Beginner’s Guide to French Adjectives

Using French adjectives will bring more colour, detail, and nuance to your conversations, allowing you to express yourself more precisely. However, French adjectives work a little differently than in English, as they must agree with the noun in gender and number and often have a different placement in sentences.

This is where it can get tricky… but don’t worry! My beginner’s guide to French adjectives will walk you through the essentials, answering some common questions like:

• What does ‘adjective’ mean?
• Why do some adjectives have extra letters added?
• Do these extra letters change pronunciation?
• Why is ‘red wine’ said as ‘wine red’ (vin rouge) in French?

1. What is an Adjective in French?

An adjective is a word used to describe, modify, or give more information about a noun. In English, for example, we say:

• A tall tree
• A red apple
• A happy child

The words in bold are adjectives that add detail to the nouns.

In French, these would translate to:

• Un arbre grand (a tall tree)
• Une pomme rouge (a red apple)
• Un enfant heureux (a happy child)

Adjectives add richness to descriptions, allowing you to express opinions, emotions, and observations more vividly.

2. How Do French Adjectives Agree with Nouns in Gender and Number?

Unlike English, French adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). This means the form of the adjective changes depending on the noun.

Gender Agreement

• If the noun is masculine, the adjective is in its masculine form.
• If the noun is feminine, the adjective takes a feminine form, usually by adding an -e.

Number Agreement

• If the noun is singular, the adjective remains singular.
• If the noun is plural, an -s is added to the adjective (unless it already ends in -s or -x).

Some adjectives don’t follow the standard rules and undergo more significant changes in their feminine or plural forms. Here are ten common irregular adjectives:

3. Why Do Some French Adjectives Come After the Noun?

In English, adjectives usually come before the noun (a quiet room), but in French, they typically follow the noun (une chambre calme). Here are a few examples:

• A blue sky → Un ciel bleu
• A delicious cake → Un gâteau délicieux
• A funny story → Une histoire drôle

However, some adjectives do come before the noun, especially those related to beauty, age, goodness, and size (often remembered by the acronym BAGS):

• Beauty: joli (pretty), beau (beautiful)
• Age: jeune (young), vieux (old), nouveau (new)
• Goodness: bon (good), mauvais (bad)
• Size: petit (small), grand (big), gros (fat)

These adjectives usually precede the noun, as in:

• Une jolie robe (a pretty dress)
• Un vieux château (an old castle)
• Un bon repas (a good meal)
• Une grande maison (a big house)

4. Do Adjectives Change Pronunciation When They Become Feminine?

Yes, some adjectives change pronunciation when they shift from masculine to feminine. Here are some examples:

Final Consonant Becomes Pronounced:

• lourd (heavy) /luʁ/ → lourde /luʁd/
• grand (tall) /ɡʁɑ̃/ → grande /ɡʁɑ̃d/
• profond (deep) /pʁɔ.fɔ̃/ → profonde /pʁɔ.fɔ̃d/

Softening of Final Sound:

• long (long) /lɔ̃/ → longue /lɔ̃ɡ/
• gros (large) /ɡʁo/ → grosse /ɡʁɔs/
• bas (low) /bɑ/ → basse /bɑs/

Spelling Change with Pronunciation Shift:

• frais (fresh) /fʁɛ/ → fraîche /fʁɛʃ/
• sec (dry) /sɛk/ → sèche /sɛʃ/
• doux (soft) /du/ → douce /dus/
• roux (red-haired) /ʁu/ → rousse /ʁus/

Others have no pronunciation change:

• espagnol (Spanish) → espagnole
• idéal (ideal) → idéale
• génial (great) → géniale

5. How Do You Make a French Adjective Plural?

To make French adjectives plural, you usually add an -s to the masculine and feminine singular forms, unless the adjective already ends in -s or -x.

Some adjectives have irregular plurals:

Final Thoughts

Understanding and using French adjectives correctly is an essential step in learning the language. The rules around gender, number agreement, and placement might seem tricky at first, but with practice, they will become second nature.

My top tip? Start by learning the most common adjectives and their agreements, then gradually move on to more complex structures and exceptions.

Remember, learning a new language is a journey. Each new adjective you master brings you closer to expressing yourself more fluently in French. Keep practicing, embrace mistakes as part of the process, and enjoy uplevelling your French!