French Adjectives - Les Adjectifs

Introduction to adjectives | Position of adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. Adjectives can describe shape, color, size, and many other things about a noun.

French adjectives are very different from English adjectives, for two main reasons.

1.

In English, adjectives are always found in front of the noun, but most French adjectives follow the noun they modify (although the placement of French adjectives depends on the meaning of that particular adjective - learn more).

2.

French adjectives change to agree in gender and number with the nouns that they modify. This means that there can be up to four forms of each adjective: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. Some very irregular adjectives even have different forms depending on whether the noun that follows them begins with a vowel or a consonant. But not to worry, we'll go over everything right here. If you've studied the noun lesson, some of these rules will look familar to you.

I. Most adjectives add an e for feminine and an s for plural:
singular plural
masc vert verts
fem verte vertes

This rule applies to adjectives that end in most consonants as well as those that end with é.



II. When the unmodified adjective ends in e, there is no difference between the masculine and feminine forms:
singular plural
masc rouge rouges
fem rouge rouges



III. When the unmodified adjective ends in s or x, there is no difference between the singular and plural masculine forms:
singular plural
masc gris gris
fem grise grises



IV. Irregular gender patterns:
Ending masc fem
-eux heureux heureuse
-eur flatteur flatteuse
-f naïf naïve
-er cher chère
-il
-el
-ul gentil
actuel
nul gentille
actuelle
nulle
-en canadien canadienne
-on bon bonne
-et complet complète



V. Irregular plural patterns:
Ending masc sing masc plural
-eau beau beaux
-al idéal idéaux



VI. Completely irregular:

There are several French adjectives which have irregular feminine and plural forms, as well as a special form when they are placed in front of a masculine noun that begins with a vowel or a mute h (learn more).

SINGULAR PLURAL
Adjective masc vowel fem masc fem
beautiful beau bel belle beaux belles
new nouveau nouvel nouvelle nouveaux nouvelles
crazy fou fol folle fous folles
soft mou mol molle mous molles
old vieux vieil vieille vieux vieilles

Oui, c'est tres bien