B1 · Fine points and style
tout and même: all, same
One word for all, every and whole — and it agrees.
At a glance
- Remember
- tout le monde is one, not many.
- Form
- tout le mondeeverybody
- Signal words
- tout
- toute
- tous
- même
- Trap
- Wrong:Tout le monde sont arrivés.Right:Tout le monde est arrivé.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| everybody | tout le monde |
| the whole day | toute la journée |
| every day | tous les jours |
| everything is fine | tout va bien |
| on the same day | le même jour |
| myself | moi-même |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
In front of a noun tout agrees.
Toutes les places sont prises.All the seats are taken.
In front of an adjective tout means quite and usually stays flat.
Ils sont tout surpris.They are quite surprised.
même before the noun is the same; after it, -self.
Nous avons pris le même train, elle l’a dit elle-même.We took the same train, and she said so herself.
In front of a word même means even.
Même les enfants ont compris.Even the children understood.
Example sentences
Tout le monde est arrivé à l’heure.Everybody arrived on time.
Elle a travaillé toute la nuit.She worked all night.
Nous habitons dans la même rue.We live in the same street.
Même en été, il fait frais ici.Even in summer it is cool here.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
tout le monde means everybody and stays singular: tout le monde est arrivé, never sont arrivés. Literally it is the whole world, and the verb follows that. English agrees with French here for once — everybody has arrived, not have — so the rule is easier to hold than it looks; the trap is that the French phrase contains the plural-sounding monde.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English splits this three ways and French does not. All, every and whole are one word, tout, and in front of a noun it is an adjective and agrees: tout le monde, toute la journée (the whole day), tous les jours (every day), toutes les semaines.
On its own tout means everything: tout va bien. In the plural tous means everybody — and there, and only there, the s is pronounced.
In front of an adjective tout is an adverb and means quite or completely: il est tout content. As an adverb it does not agree — except in front of a feminine adjective beginning with a consonant: elle est toute contente.
même in front of the noun means the same: le même jour. After a noun or pronoun it means -self: moi-même, le jour même. In front of a word at the start it means even: même lui. English uses three unrelated words for those three jobs, so nothing carries over except the need to look at the position.
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