{"id":118481,"date":"2023-07-07T17:42:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T21:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/tout-vs-tous\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T04:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T09:32:40","slug":"tout-vs-tous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/tout-vs-tous\/","title":{"rendered":"Tout vs. Tous: All You Need to Know About “All” in French"},"content":{"rendered":"

“All” is a word we don’t give much thought to in everyday English, but it has different roles in French.\u00a0To express these ideas in French, however, you’ll need to know all\u00a0about\u00a0tout<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>its variants and its usages.<\/p>\n

You’re going to want to express this idea\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>the time\u2014so it is really important to start learning these words now. Here is your guide to French’s tout,<\/em> touts<\/em>, tous<\/em>, toute<\/em> and toutes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc skip=4]<\/p>\n

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Tout<\/em> vs. Tous:<\/em> The Basics<\/h2>\n

First things first: What does tout<\/em>\u00a0mean? Well, as I’m sure you noticed,\u00a0t<\/em>out<\/em>\u00a0is one of the most common words in the French language<\/a><\/strong>, and it means “all” or “every.” In many instances, however,\u00a0tout\u00a0<\/em>can be used to mean “very.”<\/p>\n

That’s not all. Being one of the most common words in the French language, it has many variants that serve diverse purposes. One of those variants is tous<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But what are the differences between these words and what are these “diverse purposes” you’re blabbering on about, Michael? Let’s take a look. Below is a list of all the ways\u00a0tout<\/em> can be used in French, which we’ll then look at in detail, one by one, in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
Use<\/strong><\/th>Explanation<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1. Adjective<\/strong><\/td>Most commonly,\u00a0tout<\/em>\u00a0is used as an adjective. This means that it can\u00a0modify nouns as well as act alongside definite articles (as in\u00a0le\/la<\/em>\u2014the), possessive adjectives\u00a0(as in\u00a0mon<\/em>\u2014my) and demonstrative adjectives (as in\u00a0ce<\/em>\u2014this,\u00a0cette<\/em>\u2014that).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Adverb<\/strong><\/td>Secondly,\u00a0tout<\/em> can be used as an adverb. This happens when it is used to modify verbs or adjectives.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Noun or Pronoun<\/strong><\/td>Tout<\/em> can also be used as a noun. This would be the equivalent of saying \"you are my everything\"(tu es mon tout<\/em>) in English.\u00a0Similarly,\u00a0tout<\/em>\u00a0can be used as a pronoun, as in when you\u00a0say \"everything is good\" (tout va bien<\/em>) in English.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Got it? Not quite, huh? Well, that’s okay. The following sections will get you all up to speed.<\/p>\n

A note on pronunciation<\/h3>\n

While the pronunciations of\u00a0tout<\/em> and its variants are typically pretty predictable, they can change depending on whether a speaker is using a certain form as an adjective, adverb, noun, pronoun or fixed expression. I have you covered though: Each section has a handy pronunciation guide after its explanation.<\/p>\n

You can also check the pronunciation and some contextual examples of each word on FluentU<\/a>.

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