Learn Hardcore French: Nous voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple. - We want to adopt this simpler way of life.

Nous voulons adopter… = We want to adopt…
Other verbs that work the same way: pouvoir, devoir, aller, savoir, aimer, préférer etc.
- Je peux venir. – I can come.
- Elle doit partir. – She has to leave.

Using de or à here would be incorrect:

✗ nous voulons d’adopter
✗ nous voulons à adopter

So the correct pattern is: vouloir + infinitive.

Can I say On veut adopter ce mode de vie plus simple instead of Nous voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. Both are grammatically correct, but they differ in style and tone:

Nous voulons adopter…
- More formal/neutral.
- Common in writing, careful speech, presentations.
On veut adopter…
- Very common in everyday spoken French.
- Feels more informal and conversational.
- On often means “we” in modern French.

Meaning-wise, they’re the same: both express that the group (we) wants to adopt that simpler lifestyle.

Why is it ce mode de vie and not cette mode de vie?

Because mode is a masculine noun in this meaning (“way, manner, style” of life).

Demonstrative adjectives in French agree with the gender and number of the noun:

ce – masculine singular before a consonant (ce mode)
cet – masculine singular before a vowel or mute h (cet homme)
cette – feminine singular (cette vie)
ces – plural (masc. or fem.) (ces modes, ces vies)

Since mode is masculine and starts with a consonant:

ce mode de vie = this lifestyle
If you were talking about vie alone (feminine), it would be cette vie (this life).

What does mode de vie literally mean, and why is it de and not de la?

Literally, mode de vie means “way of life” or “mode of life”, i.e. lifestyle.

The structure is: mode + de + noun to indicate a type or category:

un mode de vie – a way of life / lifestyle
un mode de transport – a means of transport
un style de musique – a style of music

In such noun–noun combinations, French usually uses de without an article:

un professeur de maths – a math teacher
une salle de bain – a bathroom
un mode de vie – a way of life

De la vie would literally be “of the life”, which sounds wrong here and doesn’t match the fixed expression. So:

✔ ce mode de vie
✗ ce mode de la vie (not idiomatic in this meaning)

Why does plus simple come after mode de vie? Could I say un plus simple mode de vie?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, unlike in English.

un mode de vie plus simple – literally a lifestyle more simple → a simpler lifestyle

Only a relatively small group of short, very common adjectives usually come before the noun: beau, bon, grand, petit, jeune, vieux, nouveau, mauvais, etc.

Simple normally goes after the noun when it describes an objective quality:

une solution simple – a simple solution
un problème simple – a simple problem

Un plus simple mode de vie is grammatically possible but sounds very literary or unusual in modern speech. The natural order is:

un mode de vie plus simple – a simpler lifestyle

How do you pronounce plus in plus simple? Do you say the final s?

In this sentence, plus means “more”, not “no more / no longer”.

When plus = “more” and it’s followed by a consonant like s in simple:

In everyday speech, most people say [ply sɛ̃pl] – the final s is not clearly pronounced.
In careful or emphatic speech, you may hear [plys sɛ̃pl], with the s sounded.

Both are acceptable; the difference is mostly about style and clarity.

Just avoid [plyz sɛ̃pl] here: the z sound only appears before a vowel (e.g. plus intéressant → [ply z‿ɛ̃teʀesɑ̃]).

So you can safely say: [ply sɛ̃pl] (plu sanpl).

Does adopter only mean “to adopt” like adopting a child, or can it also mean “to take on / choose” a lifestyle?

Adopter is a true cognate of “to adopt”, and it has both uses in French:

To adopt a child or animal
- Ils veulent adopter un enfant. – They want to adopt a child.
To adopt / take on / choose a way of doing things
- adopter un mode de vie – to adopt a lifestyle
- adopter une attitude – to adopt an attitude
- adopter une stratégie – to adopt a strategy
- adopter une loi – to pass / adopt a law

In Nous voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple, adopter clearly means “to take on / choose / switch to” that lifestyle.

Why is simple not plural (simples) when we’re talking about nous (more than one person)?

Adjectives in French agree with the noun they describe, not with the subject of the sentence.

Here, simple describes mode de vie:

un mode de vie plus simple
- mode is masculine singular
- so the adjective is masculine singular: simple

The fact that nous (= we) is plural does not matter for this adjective, because simple is not describing nous, it’s describing mode de vie.

It would be plural if the noun were plural:

des modes de vie plus simples – more simple lifestyles / simpler lifestyles

Could I say cette vie plus simple instead of ce mode de vie plus simple? Is there a difference?

You could say something like:

Nous voulons adopter une vie plus simple. – We want to adopt a simpler life.

That’s natural and common.

However:

ce mode de vie plus simple emphasizes the lifestyle itself: habits, consumption, daily routine, values, etc.
cette vie plus simple (with cette, because vie is feminine) focuses more broadly on “life” in general, not specifically on the structured idea of lifestyle.

Adopter ce mode de vie plus simple sounds more idiomatic when you’re talking about a particular way of living (e.g. minimalist, eco-friendly, rural, etc.), as in English when you say “adopt this lifestyle.”

What’s the difference between Nous voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple and Nous voudrions adopter ce mode de vie plus simple?

The difference is in tone and politeness:

Nous voulons adopter…
- Literally: We want to adopt…
- Direct, firm statement of intention or desire.
Nous voudrions adopter…
- voudrions is the conditional of vouloir.
- Literally: We would like to adopt…
- Softer, more polite, less categorical.
- Can sound like a wish, plan, or something still a bit hypothetical.

In many contexts, Nous voudrions… feels more diplomatic or tentative than Nous voulons….

Can I leave out nous and just say Voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple?

No, not in normal French.

In statements in the present tense, you almost always need the subject pronoun:
- ✔ Nous voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple.
- ✗ Voulons adopter ce mode de vie plus simple. (incorrect as a neutral statement)

Without nous, Voulons adopter… would look like a very odd imperative (“Let’s want to adopt…”) and is not used in real life.

So: keep the subject pronoun nous here.

Is plus simple “simpler” or “the simplest”? How can you tell?

In French:

plus + adjective = “more + adjective” / “-er” (comparative)
le / la / les plus + adjective = “the most + adjective” / “the -est” (superlative)

Here we have:

un mode de vie plus simple
- no le / la / les before plus
  → comparative: a more simple / a simpler lifestyle

If you wanted “the simplest lifestyle”, you would say:

le mode de vie le plus simple – the simplest lifestyle

So plus simple in your sentence means “simpler / more simple,” not “the simplest.”