tout / toute / tous / toutes

Summary

Tout has three jobs — determiner, pronoun, and adverb — and each one agrees differently, with a special euphonic agreement for the adverb before feminine adjectives.

Explanation

Tout is one of the trickiest words in French because it can be a determiner, a pronoun, or an adverb, and only careful attention to its role tells you whether it agrees. As a DETERMINER before a noun, it always agrees in gender and number with that noun: tout le monde (masculine singular), toute la ville (feminine singular), tous les jours (masculine plural), toutes les filles (feminine plural). This is the most common use and behaves like an ordinary adjective.

As a PRONOUN standing for a whole group or an entire idea, tout also agrees with what it represents: tout est prêt (everything is ready, neuter/singular idea), ils sont tous venus (all of them came), elles sont toutes là (all of them, feminine, are here). A useful spoken clue is that the final -s of tous IS pronounced /tus/ when it is this pronoun, whereas the -s of tous is silent (/tu/) when tous is a determiner in tous les jours.

As an ADVERB meaning 'completely' or 'very', modifying an adjective, tout is normally INVARIABLE, because adverbs don't agree: il est tout content, ils sont tout étonnés, and even elle est tout étonnée (feminine, but étonnée begins with a vowel).

The one exception is famous precisely because it breaks the 'adverbs don't agree' rule: for euphonic reasons, tout agrees in gender and number when it stands directly before a FEMININE adjective that begins with a CONSONANT or an h aspiré. So elle est toute contente and elles sont toutes honteuses take the feminine forms, purely to avoid the awkward sound of tout before a consonant-initial feminine adjective. As soon as the adjective starts with a vowel or h muet, invariable tout returns, even in the feminine: elle est tout étonnée.

Tout also appears in the fixed construction tout en + gérondif, meaning 'while doing something' (often with a nuance of contrast): tout en marchant, il chantait (while walking, he was singing). Here tout is invariable and simply reinforces the simultaneity or contrast expressed by the gérondif.

In practice: first decide tout's job. Before a noun → determiner, agrees with the noun. Standing alone for a group → pronoun, agrees with what it replaces (and tous as a pronoun is audibly pronounced). Modifying an adjective → adverb, normally invariable, but agrees only before a feminine adjective starting with a consonant or h aspiré.

Examples

Tout le monde est arrivé à l'heure. — Everyone arrived on time. (tout is a determiner agreeing with the masculine singular le monde.)

Toutes les filles sont venues, mais tous les garçons sont restés chez eux. — All the girls came, but all the boys stayed home. (Determiner tout agreeing with les filles (feminine) and les garçons (masculine).)

Ils sont tous venus, et elles sont toutes restées. — All of them (masc.) came, and all of them (fem.) stayed. (tous/toutes as pronouns, agreeing with ils/elles; the -s of tous is pronounced here.)

Elle est tout étonnée, mais toute contente. — She is quite surprised, but quite pleased. (tout is invariable before étonnée (vowel) but agrees as toute before contente (feminine, consonant).)

Elles étaient toutes honteuses de leur erreur. — They were all quite ashamed of their mistake. (Euphonic agreement: toutes before the feminine adjective honteuses, which begins with h aspiré.)

Tout en marchant, il chantait une vieille chanson. — While walking, he was singing an old song. (tout en + gérondif, invariable, expressing simultaneity.)

Common mistakes

Prerequisites

• Adjective agreement

Related rules

• Adjective agreement
• même: same, even, -self
• Register: soutenu, courant, familier