How does tout work as an adjective?

It sits in front of a determiner and agrees with the noun at the end of the phrase: tout le village, toute la région, tous les matins, toutes ces raisons. The determiner between them has no effect on the agreement.

What's the difference between tout le jour and tous les jours?

Tout le jour treats the day as one unbroken block, all day long. Tous les jours counts days as repeated events, every day. The singular means whole and the plural means every, and that split holds for most nouns.

Why is there no article in tout homme?

Dropping the article widens the reference from a specific group to anyone at all, which is why the pattern belongs to legal and formal writing: tout candidat doit fournir une pièce d'identité. In conversation you'd say chaque candidat or tous les candidats.

Is the s pronounced in tous les jours?

No. Adjectival tous sounds exactly like tout. The -s is only pronounced when tous is a pronoun standing in for a noun, as in ils sont tous partis.

How do you say every two weeks in French?

Tous les quinze jours, literally every fifteen days, which is the standard fortnightly expression. The pattern tous les plus a number works generally: tous les trois mois, toutes les deux heures.

French grammar · Intermediate

Tout as an Adjective: Tout le, Toute la, Tous les, Toutes les

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

As an adjective, tout goes in front of a determiner rather than after it: tout le, toute la, tous les, toutes les. With an article it means all of or the whole; with a bare noun it means every or any, in a formal register.

Toute la classe travaille tous les jours.

The whole class works every day.

What it is

French determiners normally exclude one another, but tout is an exception. It stacks in front of an article, a possessive, or a demonstrative and quantifies the whole phrase that follows, agreeing with the noun at the end of it.

tout le gâteau, toute la soirée, tous mes amis, toutes ces raisons — the whole cake, the whole evening, all my friends, all these reasons.

How to spot it

Find the noun at the end of the phrase and match tout to its gender and number. The determiner in between changes nothing.

tout le village — the whole village (masculine singular)
toute la région — the whole region (feminine singular)
tous ces problèmes — all these problems (masculine plural)
toutes mes économies — all my savings (feminine plural)

The -s of tous is silent in this use. Tous les jours and tout le jour begin with the same sound, and only the article tells them apart in speech.

Tout Adjective Quick Reference

The patterns tout builds

Pattern	Form	Meaning	Example
tout + definite article + noun	agrees	the whole, all of	toute la journée — the whole day
tous / toutes + les + plural	agrees	every, all	tous les matins — every morning
tout + possessive + noun	agrees	all of my, your…	tous mes livres — all my books
tout + demonstrative + noun	agrees	all this, all these	tout ce bruit — all this noise
tout + bare singular noun	tout, toute	every, any (formal)	tout citoyen — every citizen
tout + city or country name	invariable	the whole of	tout Paris — the whole of Paris
en + toute + abstract noun	toute	in complete…	en toute liberté — in complete freedom

Common Tout Adjective Examples in French

Each pattern with real sentences:

The Whole of Something

Il a mangé tout le gâteau.: He ate the whole cake.
J'ai passé toute la nuit à travailler.: I spent the whole night working.
Tout le quartier était au courant.: The whole neighbourhood knew.
Elle a lu tout le rapport.: She read the entire report.

With a singular noun, tout means whole rather than every. Tout le jour is the day in its entirety.

Every, With a Plural

Il court tous les matins.: He runs every morning.
Le bus passe toutes les vingt minutes.: The bus comes every twenty minutes.
Tous les deux jours, elle appelle.: She calls every other day.
Toutes les places sont réservées.: All the seats are booked.

Tous les plus a number is how French says every so many: tous les trois mois, every three months.

With Possessives and Demonstratives

Tous mes collègues sont d'accord.: All my colleagues agree.
Toute sa famille habite ici.: His whole family lives here.
Toutes ces excuses ne servent à rien.: All these excuses are pointless.
Tout ce travail pour rien.: All that work for nothing.

The order never varies: tout first, then the possessive or demonstrative, then the noun.

With No Article at All

Tout homme a le droit de se défendre.: Every person has the right to a defence.
à toute heure: at any hour
en toute sécurité: in complete safety
de toute façon: in any case

This bare pattern is formal or legal, and it always uses the singular. Everyday French says chaque or tous les instead.

How the Adjective Tout Behaves

Its word order is unusual, its agreement is ordinary, and its meaning depends on whether an article follows.

Tout Goes Before the Determiner

Where English says all the students, French says tous les étudiants, in the same order. What's unusual is that French normally allows only one determiner per noun, and tout is one of the few words permitted to stand alongside another.

