Toute la famille mange la salade entière.

Questions & Answers about Toute la famille mange la salade entière.

Why is it entière and not entier?
Entière describes la salade, which is a feminine noun. For adjectives that end in -er in the masculine form (like entier), the feminine form changes to -ère. You add an -e to the end and put a grave accent on the previous e.
Why does toute go before the noun, but entière goes after?
Most descriptive adjectives in French, like entière, are placed after the noun (la salade entière). However, tout (and its feminine form toute) is a special exception. It always goes before the article and the noun, like in toute la famille.
Could I swap them and say la famille entière and toute la salade?
Yes, absolutely! Toute la famille and la famille entière mean exactly the same thing. The sentence uses one of each just to avoid repeating the same word twice.
Why is the verb mange singular if a family is a lot of people?
In French, the word famille is a grammatically singular noun, representing a single group. Because it is singular (it's la famille, not les familles), you must use the singular he/she/it form of the verb (mange).

Learn Toute la famille mange la salade entière and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free