On the exam there is almost always a question that involves tout/tous/toute/toutes meaning “everything,” “all,” “all of something,” or “all of them” and is used in several different, confusing ways. This aide memoire will outline the differences and tricks the exam writers use to confuse you.

First, tout as a pronoun or in an expression used by itself means “everything” or “all”.  It doesn’t change for gender or singular or plural.  For example, “Tout va bien”.  In this case there is no je, tu, il/elle, etc., just tout.

However, if tout is used as a pronoun to replace something else (e.g., another pronoun or subject—we’ll show you what this means in a second), then it changes to match the gender and plural and this is a trick that does surface on the exam.

For example, All the members received a book./ Tous les membres ont reçu un livre.  Note in this case that Tous (for plural members) is used.  In this case we also pronounce the ‘s’.  If all the members were women, then Toutes would be used.

Second tout can be used as an adverb (a word that describes a verb or other words).  It is used in some expressions like straight ahead “tout droit/straight ahead”—the literal translation would be “all straight”.

Other examples include:  Il est resté à tout jamais/ It has remained forever.  En tout temps/at any time—one of the terms on the required vocabulary list.

Third, we have tout as an adjective (a word that gives an attribute or describes something).  In this form, we adjust the word to one of the four forms here:

1. Tout (masculine singular) –pronounced “too”
2. Toute (feminine singular) –pronounced “toot”
3. Tous (masculine plural) – pronounced “too”
4. Toutes (feminine plural) — pronounced “toot”

These meanings are “all,” “any,” or “every.”  Here are some examples:

J’écris une lettre tous les jours./ I write a letter every day.  Note in this example that every day is masculine and plural, unlike in English.  This is a trick used by exam creators.  Another way to think of this is “I write letters on all days,” which would be a literal translation.  Note in this usage, we say “too” vice “toos”.

If we switched days to weeks, weeks is feminine so it becomes “toutes les semaines”.

Fourth, tout pairs with a preposition such as à or de (e.g., tout à fait/absolutely).  It doesn’t change for gender or plurality.

Fifth, tout pairs with an adjective and means “very” or “completely”.  This one is tricky and not seen often on the exam.  If it does appear, it will be on the most advanced part of the exam for mid C level and up scores and is likely to be seen on the reading comprehension exam but will play a role of low significance.  For example, “Mes amis étaient tout heureux de la voir/ My friends were very happy to see her. ”

Finally, if “le tout” is seen, then this means “the whole bunch/lot/group/thing” and doesn’t change.  For example: Le tout était une question de politique publique./ It was all a matter of public policy.  Le tout as in “it was all” doesn’t change gender or plurality.  This usage isn’t popular and probably won’t be seen on the test.

In this case, tout changes with the masculine and feminine except for words that start with a vowel or silent h.

We won’t get into the following explanation in detail as it is unlikely to appear on the exams and can be avoided on the oral exam.  But, tout/tous etc. can be an indefinite pronoun (replacing a bunch of people as in Ils sont tous d’être ici/They are all happy to be here) or an adverb (Ils sont tous heureux d’être ici./They are all happy to be here) and the pronunciation changes between them with tous being pronounced “toos” for an indefinite pronoun and “too” when an adverb.

For a more detailed explanation see this link (it is not associated with us, but is a good video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05f5LB0MzHU