French Adjective Agreement

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.

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

🍀 French adjectives: PRACTICE 🍀

Exercise 1 : Translate the following sentences into French. Pay attention to the agreement.

1. an interesting story
2. an exotic fruit
3. an obvious thing
4. complex stories
5. fast cars

Exercise 2 : Translate the following sentences into English.

1. un petit chien
2. une chose complexe
3. des voitures lentes
4. une histoire originale
5. des exercices faciles

# French adjectives