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nounnounadjective

le personnel

staff

Ce sont les gens qui travaillent dans une entreprise ou une organisation.

Definition & meaning

Personnel has two main uses:

  • Adjective: personal, private, or relating to a particular person. It can also mean “individual” or “one’s own.”
  • Masculine noun: staff or personnel—the people employed by an organization.

Grammar & Word origin

  • As an adjective, personnel has the feminine form personnelle , and the plural forms personnels and personnelles .
  • As a noun, it is generally singular in form but refers collectively to a group of employees.
  • It comes from Latin personalis, meaning “relating to a person.”

Synonyms & antonyms

  • individuel — “individual”; emphasizes a single person rather than a group.
  • privé — “private”; emphasizes confidentiality or the distinction from public life.
  • collectif — “collective”; an antonym when personnel means individual rather than shared.
  • employés — “employees”; refers to the people themselves, whereas the noun personnel presents them as a collective.

Common phrases & collocations

  • affaires personnelles — personal belongings or personal matters
  • opinion personnelle — personal opinion
  • le personnel de l’entreprise — the company’s staff
  • personnel soignant — healthcare staff

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Examples

Le personnel travaille dans le bureau.noun

The staff works in the office.

Notre personnel aide toujours les clients avec le sourire.noun

Our staff always helps customers with a smile.

Le personnel a organisé une réunion importante ce matin.noun

The staff organized an important meeting this morning.

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