Introduction

French adjectives agree with the noun they describe, that's to say they reflect it's gender and
number.

Adjective Construction

The first female was created from the rib of a man. Feminine adjectives, on the other hand, are
normally created by appending an e to the end of the masculine adjective (Regular Adjectives).

C'est un petit garçon.  C'est une petite fille.

It is a small boy.  It is a small girl.

Feminine adjectives aren't, however, all created the same way; they are a diverse lot. Some
feminine adjectives have doubled final consonants, others are exact replicas of the masculine
adjective (sameness), some undergo bizarre metamorphoses that make them little resemble their
masculine counterparts (oddball adjectives). 

Plural adjectives are formed by appending an s to the end of a masculine or feminine adjective.

Les lits bleus sont là-bas. (lit is masculine)

The blue beds are over there.

Les lampes bleues sont à la mode.(lampe is feminine)

Blue lamps are in fashion.

There are, however, some plural adjectives which are made differently (Odd Plurals). 

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 Regular Adjectives
The final consonant is usually silent in masculine adjectives and pronounced in feminine adjectives.

Masculine Feminine  
chaud chaude warm
court courte short
droit droite right
fort forte strong
 froid froide cold
gris grise gray
haut haute high
laid laide ugly
lourd lourde heavy
mauvais mauvaise evil
parfait parfaite perfect
petit petite small
sourd sourde deaf

The endings of the following masculine adjectives are nasalized.  The feminine adjecive endings aren't
nasalized and the final consonant pronounced. 

Masculine Feminine  
amusant amusante amusing
content contente content
grand grande big
intelligent intelligente intelligent
intéressant intéressante interesting
méchant méchante mean
lent lente slow
plein pleine full
prochain prochaine next
puissant puissante powerful

The following masculine and feminine adjectives are pronounced the same despite different spellings.

 
bleu bleue blue
clair claire clear
compliqué compliquée complicated
 désolé désolée sorry
dur dure hard
égal égale equal
fatigué fatiguée tired
gai gaie happy
joli jolie pretty
noir noire black
poli polie polite
sûr sûre sure
practice regular adjectives
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Sameness

Masculine Feminine  
agréable agréable agreeable
calme calme calm
célèbre célèbre famous
désagréable désagréable disagreeable
difficile difficile difficult
facile facile easy
fantastique fantastique fantastic
fidèle fidèle loyal
formidable formidable formidable
gauche gauche left
honnête honnête honest
jaune jaune yellow
jeune jeune young
 
Masculine Feminine  
large large large
libre libre free
magnifique magnifique magnificent
malade malade sick
mince mince thin
moderne moderne modern
nécessaire nécessaire necessary
pauvre pauvre poor, unfortunate
rapide rapide fast
riche riche rich
sale sale dirty

The following color adjectives have identical masculine/feminine forms as well as identical
singular/plural forms.

orange orange orange

ivoire ivoire ivory
marron marron brown
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Doubled Last Consonant

-n/-nne  
Masculine Feminine  
ancien ancienne ancient
bon bonne good
chrétien chrétienne Christian
 européen européenne European
italien italienne Italian
moyen moyenne middle
parisien parisienne Parisian
paysan paysanne rural

-s/-sse  
bas basse low
épais épaisse thick
gras grasse fatty
gros grosse fat
las lasse weary
-t/-tte  
muet muette mute
net nette clean, clear-cut
sot sotte stupid, foolish
 
-l/lle  
cruel cruelle cruel
gentil gentille nice
nul nulle none
pareil pareille similar

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

-Er & -Et endings

When an e is added to er ending masculine adjectives, a grave accent is placed over the e of er.
Often the addition of this e causes the pronunciation of the adjective to change but not always.
 amer amère bitter
cher chère dear, expensive
dernier dernière last
entier entière entire
étranger étrangère foriegn
fier fière proud,hauty
léger légère light
premier première first

The same goes for many adjectives ending in -et.

complet complète complete

concret concrète concrete
discret discrète discreet
inquiet inquiète uneasy
secret secrète secret

Odd Transformations
The feminine forms of some adjectives are based on an archaic masculine form.  This archaic masculine
form is still used before masculine nouns that begin with a vowel or silent 'h'.

Masculine beau nouveau vieux fou mou

Archaic Masculine bel nouvel vieil fol mol
Feminine belle nouvelle vieille folle molle
  beautiful new old crazy soft
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Normally, adjectives ending in -x replace the -x with -se to form the feminine. 

Masculine Feminine  
 amoureux amoureuse in love
courageux courageuse courageous
curieux curieuse curious
ennuyeux ennuyeuse boring
furieux furieuse furious
heureux heureuse happy
jaloux  jalouse jealous
merveilleux merveilleuse marvelous
peureux peureuse fearful
sérieux sérieuse serious

The -eur ending masculine adjectives are an odd lot.  They follow three different patterns. 
 The following -eur ending adjectives follow the regular pattern:   

 
antérieur antérieure anterior
postérieur postérieure posterior
extérieur extérieure exterior
intérieur intérieure interior
inférieur inférieure inferior
supérieur supérieure superior
majeur majeure major
mineur mineure minor
meilleur meilleure better
 When an -eur ending adjective is derived from a verb, it ends with -euse.

