De or des before a plural adjective in French?

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Compare de belles maisons with des maisons blanches. Practise adjective order, d’ before vowels, fixed expressions and des meaning de + les.

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In short

In careful written French, indefinite des normally becomes de before an adjective placed ahead of a plural noun: de belles maisons. When the adjective follows the noun, keep des: des maisons blanches. Before a vowel sound, de becomes d’: d’autres maisons.

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A quiet French street of pretty white houses with blue doors and spacious leafy gardens.
A street makes de belles maisons easy to picture. Illustration: Atelier

Why does French use de before a plural adjective?

The position of the adjective matters
Noun on its ownAdjective before the nounAdjective after the noun
des maisonsde belles maisonsdes maisons blanches
des chiensde petits chiensdes chiens noirs
des livresde bons livresdes livres intéressants
des chaussuresde nouvelles chaussuresdes chaussures confortables

The -s stays on the adjective and noun: de petites maisons. With beau, use the irregular plural beaux: de beaux jardins. Adding another adjective after the noun keeps the opening pattern: de belles maisons blanches.

Dans une rue du quartier
  1. Nora

    Regarde, il y a de jolies maisons ici.

    Look, there are some pretty houses here.

  2. Samir

    Oui, et des jardins immenses !

    Yes, and enormous gardens!

  3. Nora

    Tu as vu les portes des grandes maisons au bout de la rue ?

    Did you see the doors of the large houses at the end of the street?

Which des are you using?

de grandes maisonssome large houses

Focus: an indefinite group: introducing some houses

des → de + adjective + plural noun

Elle dessine de grandes maisons.
She draws large houses.

les portes des grandes maisonsthe doors of the large houses

Focus: possession or another relation with de + les

de + les → des

Les portes des grandes maisons sont bleues.
The doors of the large houses are blue.

In the second pattern, des means “of the”. The houses are identified, and de + les stays des even before grandes. Compare Je vois de grands changements (“I see major changes”) with Je parle des grands changements annoncés hier (“I’m talking about the major changes announced yesterday”).

What are the exceptions to de before an adjective?

  • Elision: d’excellentes idées and d’autres questions. The apostrophe comes directly before the next word.
  • Fixed expressions: des petits pois means peas; des jeunes gens means young people. Learn these groups together.
  • Everyday speech often keeps des in phrases such as des belles maisons. For edited writing, use de belles maisons as your model.

J’achète des petits pois et de belles tomates.

I’m buying peas and some beautiful tomatoes.

The food name petits pois keeps des. The descriptive group belles tomates takes de in careful writing.

Question 1No account needed
Complete the indefinite phrase “some beautiful gardens”.Nous visitons ___ beaux jardins.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

de. Beaux comes before plural jardins. In careful writing, indefinite des becomes de.

Question 2No account needed
You mean some black shoes.Elle porte ___ chaussures noires.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

des. Noires follows the noun, so the indefinite plural article stays des.

Question 3No account needed
Complete the phrase with elision.Nous avons ___ excellentes idées.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

d’. Use de before the adjective, then elide it before the vowel in excellentes: d’excellentes idées.

Question 4No account needed
You mean the doors of the large houses.les portes ___ grandes maisons

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

des. Here des is de + les, meaning “of the”. The adjective does not change that contraction.

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