# Plural form of compound nouns in English



## beauxyeux

Sicanius said:


> It should be: _le tre e tredici circa_, or _verso le tre e tredici_


So how would you say "tre tredicenni"? "Three thirteen-aged children"?


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## audia

beauxyeux said:


> So how would you say "tre tredicenni"? "Three thirteen-aged children"?


 
Three thirteen-year-olds were walking down the street.....
I'm not sure about the hyphens--- is there another native out there who can spell better


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## beauxyeux

audia said:


> Three thirteen-year-olds were walking down the street.....
> I'm not sure about the hyphens--- is there another native out there who can spell better


This is very interesting! So you do the plural on "olds". This is stuff we are never taught to use...


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## Neurone00

It's not the plural of old but the plural of thirteen-years-old


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## audia

Neurone00 said:


> It's not the plural of old but the plural of thirteen-years-old


No s.


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## audia

Hi BY,
we were never taught ""tredicenni.""


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## lsp

Neurone00 said:


> It's not the plural of old but the plural of thirteen-years-old



A good rule in general (mothers-in-law, Attorneys General, etc), but thirteen-year-olds is an exception.


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## beauxyeux

audia said:


> Hi BY,
> we were never taught ""tredicenni.""


Good answer... You can use "-enne" to say the age: dodicenne; quarantenne, sessantenne, novantenne.... 
But, up to now, I've never heard of "centenne"


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## beauxyeux

lsp said:


> A good rule in general (mothers-in-law, Attorneys General, etc), but thirteen-year-olds is an exception.


Is it considered correct English? I'd like to know more about adjectives with plural like this; perhaps it's better to open a new thread, but before I want to check if there are any previous ones.


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## audia

BY, I noticed after the teens you only gave round numbers.
Can I say 21-year-olds ,23-year-olds,24-year-olds
ventunenni,ventitrenni,ventiquatrenni,etc
suona un po strano.


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## gatto

beauxyeux said:


> Good answer... You can use "-enne" to say the age: dodicenne; quarantenne, sessantenne, novantenne....
> But, up to now, I've never heard of "centenne"


 
Actually, you should use 'centenario' (and 'ultracentenario' if the guy doesn't give up after his first century  )




audia said:


> BY, I noticed after the teens you only gave round numbers.
> Can I say 21-year-olds ,23-year-olds,24-year-olds
> ventunenni,ventitreenni,ventiquatrenni,etc
> suona un po strano.


 
For the rest is perfectly correct (up to novantanovenni)


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## beauxyeux

audia said:


> BY, I noticed after the teens you only gave round numbers.
> Can I say 21-year-olds ,23-year-olds,24-year-olds
> ventunenni,ventitrenni,ventiquattrenni,etc
> suona un po strano.


Yes, we use them, and these expressions are often used on newspapers.


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## Never Got a Dinner

audia said:


> No s.


 
Sì, una regola molto importante: in inglese quasi sempre mettiamo solo una S.

One thirteen-year-old
Two thirteen-year-olds
MAI MAI MAI thirteen-years-olds

Altr'esempio:

One pipe organ (organo a canne)
Two pipe organs
MAI pipes organs


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## Never Got a Dinner

beauxyeux said:


> Is it considered correct English? I'd like to know more about adjectives with plural like this; perhaps it's better to open a new thread, but before I want to check if there are any previous ones.


 
Yes, I absolutely agree that this topic is VERY, VERY important.  Do you know how many English-speakers make mistakes on this?  We argue with my father on this all the time.

One daughter-in-law.
Two daughters-in-law.  (Certi anglofoni diranno "daughter-in-laws," ma è sbagliatissimissimo.)

La regola è molto semplice: fa' plurale il sostantivo_._

One Attorney General
Two Attorneys General (Attorney=sos.)

One District Attorney
Two District Attorneys (District funziona come un aggettivo.  E' un "attributivo.")

Man o' War
Qua si direbbe Men o' War, ma questo non è molto comune.

Tenterò di pensarne altri esempi.


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## audia

> La regola è molto semplice: fa' plurale il sostantivo_._


 
Careful NGAD, no è così semplice ---as LSP said ""two-year-olds"" must be an exception since the noun is not pluralized.


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## _forumuser_

I'd say it's not even an exception. What is pluralized is always the MAIN noun. 'Year' here is clearly not it. In fact it is not even a noun, it functions as an adjective. The noun is "two-year old" (un duenne   made-up word) strange though it may seem.


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## beauxyeux

_forumuser_ said:


> I'd say it's not even an exception. What is pluralized is always the MAIN noun. 'Year' here is clearly not it. In fact it is not even a noun, it functions as an adjective. The noun is "two-year old" (un duenne   made-up word) strange though it may seem.


But is it a noun? I thought you had to say, to be correct:
A two-year-old lad
So, to me, two-year-old is an adjective... Was I wrong?


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## Sicanius

_forumuser_ said:


> I'd say it's not even an exception. What is pluralized is always the MAIN noun. 'Year' here is clearly not it. In fact it is not even a noun, it functions as an adjective. The noun is "two-year old" (un duenne   made-up word) strange though it may seem.



I think (but I may be wrong) that there are no nouns in the expression "two-year olds" (which can not be considered a noun itself), and that in cases like this in English you simply pluralise the entire expression...
I am thinking of the song by Eurythmics: No more I love you's...  But maybe this is a completely different thing....


