In front of the two, the word all functions as an indefinite adjective. It therefore agrees in gender and number with the noun group it determines: both in masculine plural, both in feminine plural. The spelling all the two or all the two is incorrect in all cases.
Both in a complex sentence: the ignored syntactic traps
Most errors do not occur in the isolated expression, but when it is embedded in a longer structure. The speaker then loses track of the agreement because a complement, a relative clause, or a coordination interposes between both and the verb.
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Let’s take a common case: “Both arrived late, they had to restart the discussion from the beginning.” Here, both is in detached apposition. The agreement is made with the masculine plural referent they. If the referent is feminine, we write both, even if the distance from the main verb is great.
The trap worsens with coordination. In “Marie and Sophie, both graduates in law and specialized in taxation, are involved in the case,” both agrees with the feminine plural subject, not with the following complement. The length of the parenthesis does not change the rule.
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Another problematic configuration: confusion with the pronoun. “I saw them both” works because both is in apposition to the direct object pronoun them (masculine plural). Replace with a feminine referent: “I saw them both.” We observe that the most common error is to fix both as an invariable block, without checking the gender of the group it refers to.
To master the agreement between both and both, simply trace back to the referent and identify its gender, regardless of the complexity of the sentence.
Adjective or adverb: the test that determines the agreement of all
When all means “entirely,” it is an adverb and remains invariable. When it means “the totality of” or “each of,” it is an adjective and agrees. In front of the two, it is always the adjectival function that operates.
The verification reflex is simple: mentally replace both with one and the other. If the substitution works, you are indeed dealing with an indefinite adjective that agrees. If you can replace it with entirely or completely, you are dealing with the adverb, and the agreement does not arise in the same way.
Concrete cases to distinguish adjective and adverb
- “They are both concerned” – both is an adjective, agreeing in feminine plural with they. It can be replaced by “one and the other.”
- “They are all surprised” – all is an adverb (means “entirely”). In front of a feminine adjective starting with a consonant, usage, however, imposes all: “They are all surprised.” This is a phonetic exception, not a logical agreement.
- “They understood everything, both” – the first everything is a pronoun (= “the totality”), the second both is an adjective agreeing in masculine plural.
This distinction is key to never confuse the usages. In front of the two, all is never an adverb.
Both or both: register and use in written French
The forms both and both, without an article, are grammatically correct and belong to a more formal register. They appear mainly in literary prose and legal or administrative texts.
In terms of agreement, the rule is the same: both for masculine or mixed, both for feminine. The absence of the article the does not change the agreement mechanism.
When to prefer one form over the other
In a professional email or report, both passes without difficulty. In an informal exchange, both remains the natural choice. We recommend not alternating the two forms in the same paragraph: the reader sees it as hesitation rather than stylistic variation.
A point often overlooked: in a sentence where both is the subject, the verb is plural. “Both are suitable for this position” is correct. The error would be to write “Both is suitable,” treating the expression as a collective singular.
Common errors with all in front of a plural determiner
The mistake all the two stems from a broader confusion: the word all in front of a plural determiner always takes a -s in masculine and -es in feminine. The rule applies beyond the two.
- “Every morning” and not “all the mornings”
- “Every week” and not “all the weeks”
- “Every three days” and not “all the three days”
- “Every two hours” and not “all the two hours” – here, the feminine is required because hours is feminine, even if two precedes it.
The last example deserves special attention. In “every two hours,” every agrees with hours, not with two. The numeral does not have its own gender; it is the noun that governs the agreement.
The mechanism is constant: identify the core noun of the group, check its gender, agree all accordingly. When the noun is absent and the two refers to a group already mentioned, it is the gender of that group that commands. The agreement of all never depends on the verb or the adjective that follows, but solely on the noun or pronoun it determines.
Remembering one thing is enough: in front of the two, all is an adjective, so it agrees. Masculine or mixed, we write both. Feminine, we write both. The rest – length of the sentence, presence of an apposition, multiple coordination – does not change this principle. It is enough to identify the referent.