Most English plurals are formed with the suffix -s or -es. However, English has seven irregular plurals which are formed with vowel mutation. Here is the list of these plurals:
foot feet
goose geese
louse lice
man men
mouse mice
tooth teeth
woman women
In the pairs foot/feet, goose/geese and tooth/teeth, the vowel mutation is the same. The pairs louse/lice and mouse/mice also exhibit the same vowel mutation as well as the pairs man/men and woman/women. In these seven plurals three vowel mutations can be observed. They are:
a --> e man/men woman/women
ou --> i louse/lice mouse/mice
oo --> ee foot/feet goose/geese tooth/teeth
English has many examples of vowel mutation in verbs such as break/broke, give/gave and take/took. Vowel mutation is less common with nouns. However, it also occurs in seven irregular plurals.
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