Plus Pronunciation
The French adverb plus has different pronunciations, depending on how it's used. Generally speaking, when plus has a positive meaning (e.g., more, extra, additional) it is pronounced [ploos]. When it is used as a negative adverb (meaning "no more"), it is usually pronounced [ploo]. The way I remember this is by thinking that the positive sense of the word has an extra sound, while the negative sense does not. In other words, the [s] sound is subtracted when the word has a negative meaning, added when it has a positive meaning. Isn't that clever? ;-)
This general pronunciation rule applies to plus when it's used as an affirmative or negative adverb. When used as a comparative or superlative, the rules are somewhat different.
| Affirmative adverb - [ploos] | |||
| Plus de means "more (than)" or "additional" | |||
| Je veux plus de beurre. | I want more butter. | ||
| Il y aura plus de choix demain. | There will be additional choices tomorrow. | ||
| J'ai plus de 1 000 livres. | I have more than 1,000 books. | ||
| Negative adverb - [ploo] | |||
| Ne ... plus is a negative adverb, meaning "no more" or "not any more" | |||
| Je ne le veux plus. | I don't want it any more. | ||
| Je ne veux plus de beurre. | I don't want any more butter. | ||
| Plus de beurre, merci.** | No more butter, thank you. | ||
| Non plus means "neither" or "not ... either" | |||
| Je n'aime pas les pommes non plus. | I don't like apples either. | ||
| - Je n'ai pas de montre. - Moi non plus ! |
- I don't have a watch. - Me neither! |
||
| Ne ... plus que means "only" or "nothing more than" | |||
| Il n'y a plus que miettes. | There are only crumbs (left). | ||
|
- Y a-t-il des pommes ? - Plus qu'une.** |
- Are there any apples? - Only one. |
||
| Ne ... pas plus means "no more than" (pretty much the same thing as ne ... plus que) | |||
| Il n'y a pas plus de 3 médecins. | There are no more than 3 doctors. | ||
| - Puis-je emprunter un stylo ? - Je n'en ai pas plus d'un. |
- Can I borrow a pen? - I only have one. |
||
**Note: There are a few expressions in which plus is negative without ne, because there is no verb for ne to negate. Note that these are normally at the beginning of a clause:
- Plus besoin (de) - (there's) no more need (to/of)
- Plus de + noun - (there's) no more + noun
- Plus maintenant - not any more, not any longer
- Plus que + noun - (there are) only ___ more
In addition, the ne is often omitted in spoken, informal French (learn
more). This is when pronouncing
or not pronouncing the [s] is most important. If I say Je veux
plus [ploo] de beurre, someone may very well think I mean I don't
want any more butter. This is actually how I learned the difference
between the two pronunciations. I was eating breakfast and asked,
Y a-t-il plus [ploo] de beurre ? and the woman replied,
Mais si, si ! (yes in response to a negative
question). I should have asked Y a-t-il plus [ploos] de beurre ?
Comparative/superlative adverb
Plus as a comparative or superlative adverb is the exception to the above rules. When the comparative or superlative plus is in the middle of a sentence, it is pronounced [ploo], unless it precedes a vowel, in which case the liaison causes it to be pronounced [plooz]. When plus is at the end of a sentence, as in the final example, it is pronounced [ploos].
| Plus ... que or plus ... de indicates superiority in comparatives and can compare | ||||
| adjectives | Je suis plus grand qu'elle. | I'm taller than she is. | ||
| adverbs | Je cours plus vite qu'elle. | I run faster than she does. | ||
| nouns | J'ai plus d'amis qu'elle. | I have more friends than she does. | ||
| verbs | Je cours plus qu'elle. | I run more than she does. | ||
| Le plus or le plus de indicates superiority in superlatives and can compare | ||||
| adjectives | Je suis le plus grand étudiant. | I'm the tallest student. | ||
| adverbs | Je cours le plus vite. | I run the fastest. | ||
| nouns | J'ai le plus d'amis. | I have the most friends. | ||
| verbs | Je cours le plus. | I run the most. | ||
Page 2 - Expressions with Plus
| French expressions |
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