French - Adjectives

In French, an adjective (un adjectif) is a word that describes or modifies a noun. The most important rule to remember is that French adjectives must agree in both gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they are describing.

This concept of agreement is the biggest difference from English, where adjectives never change (e.g., "a blue car," "blue cars").

The Rule of Agreement: Gender and Number

An adjective's spelling changes to match the noun. Think of it as having up to four different forms.

Let's take the adjective "petit" (small):

• Masculine Singular: petit (e.g., un petit garçon - a small boy)
• Feminine Singular: petite (e.g., une petite fille - a small girl)
• Masculine Plural: petits (e.g., des petits garçons - small boys)
• Feminine Plural: petites (e.g., des petites filles - small girls)

How to Form Feminine and Plural Adjectives:

• To make an adjective feminine: The most common rule is to add an -e to the masculine singular form.
  • grand (tall/big) → grande
  • vert (green) → verte
  • If the masculine form already ends in -e, it does not change in the feminine form (e.g., jeune - young).
• To make an adjective plural: The most common rule is to add an -s to the singular form (both masculine and feminine).
  • petit → petits
  • grande → grandes
  • If the singular form already ends in -s or -x, it does not change in the plural form (e.g., gris - gray, vieux - old).

What if an adjective describes multiple nouns? If an adjective describes a group of nouns with mixed genders, the masculine plural form is always used.

• un garçon et une fille → Ils sont intelligents. (A boy and a girl → They are intelligent.)

The Position of Adjectives

Unlike English, where adjectives almost always come before the noun, in French, they usually come after the noun.

• une voiture rouge (a red car)
• une histoire intéressante (an interesting story)
• un livre bleu (a blue book)

Adjectives That Come BEFORE the Noun (BANGS):

A small but very common group of adjectives are placed before the noun. A helpful acronym for these is BANGS:

• Beauty: beau (beautiful/handsome), joli (pretty)
  • un beau garçon (a handsome boy)
• Age: jeune (young), vieux (old), nouveau (new)
  • une jeune fille (a young girl)
• Number: premier (first), deuxième (second), trois (three), etc.
  • le premier jour (the first day)
• Goodness (or badness): bon (good), mauvais (bad)
  • un bon repas (a good meal)
• Size: grand (big/tall), petit (small), gros (fat/big)
  • une grande maison (a big house)

Irregular Adjective Forms

Many common adjectives have irregular feminine or plural forms that you need to memorize.

Examples of Irregular Feminine Forms:

• Adjectives ending in -eux change to -euse.
  • heureux (happy) → heureuse
• Adjectives ending in -f change to -ve.
  • actif (active) → active
• Adjectives ending in -c change to -che.
  • blanc (white) → blanche
• Adjectives ending in -en, -on, -el, -eil, -ul often double the final consonant before adding -e.
  • bon (good) → bonne
  • gentil (kind) → gentille

Completely Irregular Adjectives:

Some of the most common "BANGS" adjectives have highly irregular forms. For example, beau (beautiful), nouveau (new), and vieux (old) have a special form used before a masculine noun that starts with a vowel or silent 'h'.

Adjective	Masculine Singular (before consonant)	Masculine Singular (before vowel)	Feminine Singular	Masculine Plural	Feminine Plural
Beautiful	beau	bel	belle	beaux	belles
New	nouveau	nouvel	nouvelle	nouveaux	nouvelles
Old	vieux	vieil	vieille	vieux	vieilles

Examples:

• un beau garçon (a handsome boy)
• un bel homme (a handsome man)
• une belle femme (a beautiful woman)

Adjectives That Change Meaning with Position

A few adjectives can change their meaning depending on whether they are placed before or after the noun. The meaning before the noun is often more figurative, while the meaning after is more literal.

• ancien:
  • un château ancien (an ancient castle - literal)
  • mon ancien professeur (my former professor - figurative)
• cher:
  • une voiture chère (an expensive car - literal)
  • mon cher ami (my dear friend - figurative)
• propre:
  • une chambre propre (a clean room - literal)
  • ma propre chambre (my own room - figurative)