Singular And Plural In French

Singular and Plural in French

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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’

Exercises

Des chevaux – un cheval. All Exercises

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