Essential French Grammar (2012)
Adjectives
Agreement of Adjectives with Nouns
In French, adjectives agree in gender and in number with the nouns which they accompany. This is somewhat more complicated than in English where adjectives are invariable.
A French masculine singular noun requires the masculine singular form of all adjectives, and feminine plural nouns require feminine plural adjectives. Therefore, French adjectives have four forms—masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.
How to Form Feminine Singular Adjectives
The feminine singular adjective is normally formed by adding -e to the masculine singular form, unless the masculine singular form already ends in a silent -e, in which case the feminine singular form is identical to it.
In the examples, masculine adjectives are shown accompanying masculine nouns, and feminine adjectives agreeing with feminine nouns.
MASC. SING. |
FEM. SING. |
un grand pays |
une grande nation |
(a great country) |
(a great nation) |
un livre vert |
une robe verte |
(a green book) |
(a green dress) |
un jeune homme |
une jeune fille |
(a young man) |
(a girl) |
un garçon triste |
une histoire triste |
(a sad boy) |
(a sad story) |
Common Exceptions
Irregular Adjectives
The irregular feminine forms of the following common adjectives should be memorized:
MASC. SING. |
FEM. SING. |
ENG. MEANING |
blanc |
blanche |
(white) |
bon |
bonne |
(good) |
doux |
douce |
(sweet) |
faux |
fausse |
(false) |
frais |
fraîche |
(fresh) |
sec |
sèche |
(dry) |
The following three adjectives, in addition to having irregular feminine forms, also have a secondary masculine form which is used before a masculine noun which begins with a vowel or a silent h. These adjectives are among the most common in the language and should be memorized.
Plurals of Adjectives
Most French adjectives form their plural similarly to the way in which noun plurals are formed, that is, by adding -s to the singular form.
MASC. SING. |
MASC. PL. |
le grand boulevard |
les grands boulevards |
(the great boulevard) |
(the great boulevards) |
le chapeau vert |
les chapeaux verts |
(the green hat) |
(the green hats) |
FEM. SING. |
FEM. PL. |
la grande nation |
les grandes nations |
(the great nation) |
(the great nations) |
la robe verte |
les robes vertes |
(the green dress) |
(the green dresses) |
Common Exceptions
1. If the masculine singular form ends in -s or -x, there is no change in the masculine plural.
MASC. SING. |
MASC. PL. |
un chapeau gris |
deux chapeaux gris |
(a gray hat) |
(two gray hats) |
Il est vieux. |
Ils sont vieux. |
(He is old.) |
(They are old.) |
2. Adjectives ending in -eau form their masculine plural by adding -x.
MASC. SING. |
MASC. PL. |
le beau jour |
les beaux jours |
(the beautiful day) |
(the beautiful days) |
un nouveau train |
deux nouveaux trains |
(a new train) |
(two new trains) |
Placement of Adjectives
French descriptive adjectives normally follow the nouns they modify. Note that this is contrary to normal English usage.
un restaurant français |
une langue difficile |
(a French restaurant) |
(a difficult language) |
les pays importants |
les robes bleues |
(the important countries) |
(the blue dresses) |
The following is a list of common French adjectives which normally precede the nouns they modify. As they are very frequently used, one should become familiar with all their forms and with their correct position in the sentence. You will note that we have already studied the various forms of most of them.2
Examples:
un beau village |
une longue histoire |
(a beautiful village) |
(a long story) |
une bonne amie |
le mauvais temps |
(a good friend (fem.)) |
(the bad weather) |
les chères tantes |
mon meilleur ami |
(the dear aunts) |
(my best friend) |
les gentils garçons |
les nouveaux livres |
(the nice boys) |
(the new books) |
un grand parc |
le petit café |
(a large park) |
(the little café) |
les jeunes sœurs |
une vieille voiture |
(the young sisters) |
(an old car) |
une jolie robe |
|
(a pretty dress) |