How do you pronounce plus in French?

Three ways. Silent s in comparatives before a consonant and in every ne… plus: plus grand, je n'en veux plus. A z sound in liaison before a vowel: plus intéressant. A clear s when plus means a quantity: j'en veux plus, plus de dix ans, deux plus deux.

How can plus mean both more and no more?

The negative meaning comes from ne, not from plus. Ne… plus originally meant not any longer, and once speech started dropping the ne, the pronunciation took over the job of telling them apart: the negative plus keeps its s silent, the positive one usually sounds it.

When do I use plus de and when just plus?

Plus de goes in front of a noun or a number: plus de patience, plus de cinq minutes. Plus on its own goes in front of an adjective or adverb: plus patient, plus lentement. If you're comparing amounts of a thing, you need the de.

Why can't I say plus bon?

Because bon already has a comparative form, meilleur, and French doesn't stack the two. The same is true of the adverb bien, whose comparative is mieux. So you say c'est meilleur and ça marche mieux, never plus bon or plus bien.

What does moi non plus mean?

It means me neither, and it's the negative counterpart of moi aussi. Use it to agree with a negative statement: je n'aime pas ça. — Moi non plus. Answering moi aussi to a negative sentence is a very common learner slip.

French grammar · Intermediate

Plus in French: More, Most, No Longer, and How to Pronounce It

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

Plus is the French word for more, the marker of comparatives and superlatives, and half of the negative ne… plus meaning no longer. Those two opposite jobs are told apart by pronunciation: the positive plus often sounds its final s, and the negative one never does.

Je voudrais plus de temps, mais je n'ai plus de patience.

I'd like more time, but I've no patience left.

What it is

One spelling, two opposite meanings. Plus adds — plus grand, plus de temps, le plus rapide — and plus subtracts, in the frame ne… plus, which means the thing has stopped. French keeps them apart in speech by sounding the final s in some cases and not others, and in writing by whether ne is present.

Il y a plus de neige (there's more snow) — il n'y a plus de neige (there's no snow left).

How to spot it

Look for ne, or for the missing ne that casual speech leaves out. If the sentence is negative, plus means no longer. If not, it means more.

Elle est plus grande que moi. — She's taller than me.
Je n'en veux plus. — I don't want any more.
C'est le plus cher du magasin. — It's the most expensive one in the shop.
Il pleut de plus en plus. — It's raining harder and harder.

In speech the ne disappears constantly, so j'en veux plus can mean either I want more or I don't want any more. The final s is what decides it.

Plus Quick Reference

The uses of plus and how the final s behaves

Use	Example	Final s
Comparative + adjective	plus grand que	silent
Comparative before a vowel	plus intelligent	pronounced as z
Superlative	le plus rapide	silent
Quantity before de	plus de trois heures	pronounced
Alone at the end of a clause	J'en veux plus.	pronounced
Negative ne… plus	Je n'en veux plus.	always silent
Arithmetic	deux plus deux	pronounced
moi non plus	Moi non plus.	silent

Common Plus Examples in French

Plus doing each of its jobs:

Comparatives

Ce livre est plus intéressant que l'autre.: This book is more interesting than the other one.
Il court plus vite que moi.: He runs faster than me.
Elle a plus de travail cette semaine.: She has more work this week.
Il y a plus de vingt ans.: More than twenty years ago.

Before a noun, plus takes de: plus de temps, plus de gens. Before an adjective or adverb it stands alone.

Superlatives

C'est la plus belle vue de la ville.: It's the finest view in the city.
Le plus important, c'est de commencer.: The most important thing is to start.
C'est lui qui parle le plus.: He's the one who talks the most.
Fais de ton mieux, le plus vite possible.: Do your best, as quickly as possible.

With an adverb the article is always le and never agrees: elle court le plus vite, even though elle is feminine.

Ne… Plus: It Has Stopped

Il ne fume plus depuis un an.: He gave up smoking a year ago.
Je n'ai plus d'argent.: I've no money left.
Elle n'habite plus ici.: She doesn't live here any more.
Il n'y a plus rien à faire.: There's nothing left to do.

Like every negative, ne… plus flattens the article to de: plus de pain, never plus du pain.

Set Phrases

de plus en plus: more and more
en plus: besides, what's more
moi non plus: me neither
tout au plus: at the very most
d'autant plus que: all the more so because

Moi non plus is the negative echo of moi aussi: J'aime ça. — Moi aussi. Je n'aime pas ça. — Moi non plus.

How Plus Is Built into a Sentence

Four patterns cover the positive uses, and the negative frame follows the ordinary rules of French negation.

Plus de Before a Noun, Plus Alone Before an Adjective

Comparing quantities of a thing requires de: plus de sucre, plus de gens. Comparing qualities doesn't: plus sucré, plus nombreux. English uses more for both, which is why the de goes missing.

Il y a plus de bruit et c'est plus fatigant.

There's more noise and it's more tiring.

plus de + noun, plus + adjective.

