What is an indefinite adjective in French?

A determiner that gives an imprecise quantity or identity: chaque, quelques, plusieurs, certains, autre, même, tel, aucun, n'importe quel. Like articles, they occupy the slot before the noun, so plusieurs livres needs no des in front of it.

What's the difference between quelques and plusieurs?

Quelques means a small handful and often sounds modest: j'ai quelques questions. Plusieurs means several and implies a more substantial number: il a posé plusieurs questions. Both take a plural noun, but only quelques changes shape, since plusieurs is invariable.

Why is chaque followed by a singular noun?

Because chaque picks out members one at a time rather than grouping them. Chaque élève a un casier means the pupils are being considered individually. If you want a plural, use tous les: tous les élèves ont un casier.

Does aucun ever take a plural?

Only with nouns that exist only in the plural: sans aucuns frais, aucunes funérailles. In every other case aucun and aucune are singular, so it's aucun ami and aucune raison even where English says no friends at all.

Why does même sometimes agree and sometimes not?

Because it's doing two different jobs. As a determiner or a reinforcer it's an adjective and agrees: les mêmes erreurs, elles-mêmes. As an adverb meaning even it's invariable: même les professeurs se sont trompés.

French grammar · Intermediate

French Indefinite Adjectives: Chaque, Quelques, Plusieurs, Certains and the Rest

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

Indefinite adjectives are the determiners that give a vague quantity or identity rather than a precise one: chaque, quelques, plusieurs, certains, autre, même, tel, aucun. They sit where an article would go, and most of them agree with the noun they introduce.

Chaque étudiant a reçu plusieurs livres différents.

Each student received several different books.

What it is

An indefinite adjective answers how many or which one without committing to a figure or a name. French treats them as determiners, so they occupy the article's slot: you write plusieurs livres, not des plusieurs livres.

quelques amis, plusieurs raisons, certaines questions, aucun problème — a few friends, several reasons, certain questions, no problem.

How to spot it

The three things to check for each one are whether it agrees, whether it forces a singular or a plural noun, and whether it needs ne alongside the verb.

chaque jour — every day (invariable, singular only)
quelques minutes — a few minutes (plural only)
certaines personnes — some people (agrees in gender and number)
Je n'ai aucun doute. — I have no doubt. (needs ne on the verb)

Chaque and plusieurs never change their spelling. Everything else in this family behaves like an ordinary adjective and takes the usual endings.

Indefinite Adjectives Quick Reference

The main indefinite adjectives and how they behave

Adjective	Agreement	Meaning	Example
chaque	invariable, singular noun only	each, every	chaque semaine — every week
quelques	plural noun only	a few, some	quelques idées — a few ideas
plusieurs	invariable, plural noun only	several	plusieurs fois — several times
certain(e)(s)	gender and number	certain, some	certains jours — some days
autre(s)	number only	other, another	une autre solution — another solution
même(s)	number only	same, very	la même chose — the same thing
tel(le)(s)	gender and number	such, such a	une telle chance — such luck
aucun(e)	gender, always singular	no, not any	aucune raison — no reason

Common Indefinite Adjectives Examples in French

The family sorted by the job each one does:

Counting Loosely

J'ai quelques questions.: I have a few questions.
Il a essayé plusieurs fois.: He tried several times.
Certains élèves sont absents.: Some pupils are absent.
Nous avons visité différents pays.: We visited various countries.

Quelques suggests a small handful; plusieurs suggests more than two and more than you'd bother counting.

Taking Them One at a Time

Chaque enfant a son casier.: Each child has their own locker.
Chaque année, la fête change de lieu.: Every year the festival moves.
Tout citoyen peut voter.: Every citizen can vote.
Il révise chaque soir.: He revises every evening.

Chaque is the workhorse here. Tout plus a bare singular noun says the same thing in a formal or legal register.

Sameness and Difference

Nous avons eu la même idée.: We had the same idea.
Prends une autre assiette.: Take another plate.
Ce sont les mêmes erreurs.: They're the same mistakes.
J'ai d'autres projets.: I have other plans.

Des becomes de in front of autres: d'autres projets, never des autres projets.

Denying and Dismissing

Je n'ai aucune envie de sortir.: I have no desire to go out.
Aucun train ne circule aujourd'hui.: No trains are running today.
Il n'a nulle intention de partir.: He has no intention of leaving.
sans aucun doute: without any doubt

Aucun is grammatically singular even when English would say none of them: aucun train, not aucuns trains.

How the Indefinite Adjectives Behave

The family is small enough to learn individually, but four patterns cut across most of it.

Chaque Is Singular, Always

However many people you're talking about, chaque takes a singular noun and a singular verb. It has no plural form at all, and its pronoun counterpart chacun is the word you need when there's no noun to attach it to.

