Indefinite adjectives — tout chaque quelques plusieurs

In one line

chaque and aucun are always singular, quelques and plusieurs always plural — and tout has four forms and is a lesson on its own.

The forms on this page

The table

Most of these number rules match English and need no work. English also says "each day" and "several days" — singular and plural respectively. The one that catches people is aucun: English says "no problems" as freely as "no problem", while French insists on the singular — aucun problème, never aucuns problèmes.

tout — four forms, four meanings

tout + article + noun means either "the whole" or "every" — and the number decides which:

toute la journée — the whole day (one day, all of it) tous les jours — every day (all the days)

English uses two different words here — "the whole day" and "every day" — while French uses the same word and changes the number. Singular = the whole of one thing. Plural = every one of many.

And tout without an article means something else again:

And tout can be an adverb — and then it does not change:

Elle est tout heureuse. — she is completely happy

Exception: before a feminine adjective beginning with a consonant it becomes toute: Elle est toute contente.

chaque versus tous les

They are near-synonyms and interchangeable in most sentences. The difference matters only when the emphasis is on individuality.

But their number differs: chaque jour is singular, tous les jours is plural.

This is English "each" versus "all the", with the same slight difference in feel.

quelques versus plusieurs

And quelques does not go with uncountable nouns:

❌ quelques eau ✅ un peu d'eau

The same restriction as English: "a few water" is not English either. Countable → quelques; uncountable → un peu de.

même — before or after the noun

English marks the same two readings with "the same" and "that very", so the pair is familiar; only the position is new.

autre — and its combinations

d'autres takes no article: J'ai d'autres idées., not des autres.

Examples

Common mistakes

How tout collected so many jobs