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When a friend of mine asked why so many contractors worked in Dubai, I replied by saying (approximately):

À Dubai, on a plus d'argent.

Meaning to say that one can earn more money in Dubai. I pronounced the "plus" in this phrase: /ply/ (rhymes with "stew" in English). My friend looked puzzled and after a while said:

Tu veux dire, on a plus d'argent!

At least, that's what it sounded like to me. Except he pronounced the 's' in "plus": /plys/ (rhymes with "juice" in English).

I thought the sounding of the 's' was optional. Clearly I'm wrong! :) Can someone please explain the difference between /ply/ and /plys/?

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    Note also that "We don't have any money anymore" would also be written differently: "On n'a plus d'argent" and not "On a plus d'argent".
    – raphink
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 8:17
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    @alpian, exact. Otherwise you would probably be misunderstood.
    – Stéphane Gimenez
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 8:39
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    @Raphink: Note that this is not necessarily true in highly informal contexts. In a chat room, "on a plus d'argent" is perfectly ambiguous because it could just as well mean "on n'a plus d'argent" !
    – Brennan Vincent
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 14:34
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    This may be irrelevant, since your concern is about the 's', but HOW is /ply/ supposed to rhyme with 'stew' (/stu/) or /plys/ with 'juice' (/dʒuːs/) ?
    – Sascha Rambeaud
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 12:05
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    @SaschaRambeaud Because native English speakers often can't initially hear or pronounce the difference between /y/ and /u/ in French pronunciation. :)
    – Sean W.
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 20:03

5 Answers 5

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Il y a trois mots qui s'écrivent « plus ».

  1. Une particule négative, utilisée pour nier quelque chose qui était vrai dans le passé mais ne l'est pas maintenant.

    Je n'ai plus d'argent, je suis ruiné. (I have no more money, I'm ruined.)

    On ne prononce jamais le s (donc : [ply]), sauf pour faire la liaison ([plyz]).

    Je ne suis plus aussi rapide qu'avant. (lit. I am no longer as quick as before., trad. I am not as quick as I used to be) […plyzosi…]

    Comme avec les autres particules négatives, on peut omettre la particule ne en langage familier. Dans des contextes informels, plus dans ce sens est quelquefois prononcé py.

    J'ai plus [py] d'argent, j'suis [ʃɥi] fauché. (I have no more money, I'm skint.)

  2. Un adverbe (et nom) qui signale une addition. Il y a plusieurs sous-cas.

    • Lorsque « plus » est un adverbe, on ne prononce en principe pas le s : [ply], sauf encore pour faire la liaison ([plyz]). Toutefois, lorsqu'il y a un risque de confusion, on prononce le s sourd ([plys]). C'est justement le cas dans ton exemple : « On a plus d'argent » (« we have more money ») serait indistinguable à l'oral de « on n'a plus d'argent » qui a le sens exactement opposé, donc on dit [ɔ̃naplysdargɑ̃]. On prononce aussi souvent le s sourd en fin de phrase ou de groupe de mots suffisamment autonome : « de plus en plus » (« more and more ») [dəplyzɑ̃plys].

    • « Plus » sert en particulier à former un comparatif ou un superlatif.

      Il est plus grand que moi. (He is taller than me.)
      L'Everest est la montagne la plus haute. (Mount Everest is the tallest mountain.)

      On prononce rarement le s (hors liaison), mais ça peut arriver pour insister lorsqu'on pense qu'il y a un risque de confusion.

    • Dans un usage mathématique, on prononce le s sourd. « Deux plus deux » (« two and two ») [døplysdø].

    • Lorsque « plus » est un nom, on prononce le s sourd.

      Qui peut le plus peut le moins. (proverbe, lit. « Who can do the most can do the least ») [kipøləplyspøləmwɛ̃]
      D'autant plus que ... (all the more as …) [dotɑ̃plyskə]

  3. Une forme conjuguée du verbe « plaire » (passé simple). On ne prononce pas le s (sauf liaison).

There are three words in French which are spelled plus. The first two form a duality which is similar to the English more.

  1. A negative particle (to go with ne except in colloquial speech, like any other negation). “Ne … plus” indicates that something is no longer true, i.e. that it is not true now but by implication it was true at some point in the past.

    Je n'ai plus d'argent, je suis ruiné. (I have no more money, I'm ruined.)

    The s is always silent (thus [ply]) except when a liaison is required, in which case the word is pronounced [ply.z].

    Je ne suis plus aussi rapide qu'avant. (lit. I am no longer as quick as before., idiomatically I am not as quick as I used to be) […plyzosi…].

    In colloquial speech, in addition to omitting ne (which is very common), the [l] sound is sometimes skipped.

    J'ai plus [py] d'argent, j'suis [ʃɥi] fauché. (I have no more money, I'm skint.)

