Does the verb change when vous means one person?

No. Vous takes the plural verb form in every tense: vous êtes, vous avez, vous venez, vous étiez. French has no separate polite singular conjugation, so the verb gives no clue about how many people you're addressing.

Is it vous êtes prêt or vous êtes prêts?

Vous êtes prêt for one man, vous êtes prête for one woman, vous êtes prêts for a group of men or a mixed group, and vous êtes prêtes for a group of women. The verb stays êtes throughout.

How does agreement work with pronominal verbs and vous?

The reflexive pronoun is always vous, and the participle agrees with the person addressed: vous vous êtes levé, monsieur; vous vous êtes levée, madame; vous vous êtes levés for a group.

What if you don't know whether you're writing to a man or a woman?

Formal French defaults to the masculine singular: nous vous savons très occupé. Increasingly, writers avoid the problem by rephrasing so no adjective is needed at all.

Which adjectives make the difference audible?

Any whose feminine changes the pronunciation: heureux and heureuse, inquiet and inquiète, premier and première, déçu and déçue are pronounced differently. With prêt and prête the ending is heard too, while sûr and sûre sound identical.

French grammar · Intermediate

Agreement with Vous in French: When It's Plural and When It Isn't

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Vous always takes a plural verb — vous êtes, vous avez, vous parlez — but adjectives and past participles agree with the person or people it actually refers to. One woman gives vous êtes prête; two men give vous êtes prêts. The verb never changes; everything else does.

Vous êtes prête, madame ?

Are you ready, madam?

What it is

Vous is grammatically plural but referentially ambiguous: it can mean one person you're being polite to, or several people. French handles that split by keeping the verb plural while letting adjectives and participles follow the real number of people. The verb tells you nothing; the ending on the adjective tells you everything.

Vous êtes venu seul, monsieur ? Vous êtes venus ensemble ? — Did you come alone, sir? Did you come together?

How to spot it

Look past the pronoun to who is being addressed. One person, singular adjective. More than one, plural adjective. The verb form is identical either way.

Vous êtes sûr, monsieur ? — Are you sure, sir? (one man)
Vous êtes sûre, madame ? — Are you sure, madam? (one woman)
Vous êtes sûrs de vouloir partir ? — Are you sure you want to leave? (several people)
Vous êtes toutes invitées. — You're all invited. (a group of women)

Nothing marks the difference in speech for most adjectives, since sûr, sûre and sûrs all sound the same. It is a writing problem more than a speaking one — except with adjectives like heureux and heureuse.

Agreement with Vous Quick Reference

What agreement vous takes in each situation

Who vous means	Adjective / participle	Example
One man (polite)	masculine singular	vous êtes prêt, monsieur
One woman (polite)	feminine singular	vous êtes prête, madame
Several men	masculine plural	vous êtes prêts
Mixed group	masculine plural	vous êtes prêts
Several women	feminine plural	vous êtes prêtes
Any of the above	the verb stays plural	vous êtes, vous avez, vous partez
Reflexive verbs	participle follows the same rule	vous vous êtes trompée, madame
Stressed form	vous-même or vous-mêmes	faites-le vous-même, monsieur

Common Agreement with Vous Examples in French

Agreement with vous in the situations where it shows:

Formal Vous, One Person

Vous êtes arrivé en avance, monsieur.: You've arrived early, sir.
Vous êtes arrivée en avance, madame.: You've arrived early, madam.
Vous semblez inquiet.: You seem worried. (to a man)
Vous serez déçue.: You'll be disappointed. (to a woman)

The verb is plural, the adjective is singular. That mismatch is correct and is the whole point of this page.

Vous for a Group

Vous êtes tous les bienvenus.: You're all welcome.
Vous êtes partis sans nous.: You left without us.
Vous serez contentes du résultat.: You'll be pleased with the result. (women)
Vous avez été très patients.: You've been very patient.

A mixed group takes the masculine plural, however many women are in it.

Pronominal Verbs

Vous vous êtes trompé, monsieur.: You've made a mistake, sir.
Vous vous êtes assise près de la fenêtre.: You sat down by the window. (one woman)
Vous vous êtes bien amusés ?: Did you all enjoy yourselves?
Vous vous êtes inscrites en ligne ?: Did you sign up online? (women)

The reflexive pronoun is vous whatever the number, so only the participle reveals who you're talking to.

Where Agreement Is Audible

Vous êtes heureuse ici ?: Are you happy here? (one woman)
Vous avez l'air fatiguée.: You look tired. (one woman)
Vous êtes déçus, je le vois.: You're disappointed, I can see that.
Vous n'êtes pas la première à le dire.: You're not the first to say so.

Feminine forms ending in -euse, -ète or -ère change the sound, so these are the cases where the choice matters out loud.

How Agreement with Vous Works

The rule is simple to state and easy to forget, because it makes the verb and the adjective disagree on purpose.

The Verb Is Always Plural

Vous takes the plural ending in every tense and mood, even when it addresses one person: vous êtes, vous avez, vous parlez, vous partiez, vous soyez. There is no polite singular verb form in French.

