French Grammar Explained /
Agreement of adjectives III
Do you remember our previous topic about French adjectives?
Maybe...
In French, adjectives match the gender and number of the noun they modify.
Oh, I remember now!
The French language has very strict rules about gender and number agreement:
un grand livre | une grande table |
des grands livres | des grandes tables |
Masculine noun → the adjective will be masculine.
Feminine noun → the adjective will be feminine.
If a masculine/feminine noun is plural → the adjective will be plural and gets an extra S.
Some adjectives have a special form for their feminine:
un vin sec → une saison sèche
un vent frais → une boisson fraîche
un chat blanc → une tasse blanche
And some others have two masculine forms
depending on the noun that follows:
Masculine form | Masculine form
followed by a vowel
| Feminine form |
un nouveau lit | un nouvel étudiant | une nouvelle jupe |
un beau cadeau | un bel arbre | une belle bague |
un vieux bijou | un vieil hôpital | une vieille voiture |
Phew, at least the plural rule is always the same!
Uuuh...
...right?!
The plural forms of the adjectives are simply made by adding an S to the adjective. But in some cases, this rule changes a little:
Un client précis | → | Des clients précis |
Un beau tapis | → | Des beaux tapis |
Un vol national | → | Des vols nationaux |
- An adjective already ending in S in the masculine form will not change in the plural form.
- An adjective ending in -EAU gets an X for the plural.
- An adjective ending in -AL will become -AUX in the plural form.
Wow, that's a lot to remember!
I know, but don't worry. Everything comes with practice!