difference between touts and tous

poisonated

Hi i was wondering if anyine could please tell me the difference between touts and tous?
thanks

TMoreno

It depends on the context. Tout can be a pronoun, a noun, an adjectiv or an adverb. Given the context, you can have tout, tous, toute, toutes or touts.
"Tous" means "all" and "touts" means several "totalities"
As a pronoun it means: all, everything, anything
As a noun it means: whole, totality
As an adjectiv it means: all, every, any
As an adverb it means: very, quite, while, although

If "tout" is an adverb it never agrees with a noun.
e.g. Elle est habillée tout de rouge = she's dressed in all red.
Exceptions:
It agrees with a feminine adjectiv starting with a consonnant or with an aspired "h"
e.g. Une expression toute faite = a stock expression
Tout agrees when it's a noun, a pronoun or an adjectiv.
e.g. Toutes sont agréables à regarder = all are pleasant looking. (Toutes in this case is a feminine and plural pronoun)

Sources:
Wordreference.com:
http://www.wordreference.com/fren/tout

Francaisfacile.com :
http://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-18115.php
There are online exercices if you want try...

LilOc

"Touts" is very rarely used though so if it's in an oral context don't bother with it.

We would say it more in the singular (and even then it's quite formal). Like "C'est un tout." "C'est le tout qu'il faut regarder" = "It's a whole"; "have to looke at the whole (picture)".

Hope that helped.