Plurals: les, des and silent s
Tests: 6 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 5 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 26 of the french course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
Your mate goes, "Bruv, you can't even hear the s, so why bother writing it?" What's the answer?
- 1. The s is said loudly in posh French — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 2. Spelling still needs it, and les tells the ear it's plural — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The s is only written on Mondays — score 4
- 4. He's right, French people never write it — score 1
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 26, line 11: «Before a vowel the silent s of les and des is said as z: les enfants ("lay-zahn-FAHN"), des oranges.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «say» (+2); the same thing acted on «silent s» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · right ✓
Ava from Cork says, "Sure des is just 'some' with a posh hat, I can leave it out." Can she?
- 1. No, French keeps des where English drops "some" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 2. Yes, French drops des like English — no support
- 3. No, but only in questions — no support
- 4. Yes, des is just for posh people — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 7: «Des is the plural of un and une: un livre, des livres; une pomme, des pommes. French keeps des where English often says nothing.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+3); the same thing acted on «des» (+3); the same doer «french» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
★ Why do bateau, oiseau and jeu all end in x in the plural?
- 1. It's a random spelling mistake — no support
- 2. They are all masculine words — no support
- 3. Words ending in -eau and -eu take x — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. They are all things that move fast — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 16: «In des jeux vidéo, jeu takes x and vidéo usually stays without s.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «take» (+2); the same thing acted on «x» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different. What changed?
- 1. Nothing, they sound the same — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The s at the end is now said aloud — no support
- 3. -al became -aux, said "oh" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. The word got a new, feminine gender — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · right ✓
Gran from Somerset reads "les souris" and goes, "Proper job, but where's the s, my lover? Should be les souriss." What is true?
- 1. She's right, you add another s — no support
- 2. Souris already ends in s, so it doesn't change — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. It should be les sourix — no support
- 4. It should be les souriz — no support
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 10: «Nouns already ending in s, x or z do not change: le nez, les nez; la souris, les souris; le prix, les prix.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «end» (+2); the same place «s» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗
A cartoon pirate shouts "J'ai deux œils !" What should he shout?
- 1. J'ai deux œils ! — ← Mova's choice · score 10
- 2. J'ai deux yeuxs ! — score 8
- 3. J'ai deux œilx ! — no support
- 4. J'ai deux yeux ! — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 26, line 7: «Des is the plural of un and une: un livre, des livres; une pomme, des pommes. French keeps des where English often says nothing.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same thing acted on «plural» (+4). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
★★★ How many of these plurals are spelled right? les chevaux, les gâteaus, les nez, les jeux, les animals
- 1. Two — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Three — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Five — no support
- 4. Four — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
What would happen if a French child read "les amis" with no z sound?
- 1. It would sound choppy, but people would understand — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Nobody would notice, there's never a z sound — no support
- 3. It would mean only one friend — no support
- 4. It would mean "the enemies" — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
★ Kai from Auckland writes "Je n'ai pas des frères." His mate says, "Yeah nah, sounds sweet as." (yeah nah = no) Fix it.
- 1. Je n'ai pas les frères — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Je n'ai pas de frères — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Je n'ai pas des frère — no support
- 4. Je n'ai des frères pas — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · right ✓
★★★ Every word must agree. Which sentence is all right?
- 1. Les chats noirs sont dans les jardins — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Le chats noirs sont dans les jardin — no support
- 3. Les chats noirs est dans les jardins — no support
- 4. Les chats noir sont dans les jardins — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
Your cousin texts "les chevals sont trop mignons lol" (mignons = cute). What's wrong?
- 1. It should be chevaux: -al becomes -aux — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It should be cheveaux with an e — no support
- 3. It should be les cheval, no s — no support
- 4. Nothing, chevals is right — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the plural form of the noun "gâteau" in accordance with the rules of French orthography.
- 1. gâteaus — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. gâtaux — no support
- 3. gâteauxs — no support
- 4. gâteaux — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the plural form corresponding to the singular noun "œil".
- 1. œils — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. œiles — no support
- 3. œilx — no support
- 4. yeux — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Determine the form assumed by the article des subsequent to the negative particle pas.
- 1. de — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. les — no support
- 3. aucun — no support
- 4. des — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
State the manner in which the final consonant of "les" is pronounced when it precedes a word commencing with a vowel.
- 1. As the sound t, sharply — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It remains entirely silent — no support
- 3. As the sound s, as in English — no support
- 4. As the sound z — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/