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
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.
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Examples and resources
-s, -x, -z
regular
Most French nouns take an -s in the plural unless they already end in -s, -x, -z
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.
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 !
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
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.
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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Why is “personne” plural
Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural.
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!
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
Please post an example of the use of personnes in a sentence. Merci
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
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.
Why is “personne” plural
Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural.
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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 :'(
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.
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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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.
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».
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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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?
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!
In the sense of meaning size, gros is akin to large in overall size/volume, that is 'big'; grand more specifically used for tall.
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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flowers in plural?
Why is it des fleurs and not des fleures? As i understand it, flowers are feminine.
Thanks
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.
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!
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.
flowers in plural?
Why is it des fleurs and not des fleures? As i understand it, flowers are feminine.
Thanks
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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!
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).
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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" le chien - les chiens " The sound clip's saying a whole lot more than just that.
" le chien - les chiens " The sound clip's saying a whole lot more than just that.
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