Most French nouns take an -s in the plural unless they already end in -s, -x, -z

In French, just like in English, to make most nouns plural, you simply add -s at the end.

Learn how to make a noun plural in French

J'ai un enfant et mon frère a trois enfants.I have one child and my brother has three children.

Il y a deux ballons bleus et un ballon rouge.There are two blue balloons and one red balloon.

Je vois un petit chien et deux grands chiens.I see a small dog and two big dogs.

Note that you don't pronounce the plural -s in French.

ATTENTION: 

If a noun already ends in -s or -x or -z in the singular form, then it remains unchanged in the plural form.

Je vois une souris !  Je vois deux souris !I see one mouse! I see two mice!

L'écureuil a une noix... non, deux noix !The squirrel has one walnut... no, two walnuts! 

Mon nez est petit, mais leurs nez sont gros.My nose is small, but their noses are big.

 

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Examples and resources

Il y a deux ballons bleus et un ballon rouge.There are two blue balloons and one red balloon.
"Les pluriel des noms" by youlearnfrench.blogspot.com
"Plurals in French" by www.frenchspanishonline.com

-s, -x, -z


Je vois une souris !  Je vois deux souris !I see one mouse! I see two mice!
Mon nez est petit, mais leurs nez sont gros.My nose is small, but their noses are big.
L'écureuil a une noix... non, deux noix !The squirrel has one walnut... no, two walnuts! 

regular


J'ai un enfant et mon frère a trois enfants.I have one child and my brother has three children.
Je vois un petit chien et deux grands chiens.I see a small dog and two big dogs.
Most French nouns take an -s in the plural unless they already end in -s, -x, -z
1 of 2
Which of the following nouns are plural ?[one, some or all may be correct]

Q&A Forum 8 questions, 17 answers

Margaret F.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Adjectives in the right place

I could not understand the phrase "un bon pour les cheveux shampooing" so could not put words in right order.

Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Margaret,

Please follow the link below, which will take you to a previous question, and read Cécile's answers: un-bon-pour-les-cheveux-shampooing

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Un bon shampooing pour les cheveux. "le shampooing" is a noun in French for shampoo. wordreference/Larousse bilingual or other bilingual dictionaries are very useful:

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/shampooing

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Un bon pour les cheveux shampooing — a good-for-the-hair shampoo

Sometimes French strings together several words to make a kind of compound adjective. 

Margaret F. asked:

Adjectives in the right place

I could not understand the phrase "un bon pour les cheveux shampooing" so could not put words in right order.

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Barbara H.A2Kwiziq community member

Why is “personne” plural

Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural. 

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Barbara, 

I have had a look at the Kwiz and it asks you which of the following nouns are plural?  -

oranges/personne/filles/garçon

The only plural nouns are -

oranges and filles 

as 'personne',  as you say would have a -s at the end to mean 'people'.

If you were marked wrong maybe there is another reason for this as it definitely not plural.

Bonne Continuation!

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Personne as a noun does indeed take an 's' in the plural; as an indefinite pronoun it is invariable and 'singular'.

https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/personne

Ted M.B1Kwiziq community member

Please post an example of the use of personnes in a sentence. Merci

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Ted, 

Personne can be either a noun, or a pronoun.

As a noun, ‘ personne ‘ is grammatically feminine, and can be used in singular or plural forms, as required. 

Examples from Larousse

 ‘ il y avait quinze personnes à table ‘,

 ‘ il y a trois personnes en Dieu ‘.

 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/personne/59812#difficulte 

and from Robert 

‘ Une ville où habitent dix mille personnes. ‘

 https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/personne

As a pronoun, ‘ personne ‘ is an indefinite, invariable grammatically masculine pronoun - and always in the singular. 

Adjectives after personne, rien, tout le monde, quelqu'un are always masculine in French

CécileKwiziq Native French Teacher

Hi Barbara et al,

I have changed the question to 'in the plural form' as it was misleading in my opinion and caused confusion in the case of 'personne' which is in the singular form in this instance but can indeed be 'personnes' when meaning people. 

Thank you Maarten for the excellent examples which I hope answer your query Ted.