Que Introduces What You're Comparing To

The second half of a comparison is introduced by que, and any pronoun after it takes its stressed form: plus grand que moi, plus rapide qu'eux.

Elle travaille plus que lui.

She works more than he does.

plus… que + stressed pronoun.

Superlatives Add the Definite Article

Le, la, or les in front of plus turns a comparative into a superlative. With adjectives the article agrees with the noun; with adverbs it's frozen as le, because there's no noun to agree with.

C'est la question la plus difficile.

It's the hardest question.

le / la / les plus + adjective, le plus + adverb.

Some Adjectives Refuse Plus

Bon and bien have their own comparative forms and can't take plus. Bon becomes meilleur and bien becomes mieux. Plus bon and plus bien are among the most recognisable learner errors in French.

Ce vin est meilleur, et il se conserve mieux.

This wine is better, and it keeps better.

bon → meilleur, bien → mieux.

Ne… Plus Wraps the Verb

The negative frame behaves exactly like ne… pas: ne goes before the conjugated verb and plus after it, or between the auxiliary and the participle in compound tenses.

Je n'ai plus vu personne après ça.

I didn't see anyone after that.

n'ai plus vu, like n'ai pas vu.

Common Mistakes with Plus

Incorrect: Ce restaurant est plus bon que l'autre. — This restaurant is better than the other one.

Correct: Ce restaurant est meilleur que l'autre. — This restaurant is better than the other one.

Bon has its own comparative, meilleur, so plus bon is impossible. The same applies to bien, whose comparative is mieux rather than plus bien.

Incorrect: Il a plus argent que moi. — He has more money than me.

Correct: Il a plus d'argent que moi. — He has more money than me.

Before a noun, plus is a quantity expression and needs de, which elides to d' before a vowel. English more attaches to the noun directly, so the de is easy to forget.

Incorrect: Je ne veux plus du café. — I don't want any more coffee.

Correct: Je ne veux plus de café. — I don't want any more coffee.

Ne… plus is a genuine negative, so it reduces the partitive du to de, exactly as ne… pas would.

Incorrect: Elle court la plus vite de la classe. — She runs the fastest in the class.

Correct: Elle court le plus vite de la classe. — She runs the fastest in the class.

Vite is an adverb, and the article in an adverbial superlative never agrees. It stays le regardless of who is running.

How to Pronounce Plus

The final s is not decorative: it carries meaning, and it's the main thing that keeps more and no more apart in conversation.

Silent s: comparatives and negatives

In front of an adjective or adverb beginning with a consonant, and in every use of ne… plus, the s is silent.

Il est plus grand que son frère.: He's taller than his brother. (s silent)
Je ne travaille plus le soir.: I don't work evenings any more. (s silent)
C'est le plus beau.: It's the most beautiful one. (s silent)

The negative plus is silent without exception, whatever comes after it. This is the most reliable rule in the set.

Pronounced s: quantities and standalone plus

When plus means more as a quantity — before de, before a number, or alone at the end of a clause — the s is sounded.

J'en veux plus.: I want more of it. (s pronounced)
Il y a plus de trente personnes.: There are more than thirty people. (s pronounced)
Deux plus deux font quatre.: Two plus two makes four. (s pronounced)

This is why j'en veux plus is ambiguous in writing but perfectly clear in speech.

Liaison z: before a vowel

In a comparative, plus before a vowel or mute h links with a z sound.

C'est plus intéressant.: It's more interesting. (plus-z-intéressant)
Elle est plus âgée que moi.: She's older than me. (plus-z-âgée)
de plus en plus: more and more (plus-z-en, then final plus with s)

De plus en plus contains all three pronunciations in four words, which makes it a useful phrase to drill.

Plus FAQs

How do you pronounce plus in French?: Three ways. Silent s in comparatives before a consonant and in every ne… plus: plus grand, je n'en veux plus. A z sound in liaison before a vowel: plus intéressant. A clear s when plus means a quantity: j'en veux plus, plus de dix ans, deux plus deux.
How can plus mean both more and no more?: The negative meaning comes from ne, not from plus. Ne… plus originally meant not any longer, and once speech started dropping the ne, the pronunciation took over the job of telling them apart: the negative plus keeps its s silent, the positive one usually sounds it.
When do I use plus de and when just plus?: Plus de goes in front of a noun or a number: plus de patience, plus de cinq minutes. Plus on its own goes in front of an adjective or adverb: plus patient, plus lentement. If you're comparing amounts of a thing, you need the de.
Why can't I say plus bon?: Because bon already has a comparative form, meilleur, and French doesn't stack the two. The same is true of the adverb bien, whose comparative is mieux. So you say c'est meilleur and ça marche mieux, never plus bon or plus bien.
What does moi non plus mean?: It means me neither, and it's the negative counterpart of moi aussi. Use it to agree with a negative statement: je n'aime pas ça. — Moi non plus. Answering moi aussi to a negative sentence is a very common learner slip.