Vous parlez très bien français, monsieur.

You speak French very well, sir.

Verb plural, no exceptions.

Adjectives Follow the Real Person

An adjective describes the human being, not the pronoun, so it agrees with who that person is. Addressing one woman politely gives a feminine singular adjective: vous êtes gentille.

Vous êtes très aimable, madame.

You're very kind, madam.

One person, singular adjective.

Past Participles With Être Do the Same

Verbs conjugated with être in compound tenses have participles that behave like adjectives, so they follow the same rule: vous êtes venu, vous êtes venue, vous êtes venus, vous êtes venues.

Vous êtes rentrée tard hier soir.

You got home late last night. (to one woman)

être + participle = adjective agreement.

With Avoir, Nothing Changes

Verbs taking avoir have no subject agreement at all, so vous avez fini is the same whoever you're addressing. The participle only moves if a direct object comes before the verb.

Vous avez compris la question ?

Did you understand the question?

avoir + participle, no agreement.

Vous-même vs. Vous-mêmes

The reinforcing form takes the same logic: vous-même for one person, vous-mêmes for several. It is one of the few places where the difference is visible without an adjective.

Vous l'avez fait vous-même, madame ?

Did you do it yourself, madam?

One person, vous-même.

Common Mistakes with Agreement with Vous

Incorrect: Vous es prêt ? — Are you ready?

Correct: Vous êtes prêt ? — Are you ready?

The verb after vous is always plural, even when you're addressing one person. Using the tu form of the verb with vous mixes two systems.

Incorrect: Vous êtes prêts, madame ? — Are you ready, madam?

Correct: Vous êtes prête, madame ? — Are you ready, madam?

Madame is one woman, so the adjective is feminine singular. Learners often make the adjective plural to match the verb, but the adjective follows the person.

Incorrect: Vous vous êtes trompés, monsieur. — You've made a mistake, sir.

Correct: Vous vous êtes trompé, monsieur. — You've made a mistake, sir.

With être, the participle behaves like an adjective. Addressing one man means masculine singular, even though the pronoun and the verb are plural.

Incorrect: Faites-le vous-mêmes, madame. — Do it yourself, madam.

Correct: Faites-le vous-même, madame. — Do it yourself, madam.

Vous-mêmes with an s addresses more than one person. For a single polite addressee it stays vous-même.

Formal Vous Addressed to One Person

This is where the mismatch appears, and where most written errors happen: a plural verb next to a singular adjective in the same clause.

In letters and emails

Written French makes the agreement visible, so correspondence is where it has to be right. Match the adjective to the recipient.

Vous avez été très clair dans votre message.: You were very clear in your message. (to a man)
Nous vous savons très occupée.: We know you're very busy. (to a woman)
Vous êtes invitée à nous rejoindre.: You're invited to join us. (to a woman)
Seriez-vous disponible jeudi ?: Would you be available on Thursday?

When you don't know the recipient's gender, the masculine singular is the conventional default in formal French.

In service and hospitality

Spoken formal French uses vous constantly with a single customer, and the feminine adjective is often audible.

Vous êtes seule ce soir ?: Are you on your own this evening? (to a woman)
Vous serez installé près de la fenêtre.: You'll be seated by the window. (to a man)
Vous êtes déjà venue chez nous ?: Have you been here before? (to a woman)
Vous êtes servi, monsieur ?: Have you been served, sir?

Adding monsieur or madame both softens the question and settles the agreement for the listener.

Groups, and the mixed-group rule

For more than one person the adjective is plural, and any mixed group takes the masculine plural however unbalanced it is.

Vous êtes tous prêts ?: Are you all ready?
Vous êtes toutes arrivées à l'heure.: You all arrived on time. (women only)
Vous êtes les bienvenus.: You're welcome here.
Vous vous connaissez déjà ?: Do you already know each other?

One man in a group of nine women is enough to make the adjective masculine plural, which is simply how French agreement works.

Agreement with Vous FAQs

Does the verb change when vous means one person?: No. Vous takes the plural verb form in every tense: vous êtes, vous avez, vous venez, vous étiez. French has no separate polite singular conjugation, so the verb gives no clue about how many people you're addressing.
Is it vous êtes prêt or vous êtes prêts?: Vous êtes prêt for one man, vous êtes prête for one woman, vous êtes prêts for a group of men or a mixed group, and vous êtes prêtes for a group of women. The verb stays êtes throughout.
How does agreement work with pronominal verbs and vous?: The reflexive pronoun is always vous, and the participle agrees with the person addressed: vous vous êtes levé, monsieur; vous vous êtes levée, madame; vous vous êtes levés for a group.
What if you don't know whether you're writing to a man or a woman?: Formal French defaults to the masculine singular: nous vous savons très occupé. Increasingly, writers avoid the problem by rephrasing so no adjective is needed at all.
Which adjectives make the difference audible?: Any whose feminine changes the pronunciation: heureux and heureuse, inquiet and inquiète, premier and première, déçu and déçue are pronounced differently. With prêt and prête the ending is heard too, while sûr and sûre sound identical.