The words tous and toutes can stand alone as pronouns meaning "everyone" or "all of them".
Use tous for a masculine or mixed group, and toutes for a purely feminine group.
Pronouncing the "s" in "tous"
When tous is used as a pronoun, you must pronounce the final "s" (rhyming with "moose"). This is different from the adjective tous (as in tous les jours), where the "s" is silent.
| Hello everyone, our colleagues are all here today. | Bonjour à tous, nos collègues sont tous ici aujourd'hui. |
| He gathered the members, and all of them accepted. | Il a rassemblé les membres, et tous ont accepté. |
The feminine "toutes"
For feminine groups, use toutes. The "t" is pronounced, but the "s" is silent.
| I looked at the photos, I saw all of them (f). | J'ai regardé les photos, je les ai toutes vues. |
| She convened the directors (f), but they did not all come. | Elle a convoqué les directrices, mais elles ne sont pas toutes venues. |
Reinforcing a pronoun
You can place tous or toutes after a verb to reinforce an object pronoun (like les, nous, or vous).
| This decision concerns us all, it is essential to speak about it. | Cette décision nous concerne tous, il est indispensable d'en parler. |
You can use both pronouns together in a fixed phrase to explicitly include both men and women:
| I answered everyone (m) and everyone (f). | J'ai répondu à tous et à toutes. |
La totalité
To express "all of" or "the whole" in a formal setting, use the noun la totalité (the entirety), usually followed by de (or des).
| It is essential to read the entirety of the documents. | Il est indispensable de lire la totalité des documents. |
| The director (f) gathered the entirety of the files on her desk. | La directrice a rassemblé la totalité des dossiers sur son bureau. |
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