CONTENT
  1. What Is an Adjective Agreement?
  2. The Basics
  3. Exceptions

Adjectives are one of the main parts of speech, and they can be used in numerous combinations with nouns. However, French adjectives are a little bit more complicated than the English variety - and that is because of the agreement.

French

English

Une longue rue.

A long street.

What Is an Adjective Agreement?

Rule 1: Unlike English, French adjectives have different endings - and those should agree with the number and gender of the noun the adjective is describing.

French

English

Une bonne fille.

A good girl.

Un bon garçon.

A good boy.

The Basics

Rule 2: In singular adjectives, the masculine form is the base. The feminine form is usually created by adding an -e suffix to the base.

French

English

Un grand arbre.

A big tree.

Une grande maison.

A big house.

Note that grammatical gender in French is not the same as the gender of the object it describes.

Rule 3: If an adjective in a masculine form ends with an -e, the feminine form will be the same.

French

English

Une feuille jaune.

A yellow leaf.

Un livre jaune.

A yellow book.

Exceptions

Rule 4: Many adjectives in French have a particular ending in a feminine form.

Masculine endingFeminine ending
-el -elle
-er -ère
-g -gue
-en -enne
-on -onne
-eur -euse
-f -ve
Masculine endingFeminine ending
-el -elle
-er -ère
-g -gue
-en -enne
-on -onne
-eur -euse
-f -ve

Exception: there are many adjectives in French that end with -x, -c, -et, or -s in their masculine form. Those will have different ending in feminine forms, and it's best to look them up in the dictionary and write down.

French

English

faux, fausse

false

Quiz

1/3

Un _ bol de lait

0

correct answers.