Lesson - Section 3: Forming Plural Nouns

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PART 4: THE CONCEPT OF AGREEMENT

Lesson - Section 3:
Forming Plural Nouns


Dare I say that this lesson is fairly straightforward You apply the rules, and you can correctly form the plural of most of the nouns in French. Let's get straight to it. Again, this lesson will not include vocabularies and Français Quotidien because I think these rules for noun agreement are fairly hard to absorb so I want you all to concentrate on them. The following is a list of how to form the plural for the noun with a given ending.

Nouns that end in -s, -x, -z do not change between singular and plural.

le nez/les nez

English words adapted into French generally form their plural by adding simply an s.
le match/les matchs.

Nouns that end in -ail: -ails.
le chandail/les chandails.

Nouns that end in -al: -aux.
le cheval/les chevaux.

Nouns that end in -eau: -eaux.
le manteau/les manteaux.

Nouns that end in -eu: -eux.
le jeu/les jeux.

Nouns that end in -ou: -ous.
le clou/les clous.

For -ou: there are several major exceptions that you must know. The following nouns that end in -ou take their plural in -oux.

les bijoux, les cailloux, les choux, les genoux, les hiboux, les joujoux, les poux.

Proper nouns do not have plurals.

ex: les Dupont.

With a compound noun, each word within the noun agrees.
les grands-parents.

If compound nouns are formed with verbs, the verbs are invariable and thus the following noun also stays singular.

les lave-vaisselle

Finally, if nouns are formed with invariable words, the whole compound noun rests invariable.

les après-midi

Finally, here are your questions

1. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: ordinateur.
2. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: auto.
3. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: film.
4. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: souris.
5. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: machine.
6. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: travail. Caution: use -aux.
7. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: sou.
8. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: festival. Caution: use -s.
9. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: bébé.
10. Please tell me the plural form of this noun: chameau.