Basics of French Adjectives

In this post we’ll learn the basics of French adjectives. First, we’ll learn about the concept of adjective agreement, and we’ll start with regular French adjectives, which have four forms. Then we’ll learn about adjectives that end with –e. After that, we’ll turn to adjectives that end with –s. After that we’ll see some adjectives that double their final consonants. Next, we’ll see adjectives in –eux. Finally, we’ll learn a few important irregular adjectives. (If you’re familiar with the basics, you can learn more about French adjectives in this post.)

Adjective Agreement

French adjectives change form to agree with the person or thing that they describe. They change according to gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural), so adjectives have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. Sometimes those forms are spelled and pronounced the same, or often spelled differently but pronounced alike.

Regular Adjectives

First, let’s look at regular French adjectives. With most adjectives in French, you just add –e to the masculine singular to form the feminine singular. And then you add –s to both of those to form the plurals: –, -e, -s, -es. (The adjectives below are in the order masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, feminine plural.)

• big, tall: grand, grande, grands, grandes 
• little, short: petit, petite, petits, petites
• interesting : intéressant, intéressante, intéressants, intéressantes
• American: américain, américaine, américains, américaines

You probably know that a lot of final consonants in French are silent. So, petit ends in the sound –ee as in see. The -t isn’t pronounced at all, kind of like puh-TEE. But when you add the –e to make it feminine, that –e activates the –t, and you get puh-TEET.

And since the final –s is silent, the plurals are pronounced just like the singulars. Masculine petit and petits are both puh-TEE, and feminine petite and petites are both puh-TEET.

That doesn’t mean that you never pronounce the –s ending, though. French has liaison, which links the last consonant (otherwise silent) of one word to the next word if that next word begins in a vowel. Les petits enfants (the little kids) is lay puh-tee zah(n)-fah(n). The -s of petits is tacked onto the beginning of enfants, where it sounds like a z. (The transliteration is very approximate! It’s hard to represent sounds from one language in the spelling system of another.)

Adjectives ending in -e

Now, let’s turn to French adjectives that end in –e. If an adjective already ends in –e in the masculine singular, don’t add another for the feminine. So adjectives like malade (sick) and drôle (funny) just have two forms, pronounced alike.

• sick : malade, malades
• funny : drôle, drôles 

The ending –é is not the same as –e. Here, you add –e for the feminine, so these adjectives have the regular endings -, -e, -s, -es.

• tired : fatigué, fatiguée, fatigués, fatiguées
• stressed : stressé, stressée, stressés, stressées

Adjectives ending in -s

Next, let’s look at adjectives that end in –s in the singular. If the adjective already ends in –s in the masculine singular, as is the case with a lot of nationalities, there’s no need to add another –s in the masculine plural. So these adjective forms have three spellings, but two pronunciations.

• French : français, française, français, françaises
• Japanese : japonais, japonaise, japonais, japonaises

Doubled Consonants

Now let’s turn to a common pattern in French. Some French adjectives double the final consonant before adding –e in the feminine forms. You’ll see this pattern in adjectives that end in –el, –eil, –en, –il, –on, –ul, –et and –s in the masculine singular.

• nice : gentil, gentille, gentils, gentilles
• Canadian: canadien, canadienne, canadiens, canadiennes
• fat, big : gros, grosse, gros, grosses
• good : bon, bonne, bons, bonnes
• the same : pareil, pareille, pareils, pareilles
• ancient, former : ancien, ancienne, anciens, anciennes

Adjectives ending in –eux

Now let’s look at the common adjective ending –eux. The ending –eux changes to –euse in the feminine. Don’t add –s to -x in the masculine plural.

• happy :  heureux, heureuse, heureux, heureuses
• delicious : délicieux, délicieuse, délicieux, délicieuses

Test Yourself 1

1. Marc, es-tu _____ ? 
   fatigué, fatiguée, fatigués, fatiguées
2. Rita, es-tu _____ ?
   stressé, stressée, stressés, stressées
3. Marc et Robert, êtes-vous _____ ?  
   désolé, désolée, désolés, désolées
4. Rita et Hiroko sont _____.
   grand, grande, grands, grandes
5. Pauline est très _____.
   petit, petite, petits, petites
6. Mes amis sont _____.  
   drôle, drôles
7. Monsieur et Madame Tricoire sont _____.
   français, française, françaises
8. Céline est _____. 
   canadien, canadienne, canadiens, canadiennes

Irregular Adjectives

Finally, let’s cover a few common irregular adjectives. You’ll recognize some of the patterns from above, for example –x as a plural ending, and –e/-es and doubled consonants in the feminine forms.

• beautiful : beau, belle, beaux, belles                      
• new : nouveau, nouvelle, nouveaux, nouvelles
• old : vieux, vieille, vieux, vieilles

These three adjectives have special forms when they come directly before masculine singular nouns beginning with a vowel sound:

• un bel homme a handsome man
• un nouvel ordinateur a new computer
• un vieil homme an old man

Test Yourself 2

1. Les fromages [french] sont très [good].
2. La tarte est [delicious].
3. Mon téléphone n’est pas [new].
4. Est-ce que la bière est [good] ?
5. Martine et Sophie sont [sick].
6. La professeur est une [old] femme.
7. Est-ce que les vins sont [French] ou [Italian] ?
8. Michelle est [nice] et [intelligent].
9. Paris est [big] et [beautiful].
10. Les étudiants sont [intelligent].
11. La nuit est [beautiful].
12. Ton copain est [funny].

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Answers 1

1. Marc, es-tu fatigué ? Marc, are you tired?
2. Rita, es-tu stressée ? Rita, are you stressed?
3. Marc et Robert, êtes-vous désolés ? Marc and Robert, are you sorry?
4. Rita et Hiroko sont grandes. Rita and Hiroko are tall.
5. Pauline est très petite. Pauline is very short.
6. Mes amis sont drôles. My friends are funny.
7. Monsieur et Madame Tricoire sont français. Mr. and Mrs. Tricoire are French.
8. Céline est canadienne. Céline is Canadian.

Answers 2

1. Les fromages français sont très bons. French cheeses are very good.
2. La tarte est délicieuse. The pie is delicious.
3. Mon téléphone n’est pas nouveau. My phone is not new.
4. Est-ce que la bière est bonne ?  Is the beer good?
5. Martine et Sophie sont malades. Marine and Sophie are sick.
6. La professeur est une vieille femme.  The teacher is an old woman.
7. Est-ce que les vins sont français ou italiens ? Are the wines French or Italian?
8. Michelle est gentille et intelligente.  Michelle is nice and intelligent.
9. Paris est grand et beau.   Paris is big and beautiful.
10. Les étudiants sont intelligents. The students are intelligent.
11. La nuit est belle. The night is beautiful.
12. Ton copain est drôle. Your boyfriend is funny.

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