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## audia

BY, yes you are right the entire complex is an adjective which becomes a noun when used alone. 
That is why we pluralize the old in two-year-olds because we are pluralizing the adjective complex which has become a noun .As FU said.

The three-year-old boys.
but Three-year-olds.


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## _forumuser_

The Oxford English Dictionary, widely considered the most authoritative existing dictionary of the English language gives the following two analyses of "two-year-old":

*A.* _adj._ Of the age of two years. Chiefly of animals, _esp._ colts.​
*B.* _n._ *a.* An animal (_esp._ a colt) or child of two years of age. Also _attrib._​*b.* As the type of a youthful and energetic person.​Apparently, usage of the phrase as a noun dates back to 1594. We may not like the idea, but usage has made the entire phrase into a noun, hence:

One two-year-old, two two-year-olds, three two-year-olds, etc.


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## Sicanius

Thank for your clarification, forumuser, 
But what about the plural of an entire sentence? is it a common usage?
Probably I should open a different thread on this topic...


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## _forumuser_

Sure. In italiano facciamo cose simili. Un esempio improvvisato:

Gigi so tutto n.m. persona saccente.


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## Sicanius

_forumuser_ said:


> Sure. In italiano facciamo cose simili. Un esempio improvvisato:
> 
> Gigi so tutto n.m. persona saccente.



Mi dispiace tanto , ma non capisco il tuo esempio !! in questo caso il plurale è su Gigi, sul nome, e non su tutta la frase...


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## Sicanius

_forumuser_ said:


> I'd say it's not even an exception. What is pluralized is always the MAIN noun. 'Year' here is clearly not it. In fact it is not even a noun, it functions as an adjective. The noun is "two-year old" (un duenne   made-up word = (Bambino) bienne)   strange though it may seem.



I thought it would be nice to know that we have the equivalent word in Italian, although not really used...


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## _forumuser_

Sicanius said:


> Mi dispiace tanto , ma non capisco il tuo esempio !! in questo caso il plurale è su Gigi, sul nome, e non su tutta la frase...


 
Hai ragione!  Ignorami. Devo andare a dormire... Un esempio (forse) azzeccato:

Un brutto ma buono, due brutti ma buoni, tre brutti ma buoni.

Il brutto ma buono e' un tipo di dolce, non so se sia tipico di un'area in particolare.


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## utente

Chè significa "n.m."  ?




_forumuser_ said:


> Sure. In italiano facciamo cose simili. Un esempio improvvisato:
> 
> Gigi so tutto n.m. persona saccente.


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## Karl!!!!

Never Got a Dinner said:


> Yes, I absolutely agree that this topic is VERY, VERY important. Do you know how many English-speakers make mistakes on this? We argue with my father on this all the time.
> 
> One daughter-in-law.
> Two daughters-in-law. (Certi anglofoni diranno "daughter-in-laws," ma è sbagliatissimissimo.)
> 
> La regola è molto semplice: fa' plurale il sostantivo_._
> 
> One Attorney General
> Two Attorneys General (Attorney=sos.)
> 
> One District Attorney
> Two District Attorneys (District funziona come un aggettivo. E' un "attributivo.")
> 
> Man o' War
> Qua si direbbe Men o' War, ma questo non è molto comune.
> 
> Tenterò di pensarne altri esempi.


 
Don't forget the classic 'two gins and tonic'.

Sorry, by giving an example with two nouns I'm only adding to the confusion.


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## utente

Karl-  Don't forget the classic 'two gins and tonic'.

that must be BE.  In America we say two gin and tonics (or is it gin-and-tonics ?), NEVER gins and tonic.


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## Alxmrphi

As a BE speaker I'd always say "two gin and tonics" - well, I wouldn't because I think it is disgusting, but if I had to say it, that's how


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## utente

Alex_Murphy said:


> As a BE speaker I'd always say "two gin and tonics" - well, I wouldn't because I think it is disgusting, but if I had to say it, that's how


 
One wouldn't say "gin martinis" or "gins martini" because either one is redundant (i.e., a martini IS made from gin).

But-- we'd say "two vodka martinis" not "two vodkas martini".


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## virgilio

beauxyeux,
               Aggungi come suffisso "-year-old" a one (one-year-old). e aggiungi "-year-olds" come suffisso a qualsiasi numero più grande di uno, e poi tratta la parola risultante sia da aggettivo che da sostantivo.
Mi è venuta in mente una riga di conversazione fra due dei famosi fratelli Marx, la quale dice Groucho a suo fratello Chico:
"You have the brain of a five-year-old child, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it!"
"Tu hai il cervello di un bambino cinquenne, e scommetto che è stato contento di sbarazzarsene!"
Best wishes,
Virgilio


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## franca157

audia said:


> Three thirteen-year-olds were walking down the street.....
> I'm not sure about the hyphens--- is there another native out there who can spell better


 

The hyphens, Audia, make yours the preferred answer. It's certainly correct the way you put it.


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## virgilio

franca157,
              I imagine the hyphens are there the better to manage the composite words, especially when they are being used as adjectives, something like using brackets in mathematics.

All the best
Virgilio


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## franca157

virgilio said:


> franca157,
> I imagine the hyphens are there the better to manage the composite words, especially when they are being used as adjectives, something like using brackets in mathematics.
> 
> All the best
> Virgilio


 
Hi, Virgilio, the hyphens make a single term of the words. As you say, they are there to better manage (I believe in split infinitives) the composite words. 
Franca


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