Breakdown of Nous avons deux lave-linge et trois taille-crayons.
et
and
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
avoir
to have
deux
two
trois
three
le lave-linge
the washing machine
le taille-crayon
the pencil sharpener
Questions & Answers about Nous avons deux lave-linge et trois taille-crayons.
Why doesn't lave-linge take an -s at the end for the plural?
In compound nouns made of a verb (lave) and a noun (linge), the verb part never changes. Under traditional French rules, the noun part only takes an -s if the logic of the word implies a plural. Since a washing machine washes laundry in general (le linge, an uncountable mass noun), linge remains singular even when you have deux lave-linge.
Why does taille-crayons get an -s then?
It follows the exact same traditional rule! A pencil sharpener is designed to sharpen multiple pencils (des crayons). Because the noun logically represents a plural idea, it takes an -s when the compound noun itself is pluralized.
Would it be un taille-crayons with an -s if I only had one pencil sharpener?
Traditionally, no. It is written un taille-crayon in the singular. The plural logic for the pencils kicks in when the item itself is pluralized into des taille-crayons. However, you should know that a 1990 spelling reform tried to simplify all of this: under the newer rules, all verb-noun compounds simply take an -s in the plural and no -s in the singular. The sentence here uses the traditional spelling, which is still widely taught and used.
Are compound nouns for tools always formed with a verb and a noun?
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