French grammar points – The formation and the placement of the adjectives

Learning the formation and the placement of the French adjectives is quite a mental sport. French adjectives change to agree in gender and number with the nouns that they modify, which means there can be up to four forms of each adjective whether the noun is feminine, masculine, feminine plural or masculine plural. There are also different categories of adjectives with different endings

When learning the different components of a French sentence, it may at times be difficult to identify the adjective. As a reminder: an adjective is a word which modifies a noun by describing it. These words are descriptions such as colours, sizes, nationalities, moods, and more. For example, have a careful look at the following phrase: La belle langue française (the beautiful French language). In this short phrase, there are 2 words describing the language: belle and française. Notice where these 2 adjectives are placed and how they are formed: the adjective française after the noun, whereas in English, it would be placed before, and an e was added to française because it has to agree with the feminine word langue.

1) Let’s start with an example of a regular French adjective:

Etre content (to be happy):
Elle est contente = She is happy
Il est content = He is happy
Elles sont contentes = They (female only) are happy
Ils sont contents = They (man only or mixture of female and male) are happy.

Note how we simply add an e to agree with a feminine subject and a s to agree with plural subjects.
Other examples are adjectives such as joli (pretty); petit (small); grand (big, tall); chaud (hot/warm); froid (cold); intelligent (smart/intelligent); préféré (preferred); anglais (English).

2) Some masculine adjectives, already ending with an e, don’t change in the feminine form.

Such as:
drôle = funny
comique = comic/funny
triste = sad
sale = dirty
malade = sick
jeune = young
adorable = lovely.

Examples:

-triste (sad) : il est triste ; elle est triste ; ils sont tristes ; elles sont tristes
-malade (sick) : il est malade ; elle est malade ; ils sont malades ; elles sont malades
-jeune (young ): il est jeune ; elle est jeune ; ils sont jeunes ; elles sont jeunes.

3) When the French adjective ends in er, we need to add an accent grave (è) on the e of er for the feminine form. Many of them are used to describe a profession, in which case the word can be used both as a noun as well as an adjective.

Examples :

boulanger (baker) : boulangère
infirmier (nurse) : infirmière
fermier (farmer) : fermière
étranger (foreigner) : étrangère
régulier (regular) : régulière
premier (first) : première.

Note: to form the plural form of all of the above, you just need to add a s: boulangers, boulangères.

4) When the adjective ends in eur, which also happens often for professions, but not exclusively, it becomes more complex, since for some of them the ending changes to euse and for others it becomes rice in the feminine form.

Examples:

-Feminine ending in euse:
vendeur (salesperson) : vendeuse
conteur (story teller) : conteuse
serveur (waiter) : serveuse
menteur (liar) : menteuse.
-Feminine ending in rice:
directeur (director) : directrice
acteur (actor) : actrice
instituteur (primary school teacher) : institutrice
dessinateur (designer) : dessinatrice.

Note: the adjectives of profession that end in er or eur can also be used as a noun (see above).

Examples:

Marc est fermier (Marc is a farmer), BUT: le fermier du village est Marc (the farmer of the village is Marc).
Juliette est actrice (Juliette is an actor), BUT: l’actrice principale du theâtre est Juliette (the main actor of the theatre is Juliette).

5) There are also a few adjectives ending with a consonant such as n, s or l, that change in their feminine form by doubling the consonants before adding the e.

Examples:

bon (good) : bonne
gros (fat/big) : grosse
épais(thick) : épaisse
mignon (cute) : mignonne
lycéen (high school student) : lycéenne
gentil (kind) : gentille
nul (not very good, a dummy) : nulle.

Note: to form the plural form of all of the above, you just need to add an s: bons, bonnes.

6) There is also the category of irregular adjectives with different endings:

One of the very peculiar ones is the common adjective beau (beautiful) which becomes belle in its feminine form. In the plural, one has to add an xto the masculine, and a s to the feminine:

Ce garçon est beau = This boy is handsome
Cette femme est belle= This woman is beautiful
Ces garçons sont beaux= These boys are handsome
Ces femmes sont belles = These women are beautiful.

Note: In the case of beau, when it is used in front of a masculine noun beginning with a vowel, it becomes bel: Marc est un bel homme ( Marc is a handsome man). Quel bel arbre ! (What a beautiful tree!) .

Another peculiar one is the other common adjective long (long), which becomes longue in the feminine. In the plural, both have a sat the end:

Le chemin est long = The pathway is long
La route est longue = The road is long
Les chemins sont longs = The pathways are long
Les routes sont longues= The roads are long.

Some other adjectives ending in eux in the masculine, change to euse in the feminine. The masculine plural remains the same; while a s is added for the feminine plural.

Example : joyeux (happy)

Il est joyeux
Ils sont joyeux
Elle est joyeuse
Elles sont joyeuses.

Other common adjectives in eux are:

douloureux/douloureuse = painful
heureux/heureuse = very happy
amoureux/amoureuse = in love
sérieux/sérieuse = serious; curieux/curieuse = curious.

Those adjectives ending in if in the masculine singular have an ive ending for the feminine:
Il est créatif = He is creative
Elle est créative = She is creative.

Other examples are:

fautif/fautive = at fault
sportif/sportive = sports minded
éducatif/éducative = educative
fictif/fictive = fictitious

And there is also another category of adjectives that end in ieux in the masculine singular and that don’t change in the masculine plural, but have a very different ending for the feminine forms.
One of the more common ones is vieux (old, aged), which becomes vieille in the feminine:
Il est vieux
Ils sont vieux
Elle est vieille
Elles sont vieilles.

Note: This adjective also has a special form when it is placed in front of a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel: vieil ; un vieil homme, c’est un vieil arbre.

There are also adjectives that end in al in the masculine singular that have a special ending for the masculine plural, aux, but the femine singular and feminine plural follow the normal pattern for adjective endings:
un parti national = a national political party
des partis nationaux = national political parties
une fête nationale = a national holiday
des fêtes nationales = national holidays

Other examples are: spécial, communal.

Placement of the French adjectives

This is where it can get tricky! In general, short, descriptive adjectives are placed before the noun, while longer adjectives are usually placed after. Except for the adjectives describing a colour, a shape or a nationality, they are always placed after.

Examples:

Un petit chat = A small cat (note how the word petit just has 2 syllables, it is considered short so it is placed before the noun).
Un chat intelligent = An intelligent cat (note how the word intelligent has 4 syllables, it is considered long and is placed after the noun)
Un petit chat blanc intelligent = A small intelligent white cat.
Une belle voiture bleue = A beautiful blue car.
Une assiette ronde = A round plate.
Un enfant français = A French kid.

The above explanation on the adjectives placement has quite a few exceptions. Especially in judgements about personality or physical attributes:

Un animal moche = an ugly animal
Une personne douée = a gifted person
Une idée nulle = a stupid/bad idea.