Salut !
PluS or plu(s)?
Suuuuuch a classic pronunciation question. 🙂
People make so many common mistakes using this four-letter word where saying the S can change what it means.
Alors. PluS or plu(s)? With or without S? Or is it « plu » ?
This is what we’ll see in today’s episode of Comme une Française TV.
C’est parti ?
Link to Le Point du FLE: The Grammar Behind « Plus »
Et toi ?
Do you have tricks for remembering the difference between plus and plus ?
Any nice and funny anecdote to share about a mistake you made because of these words?
Oh and… don’t worry.
It’s a very, very classic mistake. You’re not the only one!
Gros bisous et à tout de suite dans les commentaires !
Géraldine
So I drove into the filling station, which seemed unusually quiet. A roughly painted sign said ‘Plus d’essence’. I thought ‘More petrol’ – I figured this must mean the filling station had been waiting for a delivery and the sign is telling everyone that more has arrived. But no, it meant ‘No petrol’. The locals won’t forget their amusement, I shan’t forget my embarrassment, but I shan’t forget what ‘plus d’essence’ means – plus jamais!
This lesson was very helpful. I always felt unsure as to how to use plus et pluss.
Merci Beaucoup!!
So, “Je t’aime moi non plus” S or no S?
I think no S
Correct?
Salut Harry,
There is an “s” at the end of “plus”.
Fabien
Comme Une Française Team
This was a great video. I have wondered about the different pronunciations of “plus” for years!!!
Merci beaucoup Géraldine, another helpful yet entertaining lesson of yours. J“en veux plusssss!
Plus….pendant la grève des raffineries en septembre et en route sur le péage, nous avons vu une annonce au-dessus de la route : station de service à 21 km “plus de E95”. En continuant à rouler et découvrir qu’ici, “plus” signifie “aucun” 🙁
When plus means more than, I remember that I have to pronounce more of the letters
Great idea, Marie Claire! Merci!
That’s a good suggestion.
Quel mots ! ‘Plus ‘, ‘plus ‘ plus. Very intriguing word, useful as French adverb , adjective, and in Arithmetic. Mais, J’aime votre passion et patience. Merci beaucoup.
Would I pronounce the S in this phrase: Jr t’aime plus que tu aimes le chocolate.
And is this even correct French??
Merci!
Bonjour Marguerite,
In this case, the “s” would indeed be pronounced, and it would mean: “I love you more than you love/like chocolate.”
Bonne journée,
Fabien
Comme Une Française Team
I was hoping that you would cover ‘en plus’ in this lesson – how is this pronounced?
Bonjour Lynda,
“En plus” is pronounced \ɑ̃ plys\.
I hope this helps.
Fabien
Comme Une Française Team
Geraldine, j’aime votre “Crash Course.” Mais je n’ai pas lesson #4. Lesson #5 est arrive aujourd’hui. Est-ce possible m’envoyer Lesson #4 (a [email protected])?
Merci,
Howard Uhl
Hi Géraldine,
Plus is a tricky one! Am I correct here:
Plus (ploos) de pain s’il vous plaît! = More bread please!
Plus (ploo) de pain, merci! = No more bread thanks!
If I am correct, then one way of remembering it would be to think of the English pluS (+) meaning MORE; no ‘s’ would mean NO MORE.
If it’s anything like English, there are bound to be exceptions though!!
Thank you for the great lessons. I am enjoying the course have signed up for too.😃
Oui, very good strategy. You are correct. Thanks for sharing.
Fabien
Comme Une Française Team
very useful, thanks!
Beaucoup de fois temps le boulanger me dit j’ en ai plus! Ha! I’m wiser now!
There is to the notorious Serge Gainsborough song ‘Je t’aime moi non plus (Je t’aime… moi non plus)’.
I could never work out the lyrics for that, “I don’t love you anymore (I love you … ???).
Hi Stuart
Good question !
“I don’t love you anymore” is “Je ne t’aime plus” (with a silent s).
“Je t’aime… moi non plus” is actually a dialogue (in the song). The woman whispers “Je t’aime” (= I love you), the man (Gainsbourg) answers “Me neither.” So the translation would be “I love you… me neither.”
Which is weird! You’re only supposed to answer “Moi non plus” to a sentence in the negative.
“Je ne t’aime pas.
– Moi non plus.” (= “I don’t like you / I don’t love you.” “Neither do I.”)
