi Warna
4. Sebuah jeruk
5. Seorang petugas pos
6. Seorang pemadam kebakaran
7. Seekor unta
8. Amerika Serikat
9. Perancis
10. Kota Meksiko