vaches
The French word for cows is vaches.
vaches is the most common and general term for a cow in French. While vaches refers to the animals themselves, you may encounter more technical terms in specific contexts: bovin is used in scientific or technical settings to refer to the bovine species, l'industrie bovine refers to the cattle industry and cheptel bovin refers to a cattle herd.
How does it change in a sentence?
To form the plural, an -s is added to the singular form. When referring to the cows specifically with a definite article, use les vaches.
Did you know?
- The phrase vachement is used as an intensifier meaning 'very' or 'extremely', such as c'est vachement bon for 'it is really good'.
- Calling someone une vache is a common French insult used to describe a person who is mean, stingy or unpleasant.
- A 'vache maigre', which translates literally to 'thin cow', is a common idiom used to describe a 'lean year' or a period of extreme financial hardship.
Examples in context
- Tom a trois vaches.Tom has three cows.This sentence shows how to express the possession of three vaches.Tatoeba #5434201 by alexisslay, translation #5433877 by CK
- Il possède dix vaches.He has ten cows.This sentence is useful for expressing the possession of ten vaches.Tatoeba #131832 by Julien_PDC, translation #295256 by CK
- Les vaches ont des pis.Cows have udders.This sentence describes a physical characteristic of vaches.Tatoeba #1744391 by sacredceltic, translation #1739386 by Amastan
- Les vaches sont des animaux herbivores.Cows are herbivorous animals.
- La vachette est si mignonneThe little cow is so cute
- une grande vacheA big cow
- 85 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Chloé and Nathan are visiting a farm.
- ChloéRegarde toutes ces vaches !Look at all those cows!
- NathanElles sont vraiment belles.They are really beautiful.
- ChloéEst-ce que les vaches produisent du lait ?Do the cows produce milk?
- NathanOui, elles le font chaque matin.Yes, they do it every morning.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry vaches, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
