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How to form the plural (of nouns and adjectives) in FrenchPlural forms are forms that refer to "more than one" of something. In English, nouns are usually marked as being plural by adding -s or -es: one book, two books; this blue box, these blue boxes. Notice that in English, adjectives like blue don't change between singular and plural. But in French, adjectives are also marked as being singular or plural. There are a few other types of words that mark a difference between singular and plural. For example, we changed this to these. However, on this page, we will be concerned with the plural of nouns and adjectives. The most common rule for forming the plural of nouns and adjectives in French is actually very simple:
We'll explain these rules in more detail below, and look at some exceptions. General rule: add -s in the spellingUsually, the plural form of nouns and adjectives is straightforward in French: you just need to remember to add an -s to both the noun and any adjective(s) that might be alongside it. For example, recalling that les (as opposed to le or la) is the French for "the" in the plural:
 Suggest a change / proposez une modification(Notice in these examples the position of the adjective: some basic size adjectives usually go before the noun, whereas colour adjectives normally go afterwards.) Words already ending in -s or -xIn the examples above, we slipped in the word gros ("big", "bulky") which actually already ends in -s in the singular. Where a noun or adjective ends in -s in the singular, no further -s is added in the plural. The same is true of words ending in -x, for example:
le prix the price/prize
les prix the prices/prizes la voix the voice les voix the voices Suggest a change / proposez une modificationWhen to pronounce the plural -sIn general, the plural -s in French, like many final consonants, isn't pronounced. However, a notable exception is where you have a plural adjective followed by a noun beginning with a vowel. In such cases, the final -s of the adjective (but not the noun) is pronounced, as a [z] sound:
les grands arbres
the large trees les jeunes Américains young Americans mes meilleurs amis my best friends ces petits enfants these small children Suggest a change / proposez une modificationIn these examples, we have also used the plural forms ces, "these", and mes ("my"). Although in English, the word my doesn't change between singular and plural, in French it does: see the page on how to say my in French for more information. Where things are the other way round— a plural noun followed by a plural adjective— then the final -s on the noun may be pronounced where the following adjective begins with a vowel. For the purpose of pronunciation, a final -x behaves as though it was an -s. IrregularitiesThe simple rule of adding -s doesn't actually work in all cases. On the next page, we look at some irregularities in forming the plural in French.
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