Created by Jacques Léon
Page design by Roberth Andersson

Lesson 4 - Adjectives and Plural

1. Adjectives

In the second lesson we saw that in French nouns have a gender : they can be either masculine or feminine. Some of them can be both and the feminine form is derived from the masculine by appending a " e ". We also learned how the plural affects the nouns, i.e. by appending a " s ", in most of the times. To sum up, we can say that the gender and the number (singular or plural) affect the nouns termination, by appending either a " e " or a " s " (or sometimes something more complex).

There is an other kind of words in French which change in accordance to the gender and the number : the adjectives. Adjectives change according to the gender and the number of the noun which they qualify. The rules which we drew up for the nouns are applicable to the adjectives :

Adjectives Concordance Rules

• Rule 1 - Concordance with the gender When the noun which an adjective qualifies is feminine, an " e " is appended to the adjective, if it does not already end with an " e ".
• Rule 2 - Concordance with the number When an adjective refers to a noun in the plurial form or more than 1 noun, a " s " is appended to it, if it does not end with a " s ", a" z " or a " x ".
• Rule 3 - The rules 1 and 2 are cumulative, i.e. if an adjective qualifies a feminine and plurial noun, it takes an " e " and a " s " at the end.
• Rule 4 - Masculine is stronger ! When an adjective refers to a group of masculine and feminine nouns, only the masculine concordance rule applies. This rule is also known as " the masculine wins over the feminine ", which is the more macho French grammar rule !

Note : In most cases, the adjectives follow the noun or the group of nouns they refer. However, this remark is not rigid and you can actually put an adjective before the noun it qualifies but be careful, by doing this, you may change the meaning ! (idiomatic form).

Examples :

• un homme petit (a small man) / un petit homme (a kid)
• une femme bonne (a good woman) / une bonne femme (a woman with a pejorative meaning)
• une voiture sale (a dirty car) / une sale voiture (a awful car)

Some adjectives are placed before the noun they qualify rather than after.

Examples :

• grand (big, large) : we say " une grande voiture " (a big car) rather than " une voiture grande "
• beau (nice) : we say " un beau graçon " (a nice boy) rather than " un graçon beau "

Note that, in these examples, both forms are grammatically correct but French speaking people prefer the first one.

Examples of adjective concordance rules

Original sentence : Il conduit un camion bleu (He drives a blue truck).

Let's apply the fourth rules we mentioned above :

• Rule 1 - concordance with the gender: Il conduit une voiture bleue
• Rule 2 - concordance with the number : Il conduit des camions bleus
• Rule 3 - accumulation of rules 1 and 2: Il conduit des voitures bleues
• Rule 4 - " masculine wins over feminine " : Il conduit un camion et une voiture bleus

2. Some adjectives

• big or tall

masculine singular : grand

feminine singular : grande

masculine plural: grands

feminine plural: grandes

• small

masculine singular : petit

feminine singular : petite

masculine plural: petits

feminine plural: petites

• nice

masculine singular : beau

feminine singular : belle

masculine plural: beaux

feminine plural: belles

• ugly

masculine singular : laid

feminine singular : laide

masculine plural: laids

feminine plural: laides

• good

masculine singular : bon

feminine singular : bonne

masculine plural: bons

feminine plural: bonnes

• bad

masculine singular : mauvais

feminine singular : mauvaise

masculine plural: mauvais

feminine plural: mauvaises

• high

masculine singular : haut

feminine singular : haute

masculine plural: hauts

feminine plural: hautes

• low

masculine singular : bas

feminine singular : basse

masculine plural: bas

feminine plural: basses

• heavy

masculine singular : lourd

feminine singular : lourde

masculine plural: lourds

feminine plural: lourdes

• light

masculine singular : léger

feminine singular : légère

masculine plural: légers

feminine plural: légères

• clean

masculine singular : propre

feminine singular : propre

masculine plural: propres

feminine plural: propres

• dirty

masculine singular : sale

feminine singular : sale

masculine plural: sales

feminine plural: sales

• long

masculine singular : long

feminine singular : longue

masculine plural: longs

feminine plural: longues

• short

masculine singular : court

feminine singular : courte

masculine plural: courts

feminine plural: courtes

From this list, you can derive the following additional concordance rules which apply most of the time :

1. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a e, the feminine form is identical to the masculine one (e.g. sale / sale)
2. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a n, the feminine form is derived by appending a e and by doubling the ending n (e.g. bon / bonne)
3. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a er, the feminine form end by ère (e.g. léger / légère)
4. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a eau or au, the plural form is composed by appending a x and the feminine form is built by replacing eau or au by elle (e.g. beau / belle / beaux)

3. Our first sentences

Very simple sentences can be built using a subject, an adjective and the verb être (to be) such as :

• La maison est grande (The house is big).
• La voiture bleue est chère (The blue car is expensive).
• Tu es grand (You are tall).
• Elle est belle (She is nice).
• Les garçons et les filles sont grands (The boys and the girls are tall) - Note that in this example the "macho" rule applies because the adjective grand is only in concordance with the noun garçons.
• Nous sommes intelligents (We are smart).

Note that the concordance rules apply to the adjective according to the gender and the number of the subject. I advise you to buid such sentences using the few words you have already learnt. It's a good exercise which make you practice the feminine and plurial forms of the adjectives as well as the present tense conjugation of the verb être. Have a good time.

4. More Numbers

• 11 - onze (onz)
• 12 - douze
• 13 - treize [trèz']
• 14 - quatorze
• 15 - quinze
• 16 - seize [sèz']
• 17 - dix-sept
• 18 - dix-huit [dizuit']
• 19 - dix-neuf
• 20 - vingt [vin]
• 21 - vingt et un [vinté un]
• 22 - vingt-deux [vint deu]
• 23 - vingt-trois [vint troi]
• 30 - trente
• 31 - trente et un
• 32 - trente-deux
• 40 - quarante
• 41 - quarante et un
• 42 - quarante-deux
• 50 - cinquante
• 51 - cinquante et un
• 52 - cinquante-deux
• 60 - soixante [soissant']
• 61 - soixante et un [soissanté un]
• 62 - soixante-deux
• 70 - soixante-dix (septante [pronounce the p] in Belgium and Switzerland)
• 71 - soixante-et onze (septante un in Belgium and Switzerland) 72 - soixante-douze
• 73 - soixante-treize
• 74 - soixante-quatorze
• 75 - soixante-quinze
• 76 - soixante-seize
• 77 - soixante-dix sept
• 78 - soixante-dix huit
• 79 - soixante-dix neuf
• 80 - quatre-vingt (octante in Switzerland)
• 81 - quatre-vingt-un (octante un in Switzerland)
• 90 - quatre-vingt-dix (nonante in Switzerland) >
• 91 - quatre-vingt-onze (nonante un in Switzerland)
• 92 - quatre-vingt-douze (nonante trois in Switzerland)
• 93 - quatre-vingt-treize
• 94 - quatre-vingt-quatorze
• 95 - quatre-vingt-quinze
• 96 - quatre-vingt-seize
• 97 - quatre-vingt-dix-sept
• 98 - quatre-vingt-dix-huit
• 99 - quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
• 100 - cent [ssen]
• 200 - deux cents
• 1.000 - mille [meel']
• 10.000 - dix mille

Back to main menu

EMail: languages@jump-gate.com or EMail: leon@jump-gate.com
Copyright © 1994-1997  -  Jump-Gate