Plural of French nouns

In every European language we have to differ between Singular (French: le singulier) and Plural (French: le pluriel). In French however we have to distinguish between different plural forms:

Plural nouns that end in -s
Plural nouns that end in -x
Irregular plural nouns

Lesson outline

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1.Plural nouns ending in -s
1.1.Examples for nouns ending in -s
2.Plural nouns ending in -x
2.1.Examples for nouns ending in -x
3.Irregular plural nouns
4.Plural of compound nouns
4.1.Examples for compound nouns in the plural
5.Plural of surnames
5.1.Examples for surnames in the plural
6.Exercises
6.1.Fill in the blank exercise about the plural of French nouns
6.2.Quiz about the plural of French nouns

Plural nouns ending in -s

Similar to the English language most nouns form the plural by adding -s to the singular. But different from the English language, the -s at the end of the noun isn't supposed to be pronounced.

Please note that nouns, which already end in -s in the singular form, don't change in the plural.

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Examples for nouns ending in -s

Singular	Plural	Translation
une voiture	deux voitures	two cars
un vélo	deux vélos	two bicycles
une rue	deux rues	two streets
un pays	deux pays	two countries
un repas	deux repas	two meals

Plural nouns ending in -x

Only a certain number of French nouns end in -x in the plural form.

The plural ending form in -x is used for:

all nouns that end in -au or -eau
nearly all nouns that end in -eu
some nouns that end -ou in plural
most nouns that end in -al and -ail have the ending -aux

Examples for nouns ending in -x

Singular	Plural	Translation
le bateau	beaucoup de bateaux	a lot of boats
le cheveu	beaucoup de cheveux	much hair
le genou	les genoux	knees

Irregular plural nouns

Some nouns have an irregular plural. These include nouns ending in -eu, -al, -eau, -ail and some nouns ending in -ou.

Singular	Plural	Translation
l'os	les os	the bones
monsieur	messieurs	misters
madame	mesdames	ladies
mademoiselle	mesdemoiselles	mademoiselle
les ciseaux	des pires de ciseaux	the scissors
les lunettes	des paires de lunettes	the glasses

Plural of compound nouns

When nouns are made up of two separate words, they are called compound nouns, for example, les grands-parents (meaning grandparents) or des ouvre-boites (meaning tinopeners).

The rules for forming the plural of compound nouns are a bit complicated:

If two nouns are connected, only the first noun is set in plural.
If an adjective is connected with a noun, both are changed in the plural.
If a verb is connected with a noun or another verb, both stay unchanged.
Also if a preposition is connected with a noun, both stay unchanged.

Examples for compound nouns in the plural

Singular	Plural	Translation
l'appareil photo la station-service	les appareils photo les stations-service	the cameras the gas stations
le grand-père la belle-mère	les grands-pères les belles-mères	the grandparents the mothers-in-law
le faire-parte le laisser-passer	les faire-part les laisser-passer	the announcements the passports
un après-midi un hors-d'oeuvre	les après-midi les hors-d'oeuvre	the afternoons the appetizers

Please note that compound nouns, which are written together, receive an additional -s in the plural.

Plural of surnames

In general you don't add an additional -s at the end of last names in French. But usually it's not considered as a mistake if you do so.

Bear in mind that it's common to add an -s at the end of royal family names or pieces of art.

Examples for surnames in the plural

Singular	Plural	Translation
Madame Bernard	les Bernard(s)	the Bernards
la famille Dupont	les Dupont(s)	the Duponts
Ce musée possède plusieurs Renoirs et Picassos.	Ce musée possède plusieurs Renoirs et Picassos.	This museum owns a lot of Renoirs and Picassos.