Talking About Pets in French

French offers a variety of ways to talk about pets—les animaux de compagnie—and understanding how to describe them naturally is key. Let’s start with the sentence structures, then explain the grammar behind the scenes.

Sentence Builder: Talking About Pets

Asking About Pets

• Avez-vous des animaux de compagnie ?
  Do you have any pets?

Saying What You Have

French	English
J’ai un chien	I have a dog
J’ai un chat	I have a cat
J’ai des lapins	I have (some) rabbits
J’ai des oiseaux	I have (some) birds
J’ai des souris	I have (some) mice

Note: In French, you must include des to mean “some.”
→ Elle a des lapins = She has rabbits (literally: some rabbits)

Talking About Others

Subject	Example	Translation
Il a…	Il a un chien	He has a dog
Elle a…	Elle a des lapins	She has rabbits
Nous avons…	Nous avons un chat	We have a cat
Ils ont…	Ils ont deux chevaux	They have two horses
Elles ont…	Elles ont des oiseaux	They (f) have birds

Talking About Where

Use chez + pronoun to say “at someone’s place”:

French	English
chez moi	at my place / at home
chez nous	at our place / at home
chez lui	at his place
chez elle	at her place
chez eux	at their place
chez elles	at their place (feminine group)

Example:
→ Il a un chat chez lui = He has a cat at his place

Irregular Plurals in Pet Vocabulary

Now that you’ve seen the words in action, here’s how their plurals work:

1. Nouns ending in -au, -eu, -eau

These take -x in the plural:

• un oiseau → les oiseaux (bird → birds)
• un cheveu → les cheveux (hair strand → hair)

2. Nouns ending in -al

These change to -aux:

• le cheval → les chevaux (horse → horses)
• un animal de compagnie → les animaux de compagnie (pet → pets)

3. Nouns ending in -s, -x, -z

These do not change in the plural:

• la souris → les souris (mouse → mice)
• un nez → les nez (nose → noses)

Tip: These irregular plurals are common throughout French vocabulary, so it’s worth memorizing the patterns early.

Exercise

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