Plurals 2 (Nouns & Adjectives, Articles, Conjugations, Punctuation)

Nouns and Adjectives

Most plural forms of nouns and adjectives can be formed by appending an -s to the singular, but remember that this -s is usually silent.

• Le chat noir — The black cat ⇒ Les chats noirs — The black cats
• Un chat noir — A black cat ⇒ Des chats noirs — (Some) black cats

Note: If the noun is preceded by an adjective, des becomes de.

• Un petit chat — A little cat ⇒ De petits chats

Articles

Articles must agree with the nouns they modify, so plural nouns require either les or des. This is a great way to tell if a noun is plural. If you hear les or des (which sound like [le] and [de]), then the noun is plural. If not, it's probably singular.

Conjugations

Remember that verbs change conjugation to agree with their subjects in both grammatical person and number.



Punctuation

There are no quotation marks in French. Instead, the French use guillemets (« »). Exclamation marks (!), question marks (?), colons (:), semicolons (;) and guillemets need to have a space on either side.

• Incorrect: "Ça va?"
• Correct: « Ça va ? »

When writing numbers in French, commas are decimal points, while spaces mark thousands places.

• Incorrect: 1,235.8
• Correct: 1 235,8