Less Is More with "Moins"

In our last lesson, we talked about the word plus (more) and how its different pronunciations affect its meaning. Now let’s take a look at the opposite of plus—moins (fewer, less)—which only has one pronunciation, but no fewer meanings!

Like plus, moins is an adverb of comparison, and can modify both adjectives and nouns. When it modifies an adjective, it’s usually followed by que to form the comparative phrase “less than.” In his video on French breakfast customs, Éric observes that cereal is less popular in France than it is in English-speaking countries:

Et puis les céréales, mais c'est moins

And then cereal, but that's less

commun que chez vous,

common than where you come from,

qu'aux États-Unis, qu'en Angleterre.

than in the United States, than in England.

Captions 37-38, Arles - Le petit déjeuner
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When modifying a noun, moins is usually followed by de:

Il y a moins de bêtes à chasser.

There are fewer animals to hunt.

Caption 9, Il était une fois: Les Amériques - 1. Les premiers Américains
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You can even make moins a noun by putting le in front of it, in which case it means “the least”:

C’est le moins que je puisse faire.

That’s the least that I can do.

When you put an adjective after le moins, the adjective becomes superlative:

C'est le livre le moins cher

This is the cheapest book,

et presque tous les éditeurs ont une collection de poche.

and almost all publishers have a paperback collection.

Caption 36, Manon et Clémentine - Vocabulaire du livre
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Moins is also the basis for several common expressions. There’s the phrase à moins que (unless), which Adonis uses when singing about what he believes is the only acceptable reason for cutting down trees:

À moins que ce soit pour faire

Unless it's to make

Mes jolis calendriers

My pretty calendars

Captions 4-5, Nouveaux Talents? - Adonis chante
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Try not to confuse à moins que with au moins, which means “at least”:

Tout le monde connaît le Père Noël,

Everybody knows Santa Claus,

tout le monde lui a écrit au moins une fois...

everybody's written him at least once...

Caption 3, Télé Miroir - Adresse postale du Père Noël
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Finally, there’s de moins en moins (“fewer and fewer” or “less and less”):

Ça peut aider aussi à sauver les animaux,

That can also help save animals

à ce qu'ils soient de moins en moins abandonnés.

so that fewer and fewer are abandoned.

Caption 12, Grand Lille TV - Des photos contre l'abandon des animaux
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Since moins is a quantitative word like plus, it makes sense that it can be used with numbers as well. You’ll hear it the most often as a number modifier in expressions involving temperature, time, and basic arithmetic:

Et voilà, me voilà parée pour, sortir par,

And there we have it, here I am dressed to go out in

moins zéro, moins quinze degrés.

below zero, negative fifteen degrees.

Caption 14, Fanny parle des saisons - S'habiller en hiver
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Il est dix heures moins le quart.

It’s a quarter to ten.

Deux plus cinq moins trois égale quatre.

Two plus five minus three equals four.

We hope you are plus ou moins satisfait(e) (more or less satisfied) with our presentation of plus and moins! And for any math whizzes out there, here’s an informative article on French math vocabulary beyond addition and subtraction. Why not try learning (or relearning) geometry in French?

Topics Vocabulary