Toute

Tout, toute, tous, et toutes are forms of a basic French determiner and pronoun used to express totality or inclusivity. The masculine singular is tout; the feminine singular is toute; the masculine plural is tous; the feminine plural is toutes. As a general rule, these forms agree with the noun they modify in gender and number, though the phrase tout le monde is a fixed expression meaning “everyone.”

As a determiner, tout indicates the entirety of a quantity or group before a noun: tout le monde (everyone), tout le temps (all the time), toute la journée (the whole day), toutes les fleurs (all the flowers). It can also emphasize inclusivity, as in tout le monde est invité (everyone is invited). In combinations with nouns, tout can appear before masculine singular nouns even when the following noun is definite, with la/les providing the gender agreement.

As a pronoun, tout can stand for “everything” or “all of them”: J’ai tout compris (I understood everything). Il a donné tout ce qu’il avait (he gave everything he had). The feminine forms are used when referring to feminine nouns or groups, e.g., Toutes sont d’accord (All of them (fem.) agree).

Common phrases and related usage include tout à fait (completely), tout de suite (right away), and toutefois (however), the latter being a fixed adverbial word historically derived from tout foi rather than a simple combination of tout plus fois.

Etymology traces tout/toute/tous/toutes to Latin totus, meaning entire. The set remains a core resource for expressing totality, emphasis, and inclusivity in French grammar.