Adjectives
Goal: To explain the adjectives,
their function, and how they are made feminine and plural when necessary.
What are adjectives?
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Adjectives are words that describe nouns. In the following
English sentences, the adjectives are in red.
My older brother has a large
room.
The round table is on the Oriental
rug.
The paperweight was heavy, round,
and cool in her open
hand.
In the first example, the adjective "older"
describes "my brother" and the adjective "large" describes
"a room".
In the second example, "round" describes "the
table" and "Oriental" describes "the rug."
In the last example, the adjectives "heavy,"
"round," and "cool" describe "the paperweight"
while "open" describes "her hand."
Les Adjectifs En Français
Adjectives in French are different from their English
counterparts in several ways:
Adjective Gender
Every adjective in its raw form is masculine. However,
when it is used to describe a feminine noun, it must adopt that gender.
Consider the following sentence.
L'avion est petit.
The subject of the sentence, "avion" (airplane),
is maculine. Therefore the adjective, "petit" (small), is also
masculine. Suppose you modified this sentence so it was about a car instead.
Keep in mind that "voiture" (car) is feminine.
La voiture est petite.
When the adjective "petit" becomes feminine,
it adds an "e" on the end. Let's insert some other adjectives
into our pair of sentences and see what they do.
L'avion est vert.
La voiture est verte.
L'avion est français.
La voiture est française.
L'avion est brillant.
La voiture est brillante.
In all these examples, the adjective added an "e"
on the end when it became feminine. Most adjectives that end in a consonant
follow this pattern. Remember:
If an adjective ends
in a consonant, add "-e" to make it feminine.
Now, consider these sentences.
Le garçon est fatigué.
La fille est fatiguée.
Le garçon est desolé.
La fille est desolée.
Le garçon est occupé.
La fille est occupée.
In all these examples, the adjective added an "e"
on the end when it became feminine. All adjectives that end in an accented
"e" follow this pattern. Remember:
If an adjective ends
in an "é," add "-e" to make it feminine.
Now, consider these sentences.
L'homme est heureux.
La femme est heureuse.
L'homme est serieux.
La femme est serieuse.
In these examples, the ending changed from "-eux"
to "-euse" when the adjective became feminine. Most adjectives
that end in "eux" follow this pattern. Remember:
If an adjective ends
in an "eux," change it to "euse" to make it feminine.
Lastly, consider these sentences.
Pierre est alsacien.
Marie est alsacienne.
Pierre est italien.
Marie est italienne.
In these examples, "-ne" was added when the
adjective became feminine. Most adjectives that end in "ien"
follow this pattern. Remember:
If an adjective ends
in an "ien," add "ne" to make it feminine.
Adjective Plurality
When an adjective describes a plural noun, the adjective
must be plural also. Most adjectives, when made plural, simply add "-s"
onto the form of the adjective that would otherwise be used. Consider this
sentence:
La
voiture est
verte.
This sentence contains an singular feminine article,
La, a singular feminine noun, voiture,
a singular conjugation of the verb être,
est, and a singular feminine
adjective, verte.
Now, consider this sentence:
Les
voitures sont
vertes.
This sentence contains four words, all of which are plural.
Les is the plural article. Voitures
is the plural of "voiture." Sont
is the conjugation of the verb être used with plural subjects. And,
finally, vertes is the feminine plural of
the adjective "vert" (green).
Now, consider these sentence pairs, paying special attention
to the red words:
L'avion
est bleu. =
Les avions
sont bleus.
La fille est
heureuse. = Les
filles sont
heureuses.
Le garçon
est italien.
= Les
garçons
sont italiens.
La chatte est
méchante. = Les
chattes sont
méchantes.
Remember this rule:
For all feminine adjectives and most
masculine adjectives, add "-s" to make it plural.
Now, look at these two examples:
L'engineur
est serieux.
= Les engineurs
sont serieux.
Le jardin
est beau. =
Les jardins sont
beaux.
These are examples of why the above rule doesn't include
"all" masculine adjectives. These adjectives are irregular, and
their individual forms must be learned.
Adjective Placement
Almost every English adjective is placed before the noun.
For example:
Hot dog
Fast car
Cool breeze
In French, almost every adjective is placed after the
noun. The above examples become:
Chien chaud
Voiture rapide
Vent frais
The following adjectives go before the noun even in French
(notice how short this list is):
petit
mauvais
joli
bon
grand
If you're not sure where to put
an adjective, put it the noun!
A long list of adjectives can be found in lesson
9.
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