How do you say 'more' in French?

There are various ways to say 'more' in French. Which one to use depends on the situation, for example whether you're using more to say "a larger/further quantity of" (more coffee), or whether you're using it to mean to a greater extent (more intelligent) etc. We'll look at the most common cases here.

more coffee, more cups, more work etc

This is possibly the most common situation, where more is used in a phrase with a noun such as more coffee, more red cups, and where the meaning is "an additional amount/number of...". In this case, there are two common ways to translate it:

The words de and la are shortened to d' and l' before a vowel as usual, and de l' is used instead of du before a vowel. So here are some examples:

Note that most expressions of quantity (beaucoup de..., trop de..., une bouteille de... etc) behave like plus and just take a "bare" de.

Pronunciation tip

Note that the -s on the end of plus is practically always pronounced nowadays, when&ndash and only when&ndash it means more (or "plus"). In the phrase plus de..., this will often sound like plu-z-de. (In general, French speakers tend to make s a voiced "z" sound before a d.)

Next: the comparative

On the next page, we look at the comparative in French: how to say more intelligent, more friendly etc.

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