Learn French: Il a rassemblé les membres, et tous ont accepté. - He gathered the members, and all of them accepted.

Il a rassemblé les membres, et tous ont accepté.

He gathered the members, and all of them accepted.

Breakdown of Il a rassemblé les membres, et tous ont accepté.

Questions & Answers about Il a rassemblé les membres, et tous ont accepté.

Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of tous in this sentence?

Yes! Because tous is acting as a standalone pronoun here (meaning "all of them"), you pronounce the final "s" (it sounds like tooss). You only drop the "s" sound when tous is used as an adjective describing a noun directly, like in tous les membres.

Why do we use the masculine tous? What if the members were all women?

We use tous because it refers back to les membres. The noun un membre is always masculine in French, regardless of the actual gender of the people it refers to. Therefore, the pronoun replacing it must be the masculine plural tous, even if the group is entirely female.

Could I say et ils ont tous accepté instead of et tous ont accepté?

Yes, you can. Both mean the same thing, but using tous as the sole subject (tous ont accepté) puts a slightly stronger emphasis on the word "all"—highlighting that absolutely everyone agreed without exception. Note that in ils ont tous accepté, the "s" in tous is also pronounced!

Why doesn't accepté have a direct object here, like l'ont accepté?