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Tout vs. Tous: All You Need to Know About “All” in French
Last night I gave it my all: I ate all the doughnut holes.

Then my fingers were all sticky.

But at least the napkins I’d brought were all there.

“All” is a word we don’t give much thought to in everyday English, but it has different roles in the above sentences.

To express these ideas in French, however, you’ll need to know all about t o ut , its variants and its usages.

You’re going to want to express this idea all the time—so it is really important to start learning these words now. All
shall be clear soon.

Check out this essential guide to French’s tout, touts , tous , toute and toutes .

Do wnlo ad: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to
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Tout vs. Tous: The Basics

First things first: What does tout mean? Well, as I’m sure you noticed, tout is one of the most common words in theWebpagepdf.com
First things first: What does tout mean? Well, as I’m sure you noticed, tout is one of the most common words in the
French language, and it means “all” or “every.” In many instances, however, tout can be used to mean “very.”

That’s not all. Being one of the most common words in the French language, it has many variants that serve diverse
purposes. One of those variants is tous .

But what are the differences between these words and what are these “diverse purposes” you’re blabbering on
about, Michael? Let’s take a look. Below is a list of all the ways tout can be used in French, which we’ll then look at in
detail, one by one, in this post.

(1) Adject ive: Most commonly, tout is used as an adjective. This means that it can modify nouns as well as act
alongside definite articles (as in le/la— the), possessive adjectives (as in mon—my) and demonstrative adjectives
(as in ce—this, cette— that).

(2) Adverb: Secondly, tout can be used as an adverb. This happens when it is used to modify verbs or
adjectives.

(3) No un/pro no un: Tout can also be used as a noun. This would be the equivalent as saying “you are my
everything” (tu es mon tout) in English. Similarly, tout can be used as a pronoun, as in when you say “everything is
good” (tout va bien) in English.

Got it? Not quite, huh? Well, that’s okay. The following sections will get you all up to speed.

A note on pronunciation

While the pronunciations of tout and its variants are typically pretty predictable, it can change depending on whether a
speaker is using a certain form as an adjective, adverb, noun, pronoun or fixed expression. I have you covered though.
Each section has a handy pronunciation guide after its explanation.

Tout vs. Tous: The 3 Main Uses of Tout (and Its Variants)
1. Tout as an Adjective Webpagepdf.com
1. Tout as an Adjective

I know what you’re thinking: “Michael, you’ve done a lot of talking about tout and its supposed variants, but you
haven’t actually shown me these variants!”

I apologize. Here they are.

As an adjective, tout has four forms. In fact, some of these forms appear when it acts as an adverb and pronouns (but
not all—stayed tuned). As you might guess, the word tout is masculine and singular. That means it is used when it
modifies masculine, singular words.

Consequently, tout becomes t o us when modifying masculine plural forms, and t o ut e and t o ut es modify feminine
singular and feminine plural forms, respectively.

MAS CULINE FEMININE

Singular tout toute

Plural tous toutes

When modifying nouns, tout is unlike other adjectives because it is placed before the noun. For example, if
you wanted to say “every child speaks French” in French, you would say “tout enfant parle français .” In fact, in almost
all cases, tout and its variants are placed before the noun when it acts as an adjective.

Check out these examples:

Vous pouvez apprendre le français à t o ut âge.

(You can learn French at any age.)

Here tout is an adjective modifying the noun âge.

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 J’apprends le français t o ut e la journée.
(I learn French all day.)

Here toute is acting alongside a definite article la (the), and it ends in -e because the word journée is feminine and
singular.

Tu connais t o us mes amis.

(You know all my friends.)

In this case, the word tous is alongside the possessive adjective mes (my), and it has been changed to
tous from tout because amis (friends) is a masculine plural word.

Nous avons pensé à t o ut es ces idées.

(We have thought of all these ideas.)

The word toutes in this sentence comes before the demonstrative adjective ces (these) and ends in -es
because idées is a feminine plural word.

Fixed Expressions wit h Tout as an Adject ive

En t o ut cas (in any case)

T o ut es t axes co mprises (taxes included)

T o ut le t emps (all the time)

T o us les 36 du mo is (once in a blue moon)

Prendre t o ut so n t emps (to take one’s time)

Pronouncing Tout as an Adject ive

When tout and its variants are adjectives, their pronunciations are pretty predictable. Tout and tous are pronounced
without sounding their final letters, and you can hear their pronunciation here. However, toute and toutes retain their
second “t” sounds.

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2. Tout as an Adverb

It would be nice if I could tell you that tout as an adverb is always invariable, but I’m sorry that’s just not the case. Tout
as an adverb is invariable when it modifies other adverbs, but when it modifies an adjective, that’s where things get
interesting. Observe.

