Adjectifs Indéfinis: tout, chaque, quelques

Indefinite adjectives — les adjectifs indéfinis — are the small family of words that modify a noun by quantifying it without specifying which one or how many exactly: every man, several books, certain people, any room, the same idea. They behave like adjectives in the older grammatical tradition and like determiners in the modern one, but the behaviour is the same either way: they sit in the noun phrase and agree with the noun in gender and number — except when they don't, and they often don't. Each member of this family has its own agreement quirk and its own register colouring, and learners reliably trip on three of them: tout, même, and n'importe quel.

This page surveys the full set: the form of each adjective, what it actually means in everyday speech, the agreement pattern, and the most common transfer errors from English.

Chaque: each, every — invariable, singular only

Chaque means each and is used only with singular nouns. It is invariable — it has no feminine form, no plural form, just one shape — and it never combines with another determiner.

The natural English equivalent shifts between each and every — French speakers do not feel the distinction the way English speakers do. Chaque covers both: chaque jour is "each day" or "every day," whichever sounds smoother in English. To say every day with the sense of all the days — meaning the routine, not the individuated picking — French prefers tous les jours, which we will see below.

Tout: all, every — fully variable

Tout is the most morphologically active member of the family. It varies in both gender and number, giving four forms.

The crucial point is that tout almost always combines with another determiner — typically the definite article (le, la, les) or a possessive — and the second determiner agrees with the noun while tout agrees with everything together.

The pronunciation of tous shifts depending on whether it is followed by a noun or used alone (we'll come to that on the pronoun page). For now, what matters is the four-form agreement and the fact that tout cannot stand alone in front of a normal countable noun without an article — tout homme exists but is (formal/literary); spoken French uses tous les hommes or chaque homme.

This is (formal/written) — typical of administrative or academic prose. In ordinary conversation you would hear tous les étudiants doivent... or chaque étudiant doit...

The contrast with chaque matters: chaque jour foregrounds the individual day; tous les jours foregrounds the totality. Both translate as every day, but a French speaker feels chaque jour as more individuated and tous les jours as more routine. In ninety percent of contexts the choice is interchangeable; in literary prose the difference is exploited.

Quelques: a few, some — plural only

Quelques means a few or some and is used only in the plural. It is invariable in gender — same form for masculine and feminine — but it does not have a singular form. The singular cousin is quelque, almost extinct in modern speech (it survives in fixed expressions like quelque part, some place).

The English equivalent some is dangerous here: French some is often des (the plural indefinite article) — des amis — and using quelques amis is more specific, meaning a small number of friends, not just friends.

Plusieurs: several — invariable in number, plural only

Plusieurs means several — more than quelques but unspecified. Like quelques, it exists only in the plural, but it is also invariable in gender: one form for masculine and feminine alike.

There is no plusieur in modern French. The form is always plusieurs with a final -s, even though the noun and any adjective will agree normally — plusieurs grandes maisons (several big houses, with feminine plural agreement on grandes).

Certain(e)(s): certain — variable, plural is the standard sense

Certain in determiner position translates as certain, in the sense of some specific but unspecified. It varies in gender and number — certain, certaine, certains, certaines — and the plural use is by far the most common.

In the singular un certain / une certaine combines with un / une and means a certain, often with a flavour of vagueness or evasiveness:

Note: when certain is used as a regular adjective after a noun, it means certain in the sense of sure, not in doubt: un succès certain (a sure success). That is a different word in effect — same spelling, different position, different meaning. We are concerned here only with the pre-noun, indefinite usage.

Autre: other — variable in number, mostly invariable in gender

Autre is the workhorse meaning other or another. It is invariable in gender — same form for masculine and feminine — but takes the regular -s in the plural.

The pre-vowel form des + autres contracts to d'autres. This is mandatory in writing and natural in speech. Des autres is wrong in standard French (it does exist marginally, but only when des is the contraction of de + les — les histoires des autres élèves, the stories of the other students — a different des).

The fixed expression les uns... les autres (some... others) and l'un l'autre (each other) extend into pronoun territory and are covered on a separate page.

Même: same — and even, depending on position

Même is the most pun-prone member of the family. Before the noun, with a determiner, it means the same. In front of an entire noun phrase or pronoun, without a determiner, it means even. And after the noun, it means itself / oneself. Three positions, three meanings.

When même means the same, it agrees in number — singular même, plural mêmes — but not in gender. When it means even, it is invariable. When it means itself / oneself, it follows a hyphenated reflexive and agrees in number with the pronoun: moi-même, toi-même, eux-mêmes, elles-mêmes.

N'importe quel(le)(s): any (whatsoever)

N'importe quel means any in the sense of any whatsoever, no matter which. It is built on the question word quel, so it has the full four-form agreement: quel, quelle, quels, quelles. The n'importe part is invariable.

The English any is treacherous because it covers two different French structures: in negative or interrogative contexts, any corresponds to de + noun (je n'ai pas d'argent — I don't have any money), while in affirmative contexts meaning whatsoever, French requires n'importe quel. The latter is the affirmative any.

Divers / diverses: various — and différents / différentes: various, several

These two adjectives both translate as various or several different, used before a plural noun. Divers and différents in determiner-like position are largely synonymous, with a slight register tilt: divers is (slightly formal), différents is more neutral. Both agree fully in gender and number.

The mass-noun cousin is toutes sortes de (all sorts of) — toutes sortes de problèmes — used in the same slot.

The trap: when différent is used after the noun, it means different (the regular adjective): des problèmes différents = different problems (problems that differ from each other). When it is used before the noun in determiner position, it means various: différents problèmes = various problems. Position changes meaning, as it does for several BANGS-ish adjectives in French.

Quick comparison table

Common mistakes

The chaque / tout mix-up is the single most frequent A2 error, because English uses every for both senses. The même error comes from English — even and same are unrelated words in English, but in French they share a body and only the syntax tells you which is which. The des autres error is so common that it has crept into casual speech in some regions, but it is still wrong in standard written French.

Key takeaways

• Chaque is invariable and singular only. Plusieurs is invariable and plural only.
• Tout has four forms and almost always pairs with another determiner: tout le, toute la, tous les, toutes les.
• Même before noun = the same; même without article = even; moi-même = myself. Position is everything.
• N'importe quel takes the full four-form agreement on quel — n'importe quelle femme, n'importe quels hommes.
• Différents before a plural noun means various; différents after a plural noun means different from each other.
• All these adjectives sit in the determiner slot. They replace the article — never combine un with chaque or plusieurs.