French Plural Nouns

French Plural Nouns – Making Singular Nouns Plural

French nouns can be tricky when it comes to plurals—but don’t worry, it’s mostly about patterns! Most nouns just add -e for feminine and -s for plural, but some endings follow special rules, and a few nouns are completely irregular.

In this lesson, we’ll cover everything you need to know: standard plurals, tricky endings like -au, -al, -ou, and -ail, and even the irregular nouns you just have to memorize.

You can download a PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.

Most French nouns add E for feminine and S for plural. This applies to nouns that end in consonants as well as all vowels except unaccented E.

Noun: avocat (lawyer)

Masculine singular – avocat

Feminine singular – avocate

Masculine plural – avocats

Feminine plural – avocates

Noun: ami (friend)

Masculine singular – ami

Feminine singular – amie

Masculine plural – amis

Feminine plural – amies

Noun: invité (guest)

Masculine singular – invité

Feminine singular – invitée

Masculine plural – invités

Feminine plural – invitées

When masculine singular nouns end with an unaccented E, there is no difference between the masculine and feminine forms:

Noun: touriste (tourist)

Masculine singular – touriste

Feminine singular – touriste

Masculine plural – touristes

Feminine plural – touristes

Nouns ending in S, X, or Z : No difference between singular and plural forms:

Noun: le fils (son)

Masculine singular – le fils

Masculine plural – les fils

Noun: le gaz (gas)

Masculine singular – le gaz

Masculine plural – les gaz

Noun: la croix (cross)

Feminine singular – la croix

Feminine plural – les croix

Nouns that end in –AU take –X in the plural:

Noun: le bateau (boat)

Masculine singular – le bateau

Masculine plural – les bateaux

Noun: le manteau (coat)

Masculine singular – le manteau

Masculine singular – les manteaux

Most nouns that end in –AIL drop the -AIL and take -AIX in the plural:

Noun: le travail (work)

Masculine singular – le travail

Masculine plural – les travaux

Noun: le corail (coral)

Masculine singular – le corail

Masculine plural – les coraux

Most nouns that end in –OU take –S in the plural, but some take –X:

Noun: le chou (cabbage)

Masculine singular – le chou

Masculine plural – les choux

Noun: le bijou (jewelry)

Masculine singular – le bijou

Masculine plural – les bijoux

Nouns that end in –AL drop that ending and use –AUX in the plural:

Noun: le journal (newspaper)

Masculine singular – le journal

Masculine singular – les journaux

Masculine singular – l’animal

Masculine plural – les animaux

Nouns that end in -EU take –S in the plural, but some take –X:

Noun: le pneu (tire)

Masculine singular – le pneu

Masculine plural – les pneus

Noun: le neveu (nephew)

Masculine singular – le neveu

Masculine plural – les neveux

Some Plural French Nouns Are Irregular

1	le tas = les tas	12	le caillou = les cailloux
2	la croix = les croix	13	le chou = les choux
3	le nez = les nez	14	le genou = les genoux
4	le tuyau = les tuyaux	15	le hibou = les hiboux
5	le gâteau = les gâteaux	16	le pou = les poux
6	le neveu = les neveux	17	le bonhomme = les bonshommes
7	le pneu = les pneus	18	le ciel = les ciels (the skies) / les cieux (the heavens)
8	le corail = les coraux	19	l’oeil = les yeux
9	le travail = les travaux	20	madame = mesdames
10	le vitrail = les vitraux	21	mademoiselle = mesdemoiselles
11	le bijou = les bijoux	22	monsieur = messieurs