Changing Nouns Unit 1: Lesson 3

Singular  Plural In English, when we make a singular noun plural, we simply add ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the ending. (ex: horse -> horses) Sometimes, however, the plural form is entirely different and has to be memorized. (ex: mouse -> mice) In French, the same rule applies, but with some changes:

Articles In French, not only do we have to make our Nouns plural, but we have to make plural anything that modifies the noun – ie: the article. Remember from Lesson 2 that there are 3 Indefinite Articles: un, une, and des – and that “un” and “une” refer to single nouns because they each mean “a”, “an”, or “one” (ex: it is a sheep), but that “des” refers to plural nouns because it means “some” (ex: those are some sheep) When we make a Noun plural, we not only have to change the ending of the Noun, we have to change its article from “un” or “une” to “des”.

- If the French noun in question ends in an “s” or an “x” in the singular form, you do NOTHING to the end of it. Single Form of Noun Plural Form of Noun Ex: un ours  des ours une souris  des souris un agneaux  des agneaux

+ X If the French noun in question ends in “au” or “eau”, you must add “x” to the ending to make the noun plural Single Form of Noun Plural Form of Noun Ex: un oiseau  des oiseaux un chameau  des chameaux un taureau  des taureaux

al  aux If the French noun in question ends in “al”, you mush remove the “al” and replace it with “aux” Single Form of Noun Plural Form of Noun Ex: un animal  des animaux un cheval  des chevaux

+ S If the French noun in question ends in anything BUT “s”, “x”, “au”, “eau”, or “al”, then simply add “s” to the ending in order to change the noun from singular to plural. Single Form of Noun Plural Form of Noun Ex: un canard  des canards un oie  des oies un chat  des chats un loup  des loups