In the phrase, Il marche tout doucement , the word tout almost means “very,” and the phrase as a whole means “He
walks very softly/quietly.” In this case, the word tout is acting as an adverb, as it is modifying the adverb doucement.

Adverb-ception, much? In this situation and others like it, tout is invariable. That means it won’t change form
to tous , toute or toutes . Ever. It is just tout .

However, things are more complicated when t he adverbial t o ut mo dif ies an adject ive . This might take some
time for you to digest, so check out this handy breakdown:

When t o ut mo dif ies a mas culine adject ive, it is invariable regardless of whether the word is singular or
plural.

Il est t o ut seul.
(He is all alone.)

Ils sont t o ut étonnés.

(They are all astonished.)

When t o ut mo dif ies a f eminine adject ive t hat begins wit h a vo wel o r a s ilent “h,” t he wo rd t o ut is
s t ill invariable .

Elles sont t o ut heureuses.

(They are very happy.)

J’ai mangé la pizza t o ut entière.

(I ate the whole pizza.)

But , when t o ut mo dif ies a f eminine adject ive t hat begins wit h a co ns o nant o r an h aspiré (an
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 But , when t o ut mo dif ies a f eminine adject ive t hat begins wit h a co ns o nant o r an h aspiré (an
as pirat ed “h”), t o ut mus t mat ch t he gender (f eminine) and number (s ingular/plural) o f t he adject ive.

Elle est t o ut e grande.

(She is very tall.)

Elles sont t o ut es petites.

(They are very small.)

Elle est t o ut e honteuse.

(She is very honest.)

Fixed Expressions wit h Tout as an Adverb

T o ut dro it (straight ahead)

T o ut à co up (all of a sudden)

T o ut à f ait (absolutely)

T o ut à l’heure (immediately)

T o ut de suit e (immediately) — Keep in mind that in this expression, the de is not pronounced, but the “t” in tout
is pronounced to sound somewhat like “toot.”

T o ut de même (anyway)

T o ut au co nt raire (on the other hand)

Pronouncing Tout as an Adverb

When tout and its variants are adverbs, they are pronounced exactly like their adjectival forms. You can hear each
word’s pronunciation by clicking on it here: tout, toute, toutes . Happy days!

3. Tout as a Noun or Pronoun

Are you ready? I’m about to blow your mind.

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T o ut , t he no un: One form (ish). One pronunciation.

When tout is used as a noun, it is masculine and singular, meaning its form never changes. Further, it is pronounced
without its final “t” to sound like this. For example:

Tu es mon t o ut .
(You are my everything.)

le Grand T o ut
(the universe)

Easy, right? I promise, it doesn’t get much more complicated. Simply add an -s to this word to make it plural. For
example:

Ce sont des t o ut s que nous voulons diviser.

(These are wholes that we want to divide.)

Still not too bad? Well, I hope you enjoyed it.

As a pro no un, t o ut is a little more complicated, but only a little, I promise.

As a neutral pronoun (one that doesn’t really refer to anything in particular), the word tout is invariable and doesn’t
change. This can be seen in the expressions c’est t o ut (that’s all) or malgré t o ut (despite everything).

The indefinite pronoun can also be found in proverbs like tout ce qui brille n’est pas or (All that glitters isn’t gold).

However, when the pronoun tout is actually referring to a preceding noun, it changes form o nly when it is plural. For
example, a speaker would say “T o us so nt ici” (Everyone is here) when asked “Où sont les enfants ?” (Where are the
children?).

Fixed Expressions wit h Tout as a Noun and Pronoun

Pas du t o ut (not at all)
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 Rien du t o ut (nothing at all)

Avant t o ut (above all)

Pronouncing Tout as a Pronoun

When tout acts as a pronoun, it has perhaps the most different pronunciation than other forms of tout . While its
pronunciations of tout and toutes do not change, the form tous is pronounced wit h t he “s ” s o und int act .

A lot to take in, right? Well, why don’t you take a break? Check out the song “Tous les mêmes” by Belgian singer
Stromae to see the word tout as a pronoun in action!

Did you understand it all? Make sure you check! Test your new knowledge of tout and tous here on About French.
There are also quizzes on To Learn French, Le Point de FLE and Français Facile.

Keep your eyes and ears open for tout and its variants as you watch French TV, read online, browse social media, etc.
Collect all of your tout examples in one place, and try categorizing each based on its use: adjective, adverb or
noun/pronoun.

Until next time, I hope everything goes well!

…See what I did there?

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get a copy. (Download)

And One More Thing…

Now that you’ve learned one important piece of the language, it’s time to think about how you’re going to learn the
rest of French.
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One quick look will give you an idea of the diverse content found on FluentU:

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example, if you tap on the word “suit ,” then this is what appears on your screen:

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 How the Passive Voice Is Used in French The AP French Language and Culture Exam in a Nutshell 

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