Tout, Toute, Tous, Toutes: How to Use 'All' and 'Every' in French

Getting Started

Tout means “all”, “every”, “whole” or “everything”, and it changes form to match the noun: tout, toute, tous, toutes. It is one of the most frequent words in French, and it appears in dozens of everyday expressions: tout de suite, tout le monde, pas du tout, tous les jours.

The good news is that there are only three jobs to learn.

1 Tout + le/la/les + noun: all, every, the whole

Like an adjective, tout agrees with the noun that follows. It comes before the article.

Singular = the whole thing. Plural = every one of them. This is the key difference:

• J’ai travaillé toute la journée. (I worked all day, one whole day.)
• Je travaille tous les jours. (I work every day.)
• Il a neigé tout l’hiver. (It snowed the whole winter.)
• Il neige tous les hivers. (It snows every winter.)

Tout also works with possessives and demonstratives: toute ma famille (my whole family), tous ces documents (all these documents), tous mes amis (all my friends).

Tous les deux / toutes les deux = both: Nous parlons tous les deux punjabi. (We both speak Punjabi.)

Tous les + number = every so often: tous les trois mois (every three months), toutes les deux heures (every two hours).

2 Tout as a pronoun: everything, everyone

Tout alone (singular) = everything:

• Tout va bien. (Everything’s fine.)
• C’est tout ? — Oui, c’est tout, merci. (Is that all? — Yes, that’s all, thanks.)
• J’ai tout compris. (I understood everything.)

In the passé composé, tout goes between the auxiliary and the participle, like a short adverb: J’ai tout mangé. Tu as tout lu ?

Tous / toutes (plural) = all of them, everyone. The s of tous is pronounced here:

• Mes amis ? Ils sont tous venus. (My friends? They all came.) [tus]
• Mes sœurs ? Elles sont toutes mariées. (My sisters? They’re all married.)
• Bonjour à tous ! (Hello everyone!) [tus]

Tout le monde = everyone, with a singular verb: Tout le monde est là. Not tout le monde sont.

3 Tout as an adverb: completely, very

Before an adjective or adverb, tout means “completely” or “very”:

• Il est tout seul. (He’s all alone.)
• C’est tout près. (It’s very close.)
• Allez tout droit. (Go straight ahead.)

As an adverb it normally doesn’t change. The one exception: in front of a feminine adjective starting with a consonant, it becomes toute(s) for the sound:

• Elle est toute seule. (She’s all alone.)
• Elles sont toutes contentes. (They’re really happy.)
• But before a vowel it stays tout: Elle est tout heureuse. (The t links: tou-t-heureuse.)

At A2, the forms you will actually use are tout seul / toute seule, tout près, tout droit and tout de suite.

4 Pronunciation

5 Everyday expressions

Tout compris is worth knowing in Canada: in a rental ad, 1 200 $ tout compris means heating, electricity and often internet are included.

Common Mistakes

Practice

Fill in tout, toute, tous or toutes.

What’s Next

• Stressed Pronounsnous tous, vous tous.
• Adverbs: -ment and placementwhy j’ai tout compris follows the same rule as j’ai bien compris.
• French Articlesthe article that comes after tout.
• Indefinites: chaque, chacun, quelqu’un“each, someone, a few, several”.