In the affirmative, it would be:
“Je t’aime.
– Moi aussi.” (= “I love you.””I love you too.”)
It’s poetry, fun around grammar, so that it doesn’t really makes sense while also adding other meanings. There’s an idea of “negative” being snuck in romance, the woman or the man not really being in love, or basically a “love / hate relationship.” Also the whole song is basically a sexual intercourse, and that led to a controversy at the time that outweighed speculation about the title.
However, two more things:
– That trick of using “moi non plus” actually comes from artist Salvador Dali. When asked about his similarity with Picasso, he answered “Picasso est Italien, moi aussi. Picasso est un génie, moi aussi. Picasso est communiste, moi non plus.” (= Picasso is Italian / a genius, I am too. Picasso is a Communist, me neither.”) It’s a fun, absurdist-yet-understandable answer that Gainsbourg remembered for his song.
– More importantly, “Je t’aime moi non plus” became the French version of referring to a “love / hate relationship”, especially in newspapers – for example to talk about complicated relationships. For example, an article from Le Monde can be called “L’Europe, je t’aime moi non plus” to cover the way French people see the European Union.
(That’s a lot of text to your two-line question, but that’s the fun thing about (French) language & culture, there’s always a ton of fascinating stuff under each stone you can turn.)
Have a great day,
– Arthur, writer for Comme une Française
If you think “I’m talking about less so I need less of the word” then you will remember to drop the ‘s’ and say ‘plu’. If you think this is extra (or literally addition) then you think “I’m talking about more so I need more of a word” and you say all the letters ‘plus’. Or, at least that’s what works for me.
J’adore Géraldine; elle est tellement effervescente!
hmm merci Geraldine. je ne sais pas “plu” jusqu’a maintenant seulement “pluS”
Hi Geraldine, I love your tutorials but I think this one leaves out a lot and ends up being confusing, because “plus” in all its forms appears very frequently in written and spoken French. I know you’re trying to avoid information overload, but in this particular case I do think this approach is maybe counter-productive. This subject caused me a lot of frustration until I finally (I think!) worked it out.
After some research, I have come up with the following 3 rules for myself. I know they use phonetic spelling but there’s no other way to explain in a text!
1. ne…..plus [ply] = not anymore
Example: je ne bois plus [ply] d’alcool/I don’t drink alcohol anymore
2. plus, pronounced either [plys] or [ply] = more
# – pronounced [plys] with a noun or verb, and followed by “de” or “que”
eg…je voudrais plus [plys] de pain/I would like more bread
…Il lit plus [plys] que moi/he reads more than me
(Special case: if a noun is preceded by a number or fraction, the “s” is not pronounced.
eg…plus [ply] plus de cinquante kilomètres; plus [ply] de la moitié)
# – pronounced [ply] with an adjective or adverb
eg… Elle est plus [ply] grande que son frère/she is taller (“more tall”) than her brother
… Il marche plus vite que son père/he walks more quickly than his father
(nb liaison: plus [ply] is pronounced [plyz] before a vowel eg.. il est plus [plyz] inquiet que son
frère/he is more worried than his brother)
3. Other uses of plus, pronounced [plys]
# – addition
eg… deux plus [plys] deux égalent quatre/two plus two equals four
# – in certain phrases and expressions, usually with an implication of “more”
eg… de plus [plys] au plus [plys], en plus [plys], à plus! [plys] , de plus [plyz] en plus [plys]
# – used as a masculine noun
eg…en France, parler français est un plus [plys] indéniable/in France, speaking French is a
definite plus.
Please tell me if any of this is wrong! Thank you for your wonderful online classes.
Steven, Belfast
Very useful, Merci beacoup Steven
That is very helpful! Thank you.
Merci à vous deux!
You’re absolutely right!
Have a great day, Steven 🙂
– Arthur, writer for Comme une Française
La plupart du temps, je me souviens de l’avoir entendu.
“A plus” tard is the s pronounced or not
Hi John, good question!
In “À plus tard !” (= see you later), the “s” is silent.
In “À plus !” (= see you!), a more colloquial synonym, the “s” is pronounced.
Have a good day,
(- Arthur, writer for Comme une Française)
Je viens de trouver.Merci pour tout.
Thank you Geraldine regarding ‘plus’. Your lessons are very good indeed.
I usually think that if it’s more than the s is pronounced if it’s less or no more then it isn’t, more or less yes and no.
