Do I pronounce the S in PLUS ?

I am fully aware that French can be confusing, even frustrating sometimes. One question that keeps coming back is “How do I know when to pronounce the S in PLUS ? Sometimes you pronounce the S and sometimes you don’t, even though it’s spelled the same! It makes no sense!

Relax. It makes perfect sense. You just need to know the rule.

Vous êtes prêt?

It’s only confusing because you don’t know the rule. When you do, you’ll have the plus weight off your shoulder. Phew!

Ok so let’s do this in 2 steps.

Step 1: Is it more or no more?

If it’s more you pronounce the s, if it’s no more you don’t pronounce the s.

Example:

I have more time: j’ai plus de temps – you pronounce the s.

I have no more time: je n’ai plus de temps – you don’t pronounce the s.

Ok so far that’s straight forward. And if that was the only step it would be so easy right? Sadly here is step 2, the step that confuses people. So now let’s change this for you!

Step 2: It’s more but you do pronounce the s

The sentence we just learned was I have more time: j’ai plus de temps.

Now here’s when plus means more but the s is not pronounced. If plus is followed by an adjective, like happy, or an adverb, like happily.

Usually when you are comparing 2 elements.

Je suis plus grande que toi. I am more tall than you (taller). grande = tall is an adjective, you don’t pronounce the s. 

Je marche plus lentement que toi. I walk more slowly than you. = slowly is an adverb, you don’t pronounce the s.

So you see, follow the 2 steps and you’re good to go!

And the nice thing is you can watch this video as many times as you need!

#plus #frenchculture #frenchpronunciation #howtopronounceplus #frenchlanguage #frenchconversation