120 - How to Pronounce ‘Tous’ (All)
Do you find pronouncing ‘tous’ tricky? Do you pronounce it [tu] or [tus]? In this episode, I’ll break down the pronunciation and usage of ‘tous’ (all). 🤓
After the lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to practice!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Transcript
Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 120, numéro 120.
There's one particular question that keeps popping up in my inbox recently, and it revolves around the pronunciation of the French word 'tous', which means 'all.' And it can be pronounced both [tus] or [tu]. And the pronunciation depends on a few things, that we are about to learn today. Now, the tips I’m going to give you in today’s lesson, to find out whether you should say [tus] or [tu] will work for most situations. There are more rules around it, but as always, I try to really stick to what you need the most as a beginner and I don’t want to overwhelm you too much with too many rules!
One more thing to say before we get started is that our focus today is on only on the masculine form 'tous,' not ‘toutes’, which also means ‘all’, but it is the feminine form. And we’re not talking about the feminine form simply because, the pronunciation of 'toutes' doesn't change like the masculine form does, depending on the 2 tips I’m going to give you; it's always pronounced [tut].
One more thing for those who are new to the podcast, there’s a cheat sheet that you can download to follow along and there are also free exercises to download, so you can practice what you’re about to learn today. All the links are in the episode notes on your podcast platform.
Let's dive in:
Tip #1: You pronounce 'tous' [tus] when there's no noun after it.
And, a little trick. If you can swap ‘tous’ with 'everyone' in the English version and the sentence still makes sense, that's your sign that 'tous' should sound like [tus].
(More advanced: when 'tous' is used as a pronoun.)
Let’s see some examples:
Ils sont tous partis. (They all left. / Everyone left.)
Nous sommes tous prêts. (We are all ready. / Everyone is ready.)
Bonjour à tous! (Hello everyone!)
Vous êtes tous invités. (You are all invited. / Everyone is invited.)
Tip #2: 'Tous' is pronounced [tu] when it is followed by a noun.
And, my little trick. If you can swap ‘tous’ with 'every' in the English version and the sentence still makes sense, that's your sign that 'tous' should sound like [tu].
(More advanced: when 'tous' is used as an adjective.)
Examples:
Tous les enfants vont à l'école. (All children go to school. / Every child goes to school.)
Il travaille tous les jours. (He works every day.)
Elle connaît tous les mots. (She knows all the words. / She knows every word.)
Tous les chiens aboient. (All dogs bark. / Every dog barks.)
Recap:
'Tous' is pronounced [tus] when there's no noun after it.
'Tous' is pronounced [tu] when it is followed by a noun.
So that is it from me! I hope this lesson helped. Now, your next step is to go and practice. Without practice, my tips aren’t going to stick. So go to the French Made Easy Exercises library and download your exercises! It’s free and the link is in the podcast description. I’ll chat with you next time. À bientôt! xx