{"id":118402,"date":"2023-08-23T21:20:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/french-plural\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T07:28:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T11:28:29","slug":"french-plural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/french-plural\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Complete Guide to The French Plural"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first challenges French learners face is understanding how to form plurals, a seemingly simple concept that quickly gets complicated. There are straightforward rules like adding an “s”<\/em> to nouns, but there are also some irregular patterns and exceptions.<\/p>\n

Here are the essentials of forming the French plural, including irregular cases and some quirky words that only exist in the plural.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Forming the Plural in French<\/h2>\n

Just add “s” to the noun (and change the article)<\/h3>\n

Generally, the plural of French nouns and adjectives is formed by simply adding an “s” at the end. Just like in English! The definite articles<\/a> le<\/em>, la <\/i>and <\/i>l’ <\/i>(the) become les\u00a0<\/em>(the) in the plural. The indefinite articles un<\/em>\u00a0and une <\/i>(a) become des<\/em>\u00a0(some)\u00a0<\/em>in the plural.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at some examples with French nouns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
French Singular Form<\/strong><\/th>French Plural Form<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Le stylo <\/a>\n <\/em> (the pen)<\/td> Les stylos<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0(the pens)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La table <\/a>\n <\/em> (the table)<\/td> Les tables<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0(the tables)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Now let’s take a look at some examples in which French nouns are being modified by adjectives<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
French Singular Form<\/strong><\/th>French Plural Form<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Le stylo rouge <\/a>\n <\/em> (the red pen)<\/td> Les stylos<\/strong> rouges<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0(the red pens)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La table ronde <\/a>\n <\/em>(the round table)<\/td> Les tables<\/strong> rondes<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0(the round tables)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

One more thing<\/strong>: An “s” must be added to both the noun and the adjective. Agreement: a fact of French life.<\/p>\n

How to pronounce that “s”<\/h3>\n

Spelling<\/a>, and therefore pronunciation<\/a> (and therefore reading aloud), can be tricky in French. For the most part, the little “s” we add at the end of nouns and adjectives is not pronounced<\/strong>, as is often the case with final consonants. There are, however, some exceptions in which it is<\/strong> pronounced.<\/p>\n

When you see a plural adjective followed by a noun beginning with a vowel, the final “s” of the adjective is pronounced like a “z.”<\/strong><\/p>\n