Knowing how to form plural nouns in French is the best way to better understand the meaning of a sentence or text and to use vocabulary both in writing and orally.
If you don’t know how to put nouns in the plural, it can lead to a misunderstanding of what other people are asking or wanting.
It will also give you more confidence when you speak and write.
You’ll see that it’s quite simple, but there are a few rules to apply and learn by heart.
Here are the basic rules
In general, in French, all you need to do is add an -s to the singular form.
I’ll give you a few examples:
- le chat (a cat) / les chats (the cats)
- Le sac (a bag) / les sacs (bags)
- Le livre (a book) / les livres (the books)
- Une carotte (a carrot) / les carottes (the carrots)
- Un homme (a man) / les hommes (the men)
- Une femme (a woman) / les femmes (the women)
- Un oiseau (a bird) / les oiseaux (the birds)
The exceptions, because of course there are some…
Here, I’m going to give you the exceptions and tell you how to make the endings of plural words.
For words ending in-s, -x, ou -z
These words do not change in their plural form. Here are some examples
- Un temps (time) / les temps (times)
- Une fois (once) / les fois (the times)
- Fils (son) / les fils (sons)
- Un gaz (a gas) / les gaz (the gases)
- Un nez (a nose) / les nez (the noses)
Now for the nouns ending in – au, -eu, or eau
You just have to add – x in the plural form
- Un joyau (a jewel) / les joyaux (the jewels)
- Noyau (a kernel) / les joyaux (the kernels)
- Esquimau (an eskimo) / les esquimaux ( the eskimos)
- Cheveu (a hair) / les cheveux (the hairs)
- Un feu ( a fire) / les feux ( the fires)
- Un jeu ( a game) / les jeux (the games)
- Neveu ( a nephew) / les neveux (the nephews)
- Une eau (a water) / les eaux (the waters)
- Beau ( beautiful) / beaux (beautiful)
- Une peau (a skin) / les peaux ( the skins)
- Seau (a bucket / les seaux ( the buckets)
– NOTE – There are four exceptions to this rule: the names landau (pram), sarrau (smock), bleu (blue) et pneu (tyre), auxquels on ajoute plutôt un s.
Nouns Ending In -al
Plural nouns in French
For example
- Un cheval (a horse) / les chevaux ( the buckets)
- Un journal (a newspaper) / des journaux ( the newspapers)
- Un mal (an ache) / les maux ( the aches)
- Un ideal ( an ideal) / des ideaux ( the ideals)
Please note: several nouns are exceptions to this rule, including aval (downstream), bal (ball), carnaval (carnival), chacal (jackal), festival (festival), récital (recital) et régal (treat), to which an s is added.
Nouns Ending In -ail
To form the plural of nouns ending in -ail, add an s at the end of the singular noun:
- un détail, des détails; un éventail, des éventails; un portail, des portails …
ATTENTION. A few nouns are exceptions to this rule, so you need to learn them by heart: bail, corail, émail, fermail, gemmail, soupirail, travail, vantail, vantail et vitrail, whose endings must be replaced by -aux.
So bail – leases, corail – corals, émail – enamels, fermail – fermaux (a lock to close a book), gemmail – gemmaux (a technique of stained glass which does not have translation in english), soupirail – window wells, travail – work, vantail – casements, vitrail – stained glass.
How do euil nouns end in the plural?
Simply add an -s to the plural form
For example,
- accueil – accueils (welcome), orgueil – orgueils (pride), recueil – recueils (collections), écueil – écueils (pitfall), cercueil-cercueils (casket)
For nouns ending in -ou
To form the plural of nouns ending in -ou, add an s at the end of the singular noun: un fou, des fous.
– Note. Seven nouns are exceptions to this rule: bijou (jewel), caillou (stone), chou (cabbage), genou (knee), hibou (owl), joujou (toy) and poux (louse), to which an x is added.
These nouns add -s in the plural form.
For example,
- le clou (the nail) becomes les clous (the nails).
- Bisou – bisous (kiss)
- Clou-clous (nail)
- Ecrou – écrous (nut)
- Filou – filous (rogue)
- Flou -flous (blur)
- Mou – mous (soft)
It’s important to note that the plural form of a noun can also change depending on the gender of the noun (i.e., whether it is masculine or feminine), i will explain it on the next podcast. It’s already a lot for today.
You will also find the transcript, below the podcast and the drills.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me, I’ll be happy to answer them!
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Drills: https://bit.ly/4885WNJ
Transcript : https://bit.ly/46L26Jt
A bientôt!
Julie