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Les chevaux sont des animaux magnifiques.

Les chevaux sont des animaux magnifiques.
Horses are magnificent animals.
From Lesson 81:Plurals ending in -al (-aux)·French

Questions & Answers about Les chevaux sont des animaux magnifiques.

Why do the words for "horse" and "animal" end in -aux instead of -s?
This is a special rule for plurals! When a singular French noun ends in -al (like cheval and animal), you drop the -al and add -aux to make it plural. That's how we get chevaux and animaux.
Why do we use Les for horses but des for animals?
We use the definite article les for chevaux because we are making a general statement about all horses. We use the indefinite article des for animaux because horses are just one type of magnificent animal. If we said sont les animaux magnifiques, it would mean horses are the only magnificent animals in the world!
Why doesn't the adjective magnifiques also change to end in -aux?
The -aux plural rule only applies to words that end in -al in their singular form. The singular form of this adjective is magnifique. Since it doesn't end in -al, it just follows the regular rule: add an -s to match the plural noun animaux.
Why is it animaux magnifiques instead of magnifiques animaux?
In French, most adjectives go after the noun they describe, unlike in English. While a few common, short adjectives (like bon or petit) go before the noun, descriptive and longer adjectives like magnifique almost always come after.

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