ADJECTIVE / L’ADJECTIF

Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns.French adjectives agree in gender and number with words they modify.

 

GENDER / LE GENRE

Most adjectives form their feminine form by adding-eto their masculineform.

Rules of thumbfor some common exceptions:

Masculine Ending		Feminine Ending		Example
*majority*		add-e		constant → constante
-e		-e		probe → probe
-x		-se		aventureux → aventureuse
-er		- ère		cher → chère
-f		-ve		vif → vive
-c		-que		public → publique
-g		-gue		long → longue
-teur		-trice		consolateur → consolatrice
-eur		-eure -euse		meilleur → meilleure rêveur → rêveuse
-l -n -s		-lle -nne -sse		gentil → gentille bon → bonne gros → grosse
-et		-ette -ète		coquet → coquette complet → complète

1. Common irregular forms: blanc → blanche, franc → franche, sec → sèche, doux → douce, faux → fausse, favori + favorite, malin → maligne.

2. Five common adjectives change their masculine singular form before a vowel (or muteh-): beau → bel, fou → fol, mou → mol, nouveau → nouvel, vieux → vieil.They form the feminine singular from their prevowel forms: belle, folle, molle, nouvelle, vieille;they form two plural forms only: le beau mec, le bel homme, le bel enfant, la belle fille, les beaux enfants, les belles filles.

 

NUMBER / LE NOMBRE

Most adjectives form the plural by adding-sto their singular form: un esprit vif → des esprits vifs, une personne gentille → des personnes gentilles.

1. Common exceptions for masculine plurals are similar to those for nouns:

   1. However, some adjectives ending in-alform the plural by adding-s: banal, fatal, final, naval.

Masculine singular ending		Masculine plural ending		Example
-s -x		no change		gris → gris courageux → courageux
-eau		-eaux		nouveau → nouveaux
-al		-aux		loyal → loyaux

 

POSITION IN SENTENCE

The vast majority of adjectives follow the noun they modify. However...

1. Adjectives of beauty, age, number, goodness, and size get placed in front of the noun: beau, bon, court, gentil, grand, gros, jeune, joli, long, mauvais, nouveau, petit,vieux, vilain, and others.

2. Adjectives can be placed before the noun for emphasis: les féroces soldats

3. Some common adjectives can either precede or follow the noun and change meaning according to position.When used before the noun, the adjective has the more"abstract" meaning, un ancien ami(a former friend)/ une église ancienne(an old church), brave(good; honest/courageous), certain(particular / inevitable), cher(dear / expensive) grand(important / tail), pauvre(pitiable / penniless), propre(own / clean), seul(sole / on one's own), dernier(last in series /previous to this one), simple(just a / unadorned), sale (nasty / dirty).

4. Connect multiple adjectives on one side of the nounwith et: un grand diplomat allemand, un long et joli chemin, une fille intelligente etsouriante.