Barbara H. asked:

Why is “personne” plural

Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural. 

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¿? L.A0Kwiziq community member

Passé composé

Why maison in plural is not maisones since it's female it needs to end with

 '' es ''. But instead ends with just '' s '', maisons ? 

Help :'(

Asked 4 years ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

No - maison is a noun and is already feminine «la maison», it only needs an 's' for the plural. You may be confusing rules of agreement from verbs and adjectives and trying to apply to nouns.

¿? L. asked:

Passé composé

Why maison in plural is not maisones since it's female it needs to end with

 '' es ''. But instead ends with just '' s '', maisons ? 

Help :'(

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Swastik M.A1Kwiziq community member

Orange vs Oranges: Plural

Hi, 

How does orange changes in plural?

According to the video tagged, orange doesnot change to plural, but in the quiz it marked my question wrong.

Pls suggest the right way.

Asked 4 years ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Orange as a noun does take an s for the plural. Orange as an adjective for colour, does not take an s. 2 different situations. That is «Les oranges» but «les fleurs orange».

Swastik M. asked:

Orange vs Oranges: Plural

Hi, 

How does orange changes in plural?

According to the video tagged, orange doesnot change to plural, but in the quiz it marked my question wrong.

Pls suggest the right way.

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Park J.A0Kwiziq community member

Gros vs Grand

It says here that 'my nose is small but their noses are big' is translated to 'Mon nez est petit, mais leurs nez sont gros' . Is there a certain reason why it is "gros" isntead of "grand" ? Or is it just an optional thing?

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Park,

I think here the emphasis is on the spread of the noses rather than the length of them but you could say -

il a un grand nez 

Bonne Continuation!

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

In the sense of meaning size, gros is akin to large in overall size/volume, that is 'big'; grand more specifically used for tall. 

Park J. asked:

Gros vs Grand

It says here that 'my nose is small but their noses are big' is translated to 'Mon nez est petit, mais leurs nez sont gros' . Is there a certain reason why it is "gros" isntead of "grand" ? Or is it just an optional thing?

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Cs A.A2Kwiziq community member

flowers in plural?

Why is it des fleurs and not des fleures? As i understand it, flowers are feminine. 

Thanks

Asked 5 years ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Cs,

Ths singular is  - une fleur

the plural is  - des fleurs

I know it can seem strange but 'fleur' doesn't have an -e  at the end but it is feminine.

 

CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Brian,

Take a look at the following Kwiziq lesson on basic colours which include 'noir' -

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/how-colour-descriptions-adjectives-change-according-to-gender-and-number

Noyer is a walnut tree and I have no experience of it being used as a colour.

Noisette can be a noun and a colour, hazelnut ( applied to eyes for instance) and like marron ( brown) is invariable ( doesn't change in number or gender) when used as a colour.

Hope this helps!

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Could you say a word about noyer/noir/noisette please? Even after looking in the dictionary I’m not really getting the distinction, although I can see it’s something to do with m/f & sin/plu. 

Cs A. asked:

flowers in plural?

Why is it des fleurs and not des fleures? As i understand it, flowers are feminine. 

Thanks

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Karen H.C1Kwiziq community member

ses jours de congé: I'm doing one of your translation tests - why is there no S on congé please, even though it's jours with an s? Thank you!

Asked 6 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Karen,

there's no s because congé is not an adjective but a noun. 

Jours de congé -- days of vacation. 

If you said instaid "jours congés" it would be an adjective and hence also pick up the s. The difference lying in the preposition "de". 

-- Chris (not a native speaker). 

Karen H. asked:

ses jours de congé: I'm doing one of your translation tests - why is there no S on congé please, even though it's jours with an s? Thank you!

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CrystalMaiden 7.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

" le chien - les chiens " The sound clip's saying a whole lot more than just that.

What's she actually saying betwen le chien and les chiens?
Asked 6 years ago
GruffKwiziq Co-founder, CEO
Hi Crystal - that was a bug. It's fixed. Thanks for letting us know!
CrystalMaiden 7. asked:

" le chien - les chiens " The sound clip's saying a whole lot more than just that.

What's she actually saying betwen le chien and les chiens?

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