Why is “personne” plural

Barbara H.A2Kwiziq community member

Why is “personne” plural

Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural. 

Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Barbara, 

I have had a look at the Kwiz and it asks you which of the following nouns are plural?  -

oranges/personne/filles/garçon

The only plural nouns are -

oranges and filles 

as 'personne',  as you say would have a -s at the end to mean 'people'.

If you were marked wrong maybe there is another reason for this as it definitely not plural.

Bonne Continuation!

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Personne as a noun does indeed take an 's' in the plural; as an indefinite pronoun it is invariable and 'singular'.

https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/personne

Ted M.B1Kwiziq community member

Please post an example of the use of personnes in a sentence. Merci

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Ted, 

Personne can be either a noun, or a pronoun.

As a noun, ‘ personne ‘ is grammatically feminine, and can be used in singular or plural forms, as required. 

Examples from Larousse

 ‘ il y avait quinze personnes à table ‘,

 ‘ il y a trois personnes en Dieu ‘.

 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/personne/59812#difficulte 

and from Robert 

‘ Une ville où habitent dix mille personnes. ‘

 https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/personne

As a pronoun, ‘ personne ‘ is an indefinite, invariable grammatically masculine pronoun - and always in the singular. 

Adjectives after personne, rien, tout le monde, quelqu'un are always masculine in French

CécileKwiziq team member

Hi Barbara et al,

I have changed the question to 'in the plural form' as it was misleading in my opinion and caused confusion in the case of 'personne' which is in the singular form in this instance but can indeed be 'personnes' when meaning people. 

Thank you Maarten for the excellent examples which I hope answer your query Ted.

Why is “personne” plural

Why is personne considered a plural noun? I thought it needed an “s” to be plural. 

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