There are two grammatical forms of number: singular and plural.
When a word refers to one person (or a group of persons) or one thing (or one group of things), it is singular. When it refers to more than one person, or more than one thing or one group of things, it is plural.
Plural Formation
For most simple (one-word) nouns, the plural is formed by adding -s to the masculine or feminine singular form of the noun:
un homme/des hommes (man); le musée/les musées (museum)
Singular nouns ending with s, z, or x remain unchanged in the plural:
un pois/des pois (pea); une croix/des croix (cross); un nez/des nez (nose)
Nouns ending in -au, -eau, or -eu add an x in the plural:
le noyau/les noyaux (pit); le bateau/les bateaux (boat); le jeu/les jeux (game)
Exceptions: bleu/bleus, landau/landaus, pneu/pneus
Nouns ending in -al form the plural by changing the ending to -aux:
un journal, des journaux (newspaper)
Exceptions:
bal/bals (ball), carnaval/carnavals (carnival), chacal/chacals (jackal), festival/festivals (festival), etc.
Nouns ending in -ail add an s at the end:
un chandail/des chandails (sweater)
Note: Some nouns ending in -ail in the singular form the plural by changing the ending to -aux:
bail (lease), corail (coral), émail (enamel), soupirail (trap door), travail (work), vitrail (stained glass).
Seven nouns ending in -ou in the singular form the plural by changing the ending to -oux:
bijou (jewel), caillou (stone), chou (cabbage), genou (knee), hibou (owl), joujou (toy), pou (louse).
Irregular Plural Forms
Some nouns have irregular plural forms:
le ciel/ les cieux (sky),
l'oeil/les yeux (eye),
Madame/Mesdames (Madam, Mrs.)
Mademoiselle/Mesdemoiselles (Miss)
Monsieur/Messieurs (gentleman, sir)
Nouns Used Only in the Plural
Some nouns have only plural forms. In general, they represent things or ideas that cannot readily be conceived of as being singular:
les archives (archives); les
lunettes (eyeglasses);
les fiançailles (engagement); les
ciseaux (scissors)
Nouns used only in the singular are described in the Noncount Nouns topic.
In general, words borrowed from foreign languages and now commonly used in French follow the same rule as French words:
un opéra/des opéras (opera), un best-seller/des best-sellers (best-seller)
Some words have two plural forms, a regular and an irregular form, which may have different meanings:
aïeul
(grandfather)
des aïeux (grandfathers)
des aïeuls (forefathers)
un oeil (an eye)
des yeux (eyes)
des oeils* (eyes)
le ciel (sky)
les cieux (skies)
les ciels (skies) [in a painting]
* Note: this form is found only in the compound nouns: oeils-de-boeuf, oeils-de-chat, etc.
See the following topics for more information:
See Also: