Noun plurals: le temps, les temps

The written rule: add -s

For the overwhelming majority of nouns, the plural is the singular plus -s.

In a sentence: Les enfants mangent. - The children are eating.

The spoken rule: the article carries the plural

Say these pairs out loud. The noun does not change; only the article does.

So le and la become les, and un and une become des. In English you hear the noun change (cat, cats); in French you hear the article.

12

1. 1la pomme
2. 2les pommes

Say both aloud: la pomme, les pommes. The word pomme sounds the same; only la to les tells you there are more.

There is one bonus clue. Before a vowel, liaison sounds a z between the plural article and the noun:

• les amis - the friends, said "layz-ami"
• des enfants - (some) children, said "dayz-ahn-fahn"

That z is the ghost of the plural -s, and it only appears before a vowel.

Exception 5: nouns in -s, -x and -z never change

If the singular already ends in -s, -x or -z, the plural is spelled the same. Only the article moves.

In a sentence: Les prix sont bons. - The prices are good. Note that temps, one of the commonest nouns in French, is in this group.