French adjectives

French Adjective Agreement: Position, Standard Forms, and Gender Agreement

In this lesson, we study the place and agreement of the adjective.

✚ Objectives:

the place of the adjective in general
list of 10 regular adjectives
the agreement in gender and number of the adjective
the case of small and large
practical exercises

1. Position of Adjectives

In French, adjectives are usually placed after the noun.

Examples :

Un système complexe – A complex system
Un concept intéressant – An interesting concept
Un fruit exotique – An exotic fruit
Un exercice facile – An easy exercise

Attention, the agreement of the adjective in gender and number with the noun to which it refers is necessary.

2. Forming the Feminine of Adjectives

To form the feminine version of most adjectives, add an -e to the masculine form. If the adjective already ends in -e in the masculine form, it remains the same in the feminine.

une affaire importante – An important affair
une histoire intéressante – An interesting story
une chose évidente – An obvious thing
une voiture rapide – A fast car

Here are 10 common adjectives, showing their masculine and feminine forms.

Adjective (English)	Masculine (French)	Feminine (French)
Fast	rapide	rapide
Slow	lent	lente
Magnificent	magnifique	magnifique
Exotic	exotique	exotique
Funny	amusant	amusante
Interesting	intéressant	intéressante
Original	original	originale
Obvious	évident	évidente
Easy	facile	facile
Complex	complexe	complexe

Please note that in the plural, we generally add a silent “s” to the noun and the adjective.

des systèmes complexes – complex systems
des concepts intéressants – interesting concepts
des fruits exotiques – exotic fruits
des affaires importantes – important business
des histoires intéressantes – interesting stories
des choses évidentes – obvious things

Some very commonly used ones are placed before. This is the case of “grand” (big) and “petit” (small).

un grand chien – a big dog
une petite voiture – a small car