This article is associated with the course(s):
Introduction to French Grammar

Nouns and Making Plurals in French

In this lesson, we look at how to make singular nouns plural in French.

In other words, how do we move from talking about one thing to talking about more than one?

For example:

General Rule: Add an ‘-s’

So, the good news is that the most common French plural works in much the same way as the English one.

One caveat, you’ll notice that the ‘-s’ in French is not always pronounced, it often only appears in the spelling, although the word for “the” does change in both spelling and pronunciation.

You can see the same basic pattern in every example:

frère → frères
sœur → sœurs
livre → livres
voiture → voitures

In each case, the noun itself simply gains -s.

You may also have noticed that the word before the noun changes. Le and la become les, while un and une become des.

We will look at that next.

The article changes too

When we make a French noun plural, we normally need to change the article before the noun as well.

With the:

le → les
la → les

With a / an:

un → des
une → des

So both masculine and feminine forms come together in the plural.

This is why it is useful to think about the whole noun phrase, rather than changing the noun on its own.

For example, we do not simply change:

livre → livres

We change:

le livre → les livres

or:

un livre → des livres

You will often translate des simply with a plural noun in English, although depending on the context it can also have the sense of some.

What happens to the pronunciation?

There is an important difference between written and spoken French.

When we make a regular noun plural by adding -s, that final -s is normally silent.

For example:

frère → frères

voiture → voitures

The spelling changes, but the pronunciation of the noun itself normally stays the same.

For example:

le frère → les frères

la voiture → les voitures

Although the final -s on the noun is silent, the article changes from le or la to les.

So when listening to French, it is often the whole noun phrase — not just the ending of the noun — that tells you whether someone is talking about one thing or more than one.

Common plural patterns

Adding -s is the main rule, but some common noun endings behave differently.

Words ending in ‘-al’

For words that end in ‘-al,’ the ending becomes ‘-aux’ and the pronunciation changes.

Words ending in ‘-eau’

These words add an ‘-x’ in the plural, rather than ‘-s.’

Words ending in ‘-eu’

These words also add an ‘-x’ in the plural, rather than ‘-s.’

A notable exception is ‘le bleu,’ which can mean “blue object” or “bruise,” which becomes ‘les bleus.’

Words ending ‘-s,’ ‘-x,’ or ‘-z’

These words do not change in the plural.

Words ending in -ail

Most French nouns ending in -ail follow the normal plural rule and simply add -s.

So for most nouns, there is nothing new to learn:

-ail → -ails

However, a small group of nouns behaves differently and changes -ail to -aux in the plural.

Remember

You do not need to memorise a long list of exceptional -ail nouns at this stage.

The useful rule is: most add -s; a small number have a plural in -aux, and these are best learned individually as you meet them.