Question 1

The English translation just says "flowers". Why is there a des in front of fleurs in French?

Accepted Answer

In English, we can use a plural noun all by itself (like "flowers"). In French, nouns almost always need an article (a small word like "a" or "the") in front of them. Des is the plural of un or une. It technically means "some", but you must use it in French even when we wouldn't bother saying "some" in English!

Question 2

How do you make fleur plural, and do I pronounce the s at the end?

Accepted Answer

To make most French nouns plural, you just add an s to the end, exactly like in English! So fleur (flower) becomes fleurs (flowers). However, unlike English, you do not pronounce that final s. Fleur and fleurs sound exactly the same when spoken. You only know it is plural because you hear the word des before it.

Question 3

Why does the sentence use C'est for the tree, but ce sont for the flowers?

Accepted Answer

C'est means "it is" or "this is", and is used before singular things (like un arbre). Because flowers are plural, the phrase has to change to match. Ce sont is the plural version of c'est, meaning "these are" or "they are".

Question 4

Does des change depending on whether the word is masculine or feminine?

Accepted Answer

No, it doesn't! While singular words use un for masculine and une for feminine, the plural article des is exactly the same for both. So you use des for masculine words like des arbres (trees) and feminine words like des fleurs (flowers).

C'est un arbre et ce sont des fleurs.

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