Chaque participant reçoit un badge.

Each participant gets a badge.

chaque + one noun, one verb.

Quelques Counts, Quelque Hedges

With an -s and a plural noun, quelques means a few. Without the -s and with a singular noun it survives mainly in fixed or literary phrases and means some… or other, as in quelque temps.

Il est parti depuis quelque temps.

He left some time ago.

quelques = a few; quelque = some vague amount.

Some of Them Have No Singular

Plusieurs and certains describe a group by definition, so they only ever appear with plural nouns. Plusieurs never changes its spelling; certains behaves like a normal adjective and gives certaines in the feminine.

Certaines réponses sont fausses.

Some answers are wrong.

No plural noun, no plusieurs.

Position Can Flip the Meaning

Several members of this family mean one thing before the noun and something quite different after it. Un certain succès is a modest amount of success; un succès certain is a guaranteed one.

un certain âge, un âge certain

a certain age, an advanced age

Before = vague, after = definite.

Aucun Needs Ne on the Verb

Aucun carries the negative meaning but not the negative structure. Whenever there's a conjugated verb in the clause, ne has to appear in front of it, and pas disappears because aucun has already done its job.

Aucun candidat n'a été retenu.

No candidate was selected.

aucun + ne, never aucun + pas.

Common Mistakes with Indefinite Adjectives

Incorrect: chaques jours — every day

Correct: chaque jour — every day

Chaque has no plural. English every day looks plural in meaning, but French insists on a singular noun after chaque.

Incorrect: quelque personnes — a few people

Correct: quelques personnes — a few people

When quelque means a few it agrees with the plural noun. The singular quelque exists but means something vaguer, and it doesn't fit here.

Incorrect: J'ai aucune idée. — I have no idea.

Correct: Je n'ai aucune idée. — I have no idea.

Aucun supplies the meaning of the negative but not its structure. A conjugated verb still needs ne in front of it, exactly as it would with pas.

Incorrect: Il a des autres questions. — He has other questions.

Correct: Il a d'autres questions. — He has other questions.

Des reduces to de before a plural adjective placed in front of the noun, and autres is one of those adjectives. The elision then gives d'autres.

Three That Repay Extra Attention

Même, tel, and n'importe quel each do more than one job, and the differences are easy to miss.

Même in its three positions

Before the noun it means same. After a noun or a stressed pronoun it means very or -self. Placed elsewhere it becomes an adverb meaning even, and then it stops agreeing.

le même jour: the same day
le jour même: that very day
moi-même: myself
Même les enfants ont compris.: Even the children understood.

Only the determiner and the reinforcing uses agree. The adverb même is invariable, whatever it stands next to.

Tel for such

Tel agrees with the noun that follows it, and unlike English it goes in front of the article rather than after it: une telle erreur, not *une erreur telle.

une telle générosité: such generosity
de tels arguments: such arguments
Je n'ai jamais vu une telle foule.: I've never seen such a crowd.
un homme tel que lui: a man such as him

Tel que introduces a comparison and keeps agreeing with the first noun: des villes telles que Lyon.

N'importe quel for any at all

N'importe quel is a two-part determiner meaning any one you like. Only the quel half agrees; n'importe never changes.

n'importe quel jour: any day at all
n'importe quelle excuse: any old excuse
à n'importe quelle heure: at any time of day

It carries a shrug that plain quelconque or a simple article doesn't: n'importe quelle excuse implies the excuse won't be a good one.

Indefinite Adjectives FAQs

What is an indefinite adjective in French?: A determiner that gives an imprecise quantity or identity: chaque, quelques, plusieurs, certains, autre, même, tel, aucun, n'importe quel. Like articles, they occupy the slot before the noun, so plusieurs livres needs no des in front of it.
What's the difference between quelques and plusieurs?: Quelques means a small handful and often sounds modest: j'ai quelques questions. Plusieurs means several and implies a more substantial number: il a posé plusieurs questions. Both take a plural noun, but only quelques changes shape, since plusieurs is invariable.
Why is chaque followed by a singular noun?: Because chaque picks out members one at a time rather than grouping them. Chaque élève a un casier means the pupils are being considered individually. If you want a plural, use tous les: tous les élèves ont un casier.
Does aucun ever take a plural?: Only with nouns that exist only in the plural: sans aucuns frais, aucunes funérailles. In every other case aucun and aucune are singular, so it's aucun ami and aucune raison even where English says no friends at all.
Why does même sometimes agree and sometimes not?: Because it's doing two different jobs. As a determiner or a reinforcer it's an adjective and agrees: les mêmes erreurs, elles-mêmes. As an adverb meaning even it's invariable: même les professeurs se sont trompés.