Les Adjectifs

REPRISE DE GRAMMAIRE

DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

Words that modifie nouns or pronouns are called adjectives. If these adjectives describe the nouns they modify, they are called descriptive or qualitative adjectives. In French, descriptive adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. This is not the case in English.

How do you change an adjective from the masculine singular to the feminine singular?

Most adjectives form the feminine singular by adding an e to the masculine singular. This e is not pronounced. If the masculine singular already ends in such an e, then the masculine and the feminine singular forms are identical.

Masculine singular	Feminine singular
froissé	froissée
lent	lente

branlante

petite

camouflée

vraie

Some feminine singular endings are irregular.

Change	Masculine singular	Feminine singular

x-------> se	ambitieux	ambitieuse
er-----> ère	cher	chère
f------> ve	lucratif	lucrative
c------> que	public	publique
g------> gue	long	longue
eur----> euse (if adjective is based on the present participle)	travailleur	travailleuse
eur----> rice (if adjective is not based on the present participle)	destructeur	destructrice
eur---->eure	antérieur postérieur intérieur extérieur mineur majeur supérieur inférieur meilleur	antérieure postérieure intérieure extérieure mineure majeure supérieure inférieure meilleure
double the consonant + e	professionnel pareil ancien gras gros coquet	professionnelle pareille ancienne grasse grosse coquette
et------>ète	complet concret discret inquiet secret	complète concrète discrète inquiète secrète

basses

songeuse

grosses

première

rituelle

Certain common adjectives have irregular feminine singular forms.

Masculine singular	Feminine singular

beau	belle
blanc	blanche
bon	bonne
doux	douce
favori	favorite
faux	fausse
fou	folle
frais	fraîche
franc	franche
gentil	gentille
malin	maligne
mou	molle
nouveau	nouvelle
sec	sèche
vieux	vieille

vieille

blanche

longues

Five of these irregular adjectives have a second masculine form that is used before nouns beginning with a vowel or a silent h.

beau	bel
fou	fol
mou	mol
nouveau	nouvel
vieux	vieil

These adjectives, however, only have one form in the masculine plural.

How do you change a singular adjective into a plural adjective?

Most adjectives form the plural by adding s to the masculine or the feminine adjective.

...cent chevaux appelés dans la foule...ferment les défilés (Boileau)
...dans ces granges vastes comme des cathédrales (Favreau)

Some masculine adjectives have irregular plurals.

change	masculine singular	masculine plural

x (no change)	paresseux	paresseux
s (no change)	gris	gris
eau------->eaux	nouveau	nouveaux
al--------->aux	moral	moraux
al--------->als	banal fatal final naval	banals fatals finals navals

indécis

Where should you place the adjective?

After the noun

In English, descriptive adjectives are placed in front of the noun they modify. In French, they are usually placed after the noun they modify.

attelés

pesant

glissant

Adjectives of color, religion, nationality, and class, however, are almost always placed after the noun. Remember that adjectives of nationality are not capitalized in French.

Before the noun

Some short, common adjectives are normally placed in front of the noun.

autre	beau	bon	grand	gros
haut	jeune	joli	long	mauvais
nouveau	petit	premier	vieux	vilain

petite

joli

grande

long

autre

Certain adjectives have one meaning when they are found in front of the noun and another meaning when they are after the noun.

un ancien professeur a former professor	une maison ancienne an old (or ancient) house
un brave homme a (morally) good man	un capitaine brave a courageous captain
une certaine brillance une certaine personne a degree of brilliance an unspecified person	un résultat certain a sure result
son cher mari her dear husband	une voiture chère an expensive car
le même moment the same moment	le moment même the very moment (emphatic)
la pauvre femme the poor (unfortunate) woman	la femme pauvre the poor woman (not rich)
sa propre chambre his/her own room	une chambre propre a clean room
une simple remarque a mere remark	une personne simple a simple person (plain, simple-minded)
la seule réponse the only answer	un enfant seul a child alone (by himself)
le dernier film the last film (in a series)	le mois dernier last month (the one just passed)
la prochaine question the next question (in a series)	la semaine prochaine next week (the one coming)

Some descriptive adjectives can be placed in front of the noun they modify in order to give them special emphasis. In this case the adjective is pronounced in a more emphatic tone of voice in order to stress it.

What do you do when two adjectives describe the same noun?

If one adjective usually precedes the noun and the other usually follows it, place them in their normal position.

mince

glaiseux.

vieille

normande

immenses

bleus

sainte

inconnue

If both adjectives normally precede the noun, place both of them either before or after the noun and join them with the conjunction et.

If both adjectives normally follow the noun, place both of them after it and join them with et.

You may juxtapose two adjectives if the first adjective describes a word group composed of the second adjective and the noun. You may then place both adjectives in their normal position before or after the noun.

autre petite

Agreement of Adjectives

French adjectives generally agree in number (singular, plural) and gender (masculine, feminine) with the noun or pronoun they describe.

EXCEPTION: The adjective demi is invariable and joined to the noun by a hyphen when it precedes the noun. it agrees, however, in gender with the noun when it comes after.

An adjective that describes more than one noun is plural. If the gender of the nouns is different, the masculine plural form of the adjective is used. If both nouns are of the same gender, the adjective is, of course, in that gender.