  2. An adverb (and occasional noun) which denotes an addition, There are several sub-cases.

    • When plus is an adverb, the s is generally silent: [ply], except as before for a liaison ([plyz]). However, when there is a potential confusion, the s is sounded, always voicelessly ([plys]). Your example falls squarely into this case: “on a plus d'argent” (“we have more money”) would be indistinguishable from “on n'a plus d'argent” which has the opposite meaning, hence it would be pronounced [ɔ̃naplysdargɑ̃]. The voiceless s is also usually sounded at the end of a sentence or sufficiently autonomous phrase, such as “de plus en plus” (“more and more”) [dəplyzɑ̃plys].

    • The adverb plus can in particular be used to indicate a comparative or a superlative.

      Il est plus grand que moi. (He is taller than me.)
      L'Everest est la montagne la plus haute. (Mount Everest is the tallest mountain.)

      In this case, the s is rarely sounded (liaisons excepted), but it can happen when the speaker fears that there is a risk of confusion and wishes to insist.

    • In mathematical usage, the s is always voiceless, never silent.

      Deux plus deux (two and two) [døplysdø]

    • When plus is a noun, the s is always voiceless, never silent.

      Qui peut le plus peut le moins. (proverb, lit. Who can do the most can do the least) [kipøləplyspøləmwɛ̃]
      D'autant plus que ... (all the more as …) [dotɑ̃plyskə]

  3. The simple past (second or third person singular) of the verb plaire. The s is always silent (except in a liaison).

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  • Id say "I have no money left" instead of "no more money" which sounds awkward to me).
    – Knu
    Commented Aug 27, 2013 at 17:59
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    (For non native speakers: note that in the spoken language, the "ne" is omitted more often than not. So pronouncing plus wrong will cause speakers to hear the opposite of what you intend, as happened to the OP.)
    – hunter
    Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 22:43
  • Not sure if @ tags work cross-answer, so @Gille can you respond to my comment on the answer below this? I am confused by the answers being contradictory yet both having a large number of upvotes.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 16:49
  • @Aerovistae Cédric's answer isn't contradictory. It doesn't discuss all the cases, only the two main ones: my 1 = no more → silent, my 2 = more → sometimes sounded.
    – Gilles 'SO nous est hostile'
    Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 17:18
  • « Je ne suis plus aussi rapide qu'avant. » Notons que la liaison est ici facultative, car il n’y a pas d’ambiguïté sur la nature du mot… Les cas difficiles entre "plus" et "plus" apparaissent justement à l’écrit, car on ne peut pas différencier avec une liaison… À tel point qu’on peut rencontrer le caractère '+' pour lever toute ambiguïté dans une phrase.
    – Stéphane
    Commented Aug 12, 2016 at 21:33
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In a short way :

  • you pronounce the 's' when "plus" means more.
  • you don't pronounce the 's' when "plus" means no more.
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    Yet you don't pronounce it in "pas plus tard qu'hier"
    – Joubarc
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 8:23
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    (+1) Thanks! This is a great and simple explanation for an easy concept that has always puzzled me!
    – alpian
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 8:25
  • This at odds with @Gille 's answer, whose #2 bullet suggests your first rule is not correct.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 16:48
  • @Aerovistae I just tried to make a simple answer with general rules and that was related to the OP, Gilles's answer is much more detailled and explain many other cases, but not clearly contradictory
    – Cédric Julien
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 16:48
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The 's' pronunciation can help to make the difference between the "plus" used a as negation (/ply/)

"Je n'ai plus d'argent" =~ "Je n'ai pas d'argent"

"I have no more money" =~ "I have no money"

"Je ne fais plus cela" =~ "Je ne fais pas cela"

"I don't do this anymore" =~ "I do not do this"

The /plys/ version is used to refer to the additive operator +.

"J'ai plus d'argent que toi" ~ "I have more money than you"

"Je n'ai pas plus d'argent que toi" ~ "I do not have more money than you"

"Je n'ai pas plus d'information pour toi" ~ "I have no more(additional) information for you"

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  • (+1) Thanks for the detailed explanation and examples - I think I get it now! :)
    – alpian
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 8:25
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You pronounce the 's' when is the notion of additional amount, addition, supplement, more.

You don't pronounce the 's' when is a concept of quantity, but reduced to zero, nothing, or no more.

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  • Thank you for your answer! I mostly just wanted to give Gilles a bounty for a really magnificent explanation up top there, but this is a solid answer too.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 9:28
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You'll also want to pay attention to the [plyz] pronunciation when plus is followed by a vowel.

See http://www.lepointdufle.net/ressources_fle/plus.htm for more information and exercises. Notice exercises 7 and 8 are very close to your example.

Funnily enough, the cnrtl doesn't seem to list any other pronunciation than [ply]

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