Learn Hardcore French: Les nouveaux plans du bâtiment prévoient des escaliers de secours plus larges. - The new plans for the building include wider emergency staircases.

Most French adjectives go after the noun, but some very common ones usually come before. A common rule of thumb is the BANGS group (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size).

Nouveau / nouveaux (new) is an age-type adjective, so it normally comes before the noun:

les nouveaux plans = the new plans
un vieux bâtiment = an old building
un bon plan = a good plan

If you said les plans nouveaux, it would sound unusual or very emphatic, like “plans that are truly new (as opposed to the old ones)”—a more literary or marked style.

What exactly does prévoient mean here? Is it “foresee”, “plan”, or “include”?

The verb prévoir is flexible; its basic idea is “to see in advance / to plan in advance / to make provision for”.

In this context, les nouveaux plans du bâtiment prévoient… means:

the new building plans provide for / include / make provision for wider emergency staircases.

So it’s less “they predict” and more “they specify / they make sure there will be” in the design.

Grammatically:

prévoient = 3rd person plural present (ils/elles prévoient)
subject: les nouveaux plans du bâtiment (they)
object: des escaliers de secours plus larges

Why is it du bâtiment and not de le bâtiment?

Du is simply the contraction of de + le:

de + le bâtiment → du bâtiment

French almost always contracts de + le to du, and à + le to au:

le toit du bâtiment = the roof of the building
parler du plan = to talk about the plan
aller au bâtiment = to go to the building

You don’t say de le bâtiment in standard French.

Why is it des escaliers and not les escaliers?

Des here is the plural of the indefinite article un / une:

un escalier = a staircase
des escaliers = (some) staircases

Using des means we’re talking about some staircases in general as part of the design, not specific, already-known staircases.

If it were les escaliers de secours, it would imply the existing emergency staircases that both speaker and listener already know about. Here, we’re describing what the new plans include, so we use des.

Why is secours singular when escaliers is plural?

In escaliers de secours, the word secours is a noun meaning “help, rescue, aid”. The structure is:

escaliers (noun) + de + secours (noun)
= literally “staircases of rescue” → “emergency staircases”

In French, these compound expressions often keep the second noun invariable (no plural marking), because it’s not acting like an adjective:

des chaussures de sport = sports shoes
des lunettes de soleil = sunglasses
des sorties de secours = emergency exits

So escaliers is plural, secours stays the same.

What is the difference between bâtiment and immeuble?

Both can translate as building, but they’re used differently:

bâtiment: generic term for any building or structure (warehouse, school, factory, public building, etc.)
- les plans du bâtiment = the plans for the building (any type)
immeuble: usually a block of flats / apartment building, i.e. a residential (or sometimes office) building with several floors and units.

So les nouveaux plans du bâtiment is neutral: it just means the plans related to the building (whatever its use).

Why is secours after escaliers, but nouveaux is before plans?

Two different patterns are happening:

nouveaux plans
- nouveaux is an adjective (BANGS group: Age), so it often comes before the noun.
escaliers de secours
- de secours is a fixed expression meaning emergency (literally “of rescue”), forming something like a compound noun phrase: “emergency staircases”.
- In these “NOUN + de + NOUN” structures, the second part (here, de secours) almost always comes after:
  - sortie de secours = emergency exit
  - numéro de téléphone = phone number

So nouveaux behaves like a normal adjective that comes before certain nouns, while de secours is part of a compound expression coming after.

Why is it plus larges and not plus large?

Larges agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes:

noun: escaliers → masculine plural
adjective: large → becomes larges in the masculine plural

Pattern:

singular: un escalier large = a wide staircase
plural: des escaliers larges = wide staircases
comparative: des escaliers plus larges = wider staircases

So plus (more) itself never changes, but large does:

masculine plural: larges
feminine plural: larges (same spelling, different article/noun)

Can plus larges come before escaliers, like des plus larges escaliers de secours?

You can say de plus larges escaliers de secours, but:

des escaliers de secours plus larges is more natural and neutral.
de plus larges escaliers de secours is grammatically correct but sounds more formal, literary, or emphatic (“even wider emergency staircases”).

Also note the article change:

des escaliers de secours plus larges (neutral)
de plus larges escaliers de secours (des → de before a preceding adjective in some formal patterns)

In everyday speech, the version in your sentence is what people would actually use.

Could I say les nouveaux plans du bâtiment auront des escaliers de secours plus larges instead of prévoient?

Yes, but the nuance changes:

prévoient des escaliers de secours plus larges
- focuses on what the plans specify / include.
auront des escaliers de secours plus larges
- would normally mean “the building will have wider emergency staircases”.

Your original sentence is talking about what the plans contain or provide for, so prévoient is more precise.
Using auront shifts the focus to the future reality of the building rather than the content of the plans.

Is there any difference between plans du bâtiment and plans pour le bâtiment?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

les plans du bâtiment
- literally “the plans of the building”
- usually means architectural or technical drawings for that building specifically (floor plans, blueprints, etc.).
les plans pour le bâtiment
- “the plans for the building”
- broader and more vague; could be any plans / projects / ideas relating to the building (renovation ideas, future use, etc.), not necessarily architectural drawings.

In the context of staircases and widths, plans du bâtiment strongly suggests building/architectural plans, which fits best here.

How should I pronounce prévoient and plus larges? Does the final -ent/ s sound?

Pronunciation tips:

prévoient
- pronounced roughly: pray-vwah
- the ending -ent of ils/elles verbs is silent: prévoient sounds the same as prévoit.
plus larges
- in this context (meaning “more / wider”), plus is usually pronounced with the s: plüss (like “plüce”).
- larges: roughly larj (the final -es is silent, but the g is soft like in “mirage”)
- There is liaison between plus and larges, so you hear the s: plüss larj.

So the end sounds like: … prévoient des escaliers de secours plüss larj.

Why is plans plural? Could I say le nouveau plan du bâtiment instead?

You could say le nouveau plan du bâtiment, but the meaning shifts slightly:

les nouveaux plans du bâtiment (plural)
- suggests several drawings / several sets of plans: different floors, different aspects, or a whole new set replacing old ones.
le nouveau plan du bâtiment (singular)
- suggests one plan / one drawing, or one overall project.

Architectural work usually involves multiple plans (floor plan, electrical plan, etc.), so the plural plans is very natural.