On ne prononce pas le “s” à la fin de “Je n’en peux plus.”?
no, we don’t Robert. You’re right.
I found your class on plus really interesting
I once said to a friend who est tres douee en francais:
Plusss je vieillis plusss je rayonne
She said it is not plusss it is plu(s) and corrected me
Was she correct?
Bonjour Daphne,
Oui, here we’d say “Plu je vieillis plu je rayonne”.
because “the more” is pronouced “plu”. (instead of “pluS” which is “more”)
Thank you sooo much for this lecon! Such a confusing issue for us English speakers.
I’m like Ann I’ll have to listen more than once, I’ve struggles with this for a long time, but the way you explain it….I’m gonna handle it for once and for all. Thank you so much
You’re welcome, Patricia !
Plus or plu is a tricky one – I’ll need to listen to this lesson a few times to get my head around it!
Enchanting teaching method!- thanks
J’aime comment tu l’expliques.
Thank you for making this easy.
Merci Géraldine
Le premier fois j’ai écouté cet phrase, il était dedans une magasine. J’ai demandé la assistante commerciale si elle a le pain. Non plu elle m a reponde. J’ai pensé elle m’a dit elle a plus et ne peux pas comprendre pourquoi elle m a pas donné ou e pain.
Et…plus-que-parfait…on prononce le “s” ou non? J’ai entendu les deux…
Bonjour Janet,
Moi, je prononce le S dans plus-que-parfait.
Bonjour, Géraldine et merci beaucoup ! I’m ‘Guilty As Charged’ in making every mistake possible with using, ‘plus’. I will watch this video again and again! 🙂
Salut Géraldine,
I would pronounce only the s in ”bus”.
Salut Géraldine !
Pour cette phrase: je vais la prononcer comme ça :
« Je n’ai plus soif, j’ai déjà bu dans le bu*s*. «
Thank you for the quick explanation!
Merci, Geraldine, c’est bien utile. Maintenant j’ai besoin de pluS de pratique! (peutetre que ‘pratique’ n’est pas le bon mot?
Bonjour, Géraldine.
Il me paraît qu’il y ait pas mal d’exceptions:
https://www.lepointdufle.net/ressources_fle/plus.htm
Pourriez-vous donner des astuces pour en souvenir ?
Merci bien.
Bonjour. C’est où la vidéo ? Je ne la trouve pas ! Y-a-t-il une transcription ? Merci.
How to say “Plus”
I can’t watch this video.
I’ll remember plus as no more s and plus as more because add s which is more
Bonne astute! Merci!!!
Merci pour cette leçon qui est très outile! J’apprends le français depuis longtemps, mais c’est la première fois que j’ai appris la différence entre fils/fils, os/os, bu/bus etc. J’aime bien les exercices après la leçon!
J’aime le commentaire donné par Avril
hi geraldine from England, uk. I love this site, its just what i need right now so practising with you every day. mercy mille foie
You are welcome, Dee. 🙂
For me, plus has more sound (added s) when it means more, and less sound (no s) when it means no more.
Cute tip! I love it, April. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, now that’s clever! Thank you April!
Vous avons plus des meubles et des plantes? Bon ! Vous aurez bientôt un réel appartement.
I appreciate these finer points but I need more conversation relative to traveling, ordering food at a restaurant, etc…
Ceux qui aiment la musique peut penser au morceau pour piano de Claude Debussy, “La plus que lente” [pluS].
Plus d’un million ? Pas de s prononcé?? Merci et bonne continuation
je fait cette erreur tout le temps. j’ai l’habitude de ne pas prononcer le s dans le comparatif.
I like memory devices. How about — when “plus”means NOT or a negative you do NOT pronounce the S.
What an amazing episode, and the exercise at the end the most brilliant idea! Merci Geraldine !
Thanks Mariza, I’ll try to add more of those in upcoming episodes, then!
Salut!
Je ne comprends pas le phrase: “Mes enfants sont grands, ils vivent plus à la maison”. Pourquoi ne pas prononcer la lettre S? Ne devrait pas prononcer la lettre S parce qu’il vient d’un article (à)?
Bonjour Mariana,
Dans ce cas précis, on peut dire “Plu(s) à la maison” ou “PluZ à la maison” pour faire la liaison.
Les 2 fonctionnent.
