French/Grammar/Adjectives

Grammar

French

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Just like articles, French adjectives also have to match the nouns that they modify in gender and plurality.

Regular formation

Spelling

Most adjective changes occur in the following manner:

Feminine: add an -e to the masculine form
- un garçon intéressant --> une fille intéressante
- un ami amusant --> une amie amusante
- un camion lent --> une voiture lente
Plural: add an -s to the singular form
- un garçon intéressant --> des garçons intéressants
- une fille intéressante --> des filles intéressantes

Pronunciation

Generally, the final consonant is pronounced only when it comes before an -e. Most adjectives, such as those above, are affected by this rule.

Masculine Pronunciation: intéressan, amusan, len
Feminine Pronunciation: intéressant, amusant, lent

Irregular formation

Irregular plural formation

				Examples
	M Sing.	-->	M. Pl.	Masc. Singular	-->	Masc. Plural	Notes
No change	-s		-s	un plafond bas un gros porc		des plafonds bas des gros porcs
No change	-x		-x	un homme généreux un garçon furieux		des hommes généreux des garçons furieux
Add x	-eau		-eaux	un nouveau jeu		des nouveaux jeux
Add x	-al		-aux	un vent hivernal		des vents hivernaux	Exceptions: fatal (fatals), final (finals) & naval (navals)

Irregular feminine formation

				Examples
	Masc.	-->	Fem.	Masculine	-->	Feminine	Notes
No change	-e		-e	égoïste, populaire, sociable, timide, énergique, dynamique, sympathique			* When the masc. form ends in an -e, there is no change. * The final consonant is pronounced on the masc. form.
Final Consonant Doubled	-el		-elle	cruel		cruelle	When an adjective has one of these endings, the ending of the feminine form is doubled. There is no change of pronunciation when changing from -el to -elle. -il is pronounced "ee" (as in keen), while -ille is similar, with a final y^uh (pronounced like "ee" in keen with a "yuh" on the end: IPA /ij/). -on is pronounced oh⁽ⁿ⁾ and -onne is pronounced ohn. -en is pronounced a⁽ⁿ⁾ and -enne is pronounced ehn. -os is pronounced oh and -osse is pronounced ohs. -as is pronounced ah and -asse is pronounced ahs.
	-il		-ille	gentil		gentille
	-on		-onne	bon breton		bonne bretonne
	-en		-enne	ancien parisien		ancienne parisienne
	-os		-osse	gros		grosse
	-as		-asse	bas		basse
-c change	-c		-che	blanc franc		blanche franche
-eur change	-eur		-euse	accrocheur prometteur		accrocheuse prometteuse
-eux change	-eux		-euse	furieux généreux		furieuse généreuse	-eux is pronounced ew (like dew) and -euse is pronounced ews.
-g change	-g		-gue	long		longue
-if change	-if		-ive	sportif actif		sportive active
er change	-er		-ère	étranger cher		étrangère chère	-er is pronounced ay and -ère is pronounced ehr, though exceptions such as "cher" exist in which both forms are pronounced with ehr.
-et change	-et		-ète	inquiet complet		inquiète complète	-et is pronounced ay and -ète is pronounced eht.
-ou change	-ou / -ol		-olle	fou, fol mou, mol		folle molle	-ol forms occur before a vowel or mute h.

Special rules

Adjectives that precede nouns

List

Adjectives that are used frequently before nouns. These are:

affreux (affreuse)
autre
beau (belle)
bon(ne) +
court(e) +
dernier (dernière) +
gentil (gentille)
grand(e) +
gros(se) +
haut(e)
jeune +
joli(e)
large
long(ue)
mauvais(e)
méchant(e) +
meilleur(e)
nouveau (nouvelle)
pauvre
petit(e)
vieux (vieille)
vilain(e)

+ sometimes placed after a noun, and may change in meaning

When these adjectives appear before an indefinite plural noun, they will change the article associated with it:^[1]

des garçons courageux / de beaux garçons

Changes in meaning

When "grand" goes before a noun, it means "great". However, when it goes after the noun, it means "tall".

Likewise, when "pauvre" goes before a noun, it means "unfortunate". When it comes after the noun, it means financially "poor".

This rule works most of the time, but be careful, "pauvre" can mean "financially poor" even when used before the nouns.

Beau, nouveau, and vieux

These three adjectives behave differently when placed before a singular masculine noun starting with a vowel or silent h:

	Masc. Sing. Cons.	Masc. Sing Vowel	Masc. Plural	Fem. Sing. (all)	Fem. Plural
Beau	un beau garçon	un bel individu	de beaux garçons	une belle fillette	de belles fillettes
Nouveau	un nouveau camion	un nouvel ordre	de nouveaux ordres	une nouvelle idée	de nouvelles idées
Vieux	un vieux camion	un vieil ordre	de vieux camions	une vieille idée	de vieilles idées

Possessive adjectives

A possessive adjective tells us who owns/possesses something. So, you might say, "my house", "their family" or "his dogs". The same is done in French. However unlike English, in French we use different possessive adjectives dependent not only the person who owns the object (my car vs your car etc.) but also dependent on the gender and number. E.g. If I only have one dog, I would say, "mon chien" but if I have lots of dogs, I would say, "mes chiens".

Furthermore in English, we say "her car" when the owner of the car is a woman and "his car" when the owner is a man. In French, they say "sa voiture" even if the owner is a male. It is not the owner who determines the gender of the possessive adjective but the object owned. The following possessive adjectives are in the order of: masculine object, feminine object, plural (several of the object).

First person singular - mon, ma, mes
Second person singular (informal) - ton, ta, tes
Third person singular - son, sa, ses

First person plural - notre, notre, nos
Second person plural (and polite form) - votre, votre, vos
Third person plural - leur, leur, leurs

Note: Exception. When a feminine noun starts with a vowel or silent 'h', you should utilize "Mon" instead of "Ma". Example:

Mon ami = ok 
Ma amie = error! 
Mon amie = ok.

Demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives identifies a specific object relative to the speaker. In English, demonstrative adjectives are words like, "this" and "these".

There are four adjectives that demonstrate a specific object in French:

Ce garçon (masculine) - this/that boy
Cet ami (masculine before vowel or silent h) - this/that friend
Cette fille (feminine) - this/that girl
Ces enfants (plural) - these/those children

References

↑ Price, Glanville (2008), A Comprehensive French Grammar (6 ed.), Blackwell, p. 35, ISBN 978-1-4051-5385-0

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[1] Price, Glanville (2008), A Comprehensive French Grammar (6 ed.), Blackwell, p. 35, ISBN 978-1-4051-5385-0

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