Plurals ending in -al (-aux)

Irregular plurals: Endings in -al

You've already seen that some words take an -x instead of an -s in the plural. Here is another common pattern!

When a masculine singular noun ends in -al, drop the -al and add -aux to make it plural. For example, un cheval (a horse) becomes des chevaux (horses).

Horses are magnificent animals.
Les chevaux sont des animaux magnifiques.
The city has magnificent canals.
La ville a des canaux magnifiques.

This same rule applies to adjectives! To describe masculine plural nouns, an adjective that normally ends in -al changes to -aux (like génial changing to géniaux or national changing to nationaux).

We admired some great animals!
Nous avons admiré des animaux géniaux !
These are national monuments.
Ce sont des monuments nationaux.
They explained the main problems.
Ils ont expliqué les problèmes principaux.

You will often see these plural nouns and adjectives paired together in the same sentence.

The animals here are special and very original.
Les animaux ici sont spéciaux et très originaux.

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