Singular and Plural in French
Le singulier et le pluriel / Singular and Plural :
French plural are more complex than English plurals. Most singular words have their plural ending in s but there are exceptions and particularities to certain words that will be observed in this lesson.
- In French, an s is added to nouns to form the plural.
F example:
Un homme – des hommes (a man – men)
Une fleur – des fleurs (a flower – flowers)
Une femme – des femmes (a woman – women)
- Note that in french plural the final s is in most cases not pronounced, except when there is a “liaison” between two words
F Examples:
- Des maisons éloignées – / distant houses
- Des sommets enneigés – ( snowy peaks)
- The articles and verbs agree with the nouns.
|
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
Definite articles |
Le Masculine La Feminine L’ In front of a vowel |
les |
|
Indefinite articles |
Un Masculine Une Feminine |
des |
|
Partitive articles |
Du Masculine de la Feminine de l’ In front of a vowel |
des |
- Some singular nouns end in –s, in –x or –z, in this case there is no additional –s.
F La souris - les souris (mice)
Le mois - les mois (months)
La voix - les voix (voices)
Le nez - les nez (noses)
Le gaz - les gaz (gases)
- There are also irregular nouns that don’t follow any rule:
F Examples:
Le ciel – les cieux (skies)
Un oeil – des yeux ( eyes)
- Nouns and adjectives ending eau – eu – ou – au - oeu have their plural ending in –x.
Nouns ending in eau – eu – ou – au - oeu in their plural forms:
|
Nouns ending in –bateau (boat) |
bateau>bateaux ‘boats’ marteau>marteaux ‘hammers’ eau>eaux ‘waters’ |
|
Nous ending in -jeu (game) |
jeu>jeux ‘games’ neveu>neveux ‘nephews’ |
|
A few nouns ending in –caillou (stone) |
bijoux>bijoux ‘jewels’ caillou>cailloux ‘pebbles’ chou>choux ‘cabbages’ pou>poux ‘lice’ genou>genoux ‘knee’ hibou>hiboux ‘howl’ joujou>joujoux ‘toy’ |
|
Nouns ending in –tuyau (hose) |
noyau>noyaux ‘stone (of fruit)/ (core of) tuyau>tuyaux ‘hoses or pipes’ |
|
Nouns ending in –voeu (wish) |
vœu>vœux ‘wishes’ |
ü Exceptions: bleu/bleus (bruises or blue) and Pneu/pneus (tires)
Nouns ending in ail- al in their plural form -aux
|
Nouns ending in –ail |
travail - travaux (works) corail - coraux (corals) |
|
Nouns ending in –al |
cheval - chevaux (horses) journal - Journaux (newspapers) animal - animaux (animals) |
ü Exceptions : festivals - carnavals - bals
- Some words are plural in French but not in English
- les affaires ‘business’.
- les cheveux ‘hair’
- les applaudissements ‘applause’
- les bagages ‘luggage’
- les ténèbres ‘darkness’
- des renseignements ‘information’
- Some words are plural in English and not in French. un short ‘shorts’
- un pantalon ‘trousers’
- un slip ‘underpants’
- un jean ‘jeans’
- Un escalier ‘stairs’