Question 1

Why is there a des here when in English we just say "We are students"?

Accepted Answer

In French, you almost never use a noun without a little word in front of it (like a, the, or some). While English simply drops the article to say "students", French uses the plural indefinite article des. It might help to think of it as saying "We are some students."

Question 2

How do we make the word étudiant plural in French?

Accepted Answer

Just like in English, you add an -s to the end of the singular word étudiant to make it étudiants. This is the standard rule for making regular nouns plural in French. However, unlike in English, this plural -s at the end of the word is completely silent.

Question 3

Do I pronounce the "s" in des étudiants?

Accepted Answer

Yes and no! The -s on des is normally silent, but because étudiants starts with a vowel (é), that -s "wakes up" and makes a "z" sound connecting the two words together (sounding like "dez-ay-too-dee-ahn"). This connection is called a liaison. The -s at the very end of étudiants, however, stays silent.

Question 4

Does étudiants mean male students or female students?

Accepted Answer

Étudiants is the masculine plural form. In French, the masculine plural is used for a group of all men, but also for a mixed group of men and women. If the group of students were entirely female, you would add an -e before the -s to make the feminine plural: Nous sommes des étudiantes.

Nous sommes des étudiants.

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