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You are here: Home / Learn French / French Pronunciation / Plus: When Should You Pronounce the Final “s”?
Plus: When Should You Pronounce the Final “s”?

Plus: When Should You Pronounce the Final “s”?

by Benjamin Houy 6 Comments

Could a language have a sentence meaning both “I want more” and I want less”?

Yup, the French language.

Confusing, isn’t it?

Luckily, you don’t need to learn grammar rules by heart, and you shouldn’t.

Your focus should be to get exposure to the language so you automatically learn grammar as you expand your vocabulary.

But sometimes, knowing some hacks you can use to better know how to use the language helps.

Today, I would like to show you general rules you can use to know whether you should pronounce the final “s” in “plus” or not.

Contents

  • 1 You pronounce the “s” in “plus” when…
    • 1.1 Plus is used as a mathematical sign
    • 1.2 Plus has a positive meaning
    • 1.3 Plus comes before an adjective starting with a vowel or silent “h” in a comparison
  • 2 You don’t pronounce the “s” in “plus” when…
    • 2.1 “Plus” has a negative meaning
    • 2.2 “Plus” precedes an adjective starting with a consonant in a comparison
  • 3 Over to you

You pronounce the “s” in “plus” when…

Plus is used as a mathematical sign

When “plus” is used as a mathematical sign (+), you pronounce  the “s”.

3 plus 4 égal 7

3 + 4 = 7

Plus has a positive meaning

Generally, when “plus” has a positive meaning, you pronounce the final “s”. There are exceptions though.

Je voudrais plus de vin s’il vous plaît

I would like more wine  please

 

J’aurai plus de temps libre en septembre

I will have more free time in September

 

Il faut travailler plus pour gagner plus

One must work more to earn more

This is a sentence Sarkozy famously used to criticise the 35-hour workweek.

Plus comes before an adjective starting with a vowel or silent “h” in a comparison

If it’s used in a comparison and precedes an adjective starting with a vowel or a silent “h”, the “s” of “plus” is pronounced “z”.

Il est plus intelligent que la moyenne

He is more clever than average

You don’t pronounce the “s” in “plus” when…

“Plus” has a negative meaning

When “plus” means “not anymore”, “no longer” or no more”, you generally don’t pronounce the final “s”. In this situation, “plus” is used in a “ne…plus” construction.

However, “ne” is omitted in spoken French, so the absence of “ne” doesn’t mean the “s” is necessarily pronounced.

Il n’y en a plus (often yen a plus in spoken French)

There isn’t any more

“Plus” precedes an adjective starting with a consonant in a comparison

If “plus” is used in a comparison and precedes an adjective starting with a consonant, it’s silent.

Je suis plus grand que toi

I am taller than you

Note: don’t mistake “plus” and “plu”. The latter is the verbs “pleuvoir” (to rain) or plaire (to please).

Over to you

If there is one thing you need to remember from this article, it’s that you generally pronounce the “s” when “plus” has a positive meaning and don’t when it has a negative meaning.

Remember this rule and you will be right in most cases.

A plus tard !

Filed Under: French Pronunciation Tagged With: Intermediate French

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About Benjamin Houy

Benjamin Houy is a native French speaker and the founder of French Together. He helps English speakers learn the 20% of French they need to understand 80% of conversations and speak French with confidence.When he is not busy creating content for French Together, he can be found writing about copywriting on Copy Puzzle.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for Benjamin Houy

    Dave Ryan

    March 4, 2018 at 9:05 am

    It seems like the final s in bus and terminus is pronounced, or they were at least some of the time when I was in France last Summer.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Benjamin Houy

    twd<3

    March 23, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    Hi there, you say that when “plus” has a positive meaning, you pronounce the final “s”, and then you add that there are exceptions. Are the three sentences below that exceptions? (ie you don’t pronounce the ‘s’ in plus de vin/plus de temps?) I wasn’t sure! Thank you.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Benjamin Houy

      Aurore Senden

      August 29, 2018 at 11:03 am

      Hi, those aren’t the only excpetions. You do need to prononce the “s” in plus de vin/ plus de temps. You always pronounce it when it’s before “de” or “d'” (ie: pluS d’argent).

      Reply
  3. Avatar for Benjamin Houy

    Joy Yih

    September 13, 2016 at 7:59 pm

    “I want more” and “I don’t want more” are written the same in French in that visual example.

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Benjamin Houy

    Steven Lim

    July 20, 2015 at 10:40 am

    ironic that you sign off with a plus tard which is positive but is pronounced with a silent s

    Reply
    • Avatar for Benjamin Houy

      Benjamin Houy

      July 20, 2015 at 1:55 pm

      Yeah, that’s because “tard” begins with a consonant.

      I mentioned the positive negative trick, because it works most of the time, but there are exceptions unfortunately.

      Reply

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