Language/French/Grammar/Plurals-of-nouns-ending-in-–al

French Grammar - Plurals of nouns ending in –al

General Rule

Most nouns ending in -al form their plural with -aux:

Singular French	Plural French	English
un bocal	des bocaux	jam jar(s)
un cheval	des chevaux	horse(s)
un idéal	des idéaux	ideal(s)
un journal	des journaux	newspaper(s)
un mal	des maux	evil(s)
un terminal	des terminaux	terminal(s)
un val	des vaux	valley(s): (limited to poetic language)

Exceptions

There are, however, a number of exceptions which form their plural in -s:

Singular French	Plural French	English
un bal	des bals	dance(s)
un cal	des cals	callus(es)
un carnaval	des carnavals	carnival(s)
un cérémonial	des cérémonials	ceremony des)
un chacal	des chacals	jackal(s)
un festival	des festivals	festival(s)
un récital	des récitals	recital(s)
un régal	des régals	feast(s)