In general, the plural of words ending with -ou is very simple: you just add an -s.
Example: un bisou – des bisous (a kiss – kisses)
BUT… of course there’s a but, otherwise you wouldn’t be learning French!
There are a few exceptions.
BUT (again, yes!)… lucky you, there is a simple sentence you can memorize and that includes all the -ou words which take an -x in the plural form, instead of the usual -s (they’re a bunch of originals, yes… what can we do…) Here’s the sentence:
“Mon chou, bijou, viens sur mes genoux, laisse tes joujoux, prends ces cailloux et jette les sur ce hibou plein de poux.”
(My darling, jewel, come on my lap, leave your toys, take those stones and throw them on that owl full of lice.)
Not the most peaceful request coming from a mother, but it does the trick!
You may hear different variations of this same sentence, but in there are the 7 exceptions to memorize.
Alors bonne chance!!
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Hi!
Wow! I love it! Great stuff, thank you.
I’m a French teacher and that’s definitely the kind of inspiration I was looking for!
I wrote an entire page to explain gender identification by word endings and the plural forms of nouns… If you don’t mind, I’d like very much to add this sentence to illustrate the rule. and help my students memorize…
http://www.learnfrenchlab.com/french-nouns.html
Have you found it yourself?
Anyway, great!
Thanks for sharing.
Annette
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