Un jour, quand j’étais étudiante à l’université, j’ai dit à mon professeur (qui était français), “Je mange plus (plu) en automne.” Je voulais dire que “I eat more in the fall.” Il m’a répondu, “What? You no longer eat?” À ce moment -là il m’a appris à le prononcer correctement selon le sens du mot. Je n’ai jamais oublié cette leçon! Et plus (pluz) important, je n’ai plus (plu) de problèmes avec le mot “plus”! Voilà!
Super anecdote Trena ! Merci de l’avoir partagée ! 🙂
I was doing an exercise in a course involving “ne…plus”
La phrase: “Il n’y a plus de lait dans le frigo.” And then the more familiar version: “Il y a plus de lait dans le frigo.” In both cases the “s” was not pronounced and the meaning was “There is no more milk in the fridge.”
However I thought that the latter meant, “There IS more milk in the fridge.” Can it mean that? Does one have to pronounce the “s” to make it mean “more” as compared to “no more”? Vos pensees?!
Hi Michael !
The sentence “il y a plus de lait dans le frigo” can have two different meanings depending on whether you pronounce the “s” or not :
– you pronounce the “s” =>there is more milk in the fridge
-you don’t pronounce the “s” => no more milk.
Il y a pluS de lait dans le frigo. 🙂
Coucou ! Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo, mais surtout l’exercice à la fin ! Ils ont beaucoup aidé ! Bisous
Thanks for your great tutorial. Can you tell me if I should pronounce the ‘s’ when I want to say “Mais plus ou moins?”
We say “PluZ ou moins”
Comment se prononce l’expression “de plus en plus”? Ayant fait la liaison entre le premier “plus” et “en”, est-ce que le deuxième “plus” suit les règles données? C’est à dire, on fait la liaison avec le deuxième “plus” si cela est suivi par un voyelle, on ne prononce pas le “s” si c’est suivi par un adjectif, et cetera?
Merci Geraldine!
Merci pour votre aide Géraldine. Mais mon prof. nous a dit de utiliser ‘pluS’ quand c’est à la fin de la phrase et quand c’est entre deux mots on utilise ‘plus’. Est-ce que c’est correcte selon vous?
A friend told me that one does not pronounce the s in plus when
the meaning is negative as in Je ne veux plu(s) de haricot verts.
J’adore votre site! Je suis prof et je le trouve tres interessant. Merci!
Merci Géraldine! I can do this pretty well, but those exceptions with “followed by a noun or verb” really surprised me, that 5% exception category. Most of this is stuff that I would never directly teach to my students, their heads would explode, but that they’d learn from listening through talking with people who do it correctly or hearing it read or in tv/films. Then they (like I) just hear what’s “right.” But that 5%. Crazy!
I know Rebecca! 😀 It’s crazy!
Merci pour les exemples — ce sont geniales!
“Want to try?” Excellent idée!!
I love all the posts and videos. I feel that my grammar and knowledge are great on paper, but I need to develop an ear for French, especially when the speakers are speaking quickly. Help?
Geraldine,
This was an excellent video, merci! I really wanted to say ‘C’etait un video excellent’ or should it be ‘C’etait un excellent video’ (adjective order? You do great videos. Thank you and bravo!
Thank you, Geraldine and commentators for clearing up a confusing issue. Now if only I can remember! Practice, practice, practice!
I just returned from a wonderful week in Paris. I noticed that French women dressed very differently than we do. Luckily, I did nit wear tennis shoes or jeans. Could you address dress styles? Color choices, slacks or not, prints or solids.
Hi Anna,
I’d say:
Pick 1-2 colors including a black or white or dark blue.
Add few accessories.
Go with a super simple make-up.
Quality is our number 1 concern
Don’t ever wear sweatpants.
Flip flops can be tolerated if you have your nails done and your flip flops look really good.
I always wear a scarf (winter, summer, spring, fall…).
The best advice I could give is to check French brands online and copy. 😉
Bon courage !
Merci Géraldine! This is one of the most confusing “rules” of pronunciation for teachers of French to impart to students. This will be a big help!
Hi Kim,
Yes, I 100% agree. It is tricky. 🙂
Glad it helps!
