Bengali Plurals: When to Use -ra, -gulo and -der

English usually adds "-s" to make plurals. Bengali uses different endings for people and things, and it often skips the plural marker entirely when the number is clear.

Plurals for people: -রা (-ra)

For people, add -রা (or -েরা after some consonants):

• ছেলে → ছেলেরা (chhele → chheleraa) — boys
• বন্ধু → বন্ধুরা (bondhu → bondhura) — friends
• ছাত্র → ছাত্ররা (chhatro → chhatrora) — students
• মানুষ → মানুষেরা (manush → manushera) — people

Plurals for things: -গুলো / -গুলি (-gulo / -guli)

For things and animals, use -গুলো in speech and -গুলি in more formal writing:

• বই → বইগুলো (boi → boigulo) — the books
• গাছ → গাছগুলো (gachh → gachhgulo) — the trees
• কলম → কলমগুলো (kolom → kolomgulo) — the pens

Note that -গুলো often means "the" (specific), not just "some".

Plural with possession: -দের (-der)

The plural genitive and objective for people uses -দের:

• ছেলেদের (chheleder) — of the boys, or to the boys
• আমাদের (amader) — our, us
• ছাত্রদের (chhatroder) — of the students

No plural after numbers

When a number appears, Bengali usually keeps the noun singular and uses a classifier: তিনটা বই (tinta boi), not "tinta boigulo". The number already shows plurality.

Other ways to show plural

• সব (shob) — all: সব বই (all the books)
• অনেক (onek) — many: অনেক মানুষ (many people)
• কিছু (kichhu) — some: কিছু ফল (some fruit)

These often replace the explicit plural marker.

Uncountable nouns

Mass nouns such as জল (jol, water), ভাত (bhat, rice) and দুধ (dudh, milk) don't take plural markers. Use classifiers or measure words for quantities: এক গ্লাস জল (ek glass jol, a glass of water).

Pronoun plurals

• আমি → আমরা (I → we)
• তুমি → তোমরা (you → you all)
• আপনি → আপনারা (you, formal → you all, formal)
• সে → তারা (he/she → they)

Common errors

• Using -রা for things.
• Adding plural markers after numbers.
• Confusing the meaning of -গুলো as specific.

Practice

1. Pluralise ten nouns with the right ending.
2. Compare "some books" and "the books" in Bengali.
3. Describe your family members in the plural.
4. Look up nouns to check spelling and suffix forms.

Look up nouns and plurals with English Bangla Dictionary →