1.7: Adjectifs

Adjectives are used to describe people and things.

In French, adjectives agree with the nouns and pronouns they modify

• in gender (masculine or feminine) and
• in number (singular or plural).

☞ Paul est français. Virginie est française.
☞ Jean et Richard sont intelligents. Anne et Kate sont intelligentes.

➤ Adjectives that end in –e in the masculine singular remain the same in the feminine singular.

☞ Paul est intelligent. Virginie est intelligente.

 

➤ Adjectives that end in –s or –x in the masculine singular remain the same in the masculine plural.

☞ Paul est courtois. Antoine et Vincent sont courtois.

☞ Jean est sérieux. Marc et Henri sont sérieux.

➤ Adjectives that do not follow the above patterns are irregular.

Pronunciation

Adjectifs irréguliers

Many irregular adjectives have their own patterns.

• adjectives in -eux

• adjectives in -al

• adjectives with irregular feminine forms

Note: nouns that have endings similar to the above adjectives usually follow the same patterns.

 

 

La place des adjectifs

Note the position of the adjectives in the sentences on the right in the examples below.

☞ J’ai un copain. J’ai un copain italien.

☞ J’ai un cousin. J’ai un cousin sympathique.

➤ In French, most adjectives come AFTER the noun.

➤ A few common adjectives come BEFORE the noun.

A good way to remember which adjectives are placed before the noun is to remember the English phrase “MA BRAGS”.

*Note: the forms bel, vieil, and nouvel are used only before a masculine singular noun that begins with a vowel or a silent ‘h’.

☞ Vincent est un bel homme.

☞ J’habite dans un nouvel appartement.