bateaux

In a sentence

• Les bateaux naviguent sur le fleuve.

  The boats sail on the river.

  In this sentence, 'bateaux' is used as the plural form of 'bateau', meaning 'boats' in English, and refers to watercraft capable of sailing.

• Ces bateaux sont destinés à la pêche commerciale.

  These boats are intended for commercial fishing.

  Here, 'bateaux' again means 'boats' and is used to describe a specific group of vessels used for fishing.

• Il y avait tellement de bateaux au port qu'il était difficile de marcher sur le quai.

  There were so many boats at the port that it was difficult to walk on the dock.

  In this example, 'bateaux' is used to indicate a large number of boats docked in the harbor.