In one of the examples, part of the sentence is : “…ils (ne) vivent plus à la maison.” I understand that dropping the ne is common in spoken French, but I’m wondering if there is liaison after plus — it would seem that with “à” following it, it would be plus-(Z)-à, but clearly that’s not the pronunciation on the video. Thanks for your help! (Or rather Merci pour m’aider.) (At least I think that’s how I’d say that…)
Tres interessant le utiliser le mot “plus”.Je ne pense pas il ya deux meaning mon explanation n’est pas tres bien. bisous, Charlotte.
Merci
Pour l’expression “à plus tard,” est-ce qu’on prononce le “s”? Je ne le prononce pas mais d’autres personnes disent oui. 🙁 MERCI! 🙂
Hi Sera:
A plus tard : NO s.
A plus (short for “A plus tard”) : S.
🙂
Love this one (as always)! Un bémol, Geraldine….I live in Toulouse. Aha! Gotcha! 😉 These crazy Toulousaines pronounce the “s” always when they say “plus” or “moins”. Stay away from Toulouse and all will be fine…
Toulouse blues….
ohhhhhh… Yes Judy! You got me! 😀
Mon ancien prof nous en donnait un exemple:
A la banque: Vous – “PluS de crédit?”
Le guichet: “Plus de crédit!”
😀
Bonjour,
The same sentence can mean two opposite things depending if you pronounce the “s” or not when we don’t use the “ne” as we don’t in conversation. Par exemple, “j’en veux plus”. If you pronounce de “s” it means “I want more of it”, but if you don’t prounounce the “s” it means “I don’t want it anymore”. I always like to point it out to my students, not to add to the confusion, but to remind them that the negation of the sentence can be expressed different ways. Kind of like asking a question with an affirmation by raising your voice. Par exemple, “tu as froid” means you are cold”, but say the same sentence raising your voice and you are asking “are you cold?”. All languages do it, but when you are raised speaking it, you don’t think about it.
Dear Geraldine, I particularly liked the final 3 phrases to speak out loud and practise before you gave the right answer, a really good new activity!
Thanks Catriona
I liked the exercises at the end too – more please!
Absolutely – brilliant idea!
I also loved the practice exercises at the end!
I agree – I loved those exercises at the end.
I actually forget to use plu(s) for “no more” or “anymore”. As a consequence, I rarely say it in French and end up saying “none” (e.g. rien) or similar instead, e.g. “il n’y a pas de la confiture dans le frigo; alors je dois en acheter.”
I don’t know where I picked up before that it is pluS (pronounced) everywhere except before adverbs/adjectives (in general, liaisons excluded), but thanks for confirming it!
Well done Daniel!
Oui, j’ai bien aimé cette activité! J’aimerais bien les voir de PLUS, svp! 😉
Merci Catriona! Glad you liked it!!!
I like to try new things. Will add more of those in the future.
Hi Geraldine, my French teacher (who is French) said to remember it simply if you are describing a negative meaning use plu(s) and for a positive meaning use plus. She didn’t mention the adjective / vowel rule, had she made a error?
Hi Donna,
Thanks for your question. I think your French teacher is right in telling you this. 🙂
As you saw it’s a complicated topic: with lots of rules. And if her tip works 90% of the time, it’s good enough to be remembered for everyday life.
To be honest, I had no idea about all these rules before preparing this episode. I used my intuition to say the “S” or not. 🙂
So any tip that’s roughly right, here, is good to have.
Coucou Géraldine! Ça va?
J’ai une petite question…quand on dit “à plus!” est-ce qu’on prononce le “s” ou pas?
Merci!
Oui, quand on dit “à plus tard”, we pronounce the “s”. We follow the same rules as with the numbers “six” and “dix” when we pronounce the “x” as an”s” when not followed by a noun. Par exemple, “j’en veux six”. But “il y a si(x) livres sur la table”, le “x” is silent. If the noun starts with a vowel, the “x” makes the sound of the “z”, par exemple, “il y a six assiettes sur la tables
La question d’Anne concerne « à plus ! » et oui, on prononce le « s ». Mais dans « à plus tard » c’est muet.
Je viens de relire mon commentaire Toutes mes excuses Bien sûr, j’ai voulu dire que l’on prononce le S de “à plus ” et pas celui d’ “a plus tard”. Merci d’avoir remarquer mon erreur
Je m’en doutais Aurore. 😉
Salut Anne,
Ça va super, et toi ? 😀
Oui, on prononce le S de “A plus !”
I am always confused with this *PLUS* the S silent or not.
thank you Gelardine fr this explanatin.