Tout le monde est arrivé.

Everybody has arrived.

tout + le / ce / mon + noun.

Agreement Comes From the Noun

Skip the determiner and look at the noun. Journée is feminine singular, so toute la journée; jours is masculine plural, so tous les jours. The determiner is irrelevant to the choice.

toute la semaine et tous les week-ends

the whole week and every weekend

Match the final noun.

Singular Means Whole, Plural Means Every

The same word does two jobs depending on the number of the noun. Tout le jour is the day in one piece; tous les jours is a repeated series of days.

Tout le mois a été difficile, mais tous les mois ne sont pas comme ça.

The whole month was difficult, but not every month is like that.

Singular = whole, plural = every.

Without an Article, Tout Means Any

Dropping the article shifts the sense from a specific set to an open one. Tout élève doit signer applies to any pupil at all, which is why the pattern belongs to rules, notices, and contracts.

Tout retard sera signalé.

Any lateness will be reported.

Bare noun → any, every.

The -S Is Silent Here

Adjectival tous is pronounced exactly like tout. The -s only becomes audible when tous is a pronoun, so the written and spoken clues point in different directions and you have to rely on the structure.

Tous les enfants sont sortis.

All the children have gone out.

Adjective → silent s.

Common Mistakes with Tout Adjective

Incorrect: tous le monde — everybody

Correct: tout le monde — everybody

Monde is masculine singular, so tout stays singular. The phrase means the whole world, not all the worlds, however plural the English everybody feels.

Incorrect: toute les femmes — all the women

Correct: toutes les femmes — all the women

Femmes is plural, so the adjective has to be plural too. Toute would only work with a singular noun, as in toute la famille.

Incorrect: J'ai travaillé tout la journée. — I worked all day.

Correct: J'ai travaillé toute la journée. — I worked all day.

Journée is feminine, so tout takes the feminine ending. Note that jour is masculine and journée is feminine, which is a frequent source of this slip.

Incorrect: les tous étudiants — all the students

Correct: tous les étudiants — all the students

Tout comes before the article, not after it. French keeps the same order as English here: all the students, tous les étudiants.

Tout Without a Determiner

The bare pattern accounts for a large family of set phrases, and one of them hides a genuine ambiguity.

Set phrases with no article

Tout plus a bare abstract noun forms adverbial phrases that have to be learned whole. The agreement still applies, which is why toute appears with feminine nouns.

en tout cas: in any case
à toute vitesse: at full speed
de toute manière: in any event
à tout âge: at any age

These behave like adverbs, so you can move them around the sentence: en tout cas, je viendrai.

Tout with a place name

In front of a city or country name used without an article, tout means the whole of and stays invariable, because the name has no grammatical gender in this position.

Tout Paris en parlait.: The whole of Paris was talking about it.
Il a visité tout Rome en trois jours.: He saw the whole of Rome in three days.

With a country that carries an article, the normal rule returns: toute la France, tout le Canada.

Tout autre against toute autre

This pair is genuinely ambiguous in speech and precise in writing. Invariable tout is the adverb meaning completely; agreeing toute is the adjective meaning any.

C'est une tout autre histoire.: That's a completely different story.
Toute autre solution serait pire.: Any other solution would be worse.

Test it by substituting: if entièrement fits, write tout; if n'importe quelle fits, write toute.

Tout Adjective FAQs

How does tout work as an adjective?: It sits in front of a determiner and agrees with the noun at the end of the phrase: tout le village, toute la région, tous les matins, toutes ces raisons. The determiner between them has no effect on the agreement.
What's the difference between tout le jour and tous les jours?: Tout le jour treats the day as one unbroken block, all day long. Tous les jours counts days as repeated events, every day. The singular means whole and the plural means every, and that split holds for most nouns.
Why is there no article in tout homme?: Dropping the article widens the reference from a specific group to anyone at all, which is why the pattern belongs to legal and formal writing: tout candidat doit fournir une pièce d'identité. In conversation you'd say chaque candidat or tous les candidats.
Is the s pronounced in tous les jours?: No. Adjectival tous sounds exactly like tout. The -s is only pronounced when tous is a pronoun standing in for a noun, as in ils sont tous partis.
How do you say every two weeks in French?: Tous les quinze jours, literally every fifteen days, which is the standard fortnightly expression. The pattern tous les plus a number works generally: tous les trois mois, toutes les deux heures.