 
Root Verbs Masculine Feminine  
flatter flatteur flatteuse flattering
 mentir menteur menteuse lying, deceptive
moqueur moqueur moqueuse mocking
tromper trompeur trompeuse deceitful
 When an adjective ends in -teur, the feminine ending is -trice. 

acteur actrice acting

conservateur conservatrice conservative
créateur créatrice creative
protecteur protectrice protective
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Demonstrative Adjectives

Masculine Feminine
ce
singular cette
cet (before vowels and 'h')
plural ces ces

These adjectives are equivalent to English's 'this', 'that', and 'these'.

Ce tableau est magnifique.

This painting is magnificent.

Cet homme est sage.

That man is wise.

Cette histoire est émouvante.

That story is moving.

Demonstrative pronouns don't express closeness and distance like 'this' (near) and 'that ' (far).  To
express closeness in French append -ci to the noun.

cette baguette-ci this baguette

and -la to the noun to express distance.

cette baguette-la that baguette
Before a masculine noun that begins with a vowel or silent h, cet is used.

Cet hôtel est bon marché.  This hotel is cheap.

Cet homme est fâché. That man is angry.
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Indefinites
Un autre homme impitoyable prendra sa place. 
An other ruthless man will take his place. 

Différentes personnes ont différents goûts.

Different people have different tastes. 

Elle a la même chemise que toi. 

She has the same shirt as you. 

Plusieurs personnes sont venues à leur aide. 

Several people came to their aid. 

Quelques routes sont bloquées. 

A few roads are blocked. 

Certaines lois de physique ne s'appliquent pas dans cette dimension.

Certain laws of physics do not apply in that dimension. 

Aucune femme ne nous aime.

No woman loves us. 

Peu d'arbres ont survécu au gel. 

Few trees survived the freeze. 

Tous les hommes sont créé égaux. 

All men are created equal. 

Chaque soldat s'est rendu. 

Every soldier surrendered. 

Tout le monde a survécu à l'accident . 

Everyone survived the accident. 

practice indefinite adjectives

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Placement
Adjectives usually are placed after the noun they modify. There is a short list of adjectives that typically
are placed before the noun. Most are short, one or two syllable words.

autre another haut high

beau beautiful joli pretty
bref brief mauvais evil
bon good nouveau new
double double petit small
faux false vaste vast
grand large vieux old
gros fat

une belle montagne a beautiful mountain

le mauvais Dr Villard the evil Dr. Villard
la petite bombe. the small bomb

There are other adjectives which can come before or after a noun.  When placed before a noun they
typically take on a more figurative meaning.

L' homme pauvre a man poor in respect to money

Le pauvre homme a man that is unfortunate or deserving of pity

un ancien président  a former president. 

un président ancien an old president
 
ma chère mère  my dear mother
un légume cher an expensive vegetable
 
un grand peintre  a great painter
un peintre grand a tall painter
 
ma propre cuisine my own kitchen
ma cuisine propre my clean kitchen

Il est la seule personne qui a terminé la

 He is the only person that finished the race.
course .
Un homme seul ne peut pas sauver le monde. A single man cannot save the world.  We
Nous devons le faire ensemble. must do it together. 
  
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Odd Plurals
A few adjectives have irregular masculine plurals. 

For adjectives ending in -x , the masculine singular and plural forms are identical. 

un enfant heureux des enfants heureux

a happy child some happy children
     
  un petit ami jaloux des jaloux petits amis
  a jealous boyfriend some jealous boyfriends

     The feminine plural still aquires the s.

Elle est une femme courageuse. Elles sont des femmes courageuses.
  She is a courageous woman.  They are courageous women.

The same is true for -s ending adjectives. 

J'aime votre costume gris. J'aime vos costumes gris.

  I love your grey suit. I love your grey suits.

  Regardez les voitures grises. (voiture is feminine)

Look at the gray cars.

A few adjectives add -x to form plurals.

Masculine
Masculine Singular  
Plural
hebreu hebreux hebrew
beau beaux beautiful
nouveau nouveaux new
Most adjectives that end in -al replace the -al with -aux to form the masculine plural.

Masculine
Masculine Singular  
Plural
légal légaux legal
loyal loyaux loyal
médieval médievaux medieval
normal normaux normal
royal royaux royal

Exceptions: banal banals commonplace, fatal fatals inevitable, natal natals native, naval
navals shipbuilding

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Possessive Adjectives

  Masculine Feminine* masculine and feminine plural

my mon ma mes
your ton ta tes
his/her son sa ses
our notre notre nos
your votre votre vos
their leur leur leurs

*When a feminine noun begins with a vowel or silent h, a masculine possessive adjective is used.
See the examples below.

Le monde est mon  pays, Tous les hommes sont mes frères.
- Thomas Paine, Les Droits de l'homme
  The world is my country, all men are my brothers.
     
  Ma montre est cassée. Mes livres ont des centaines d'années .
  My watch is broken.  My books are hundreds of years old.
   
   Notre maison est simple.  Leurs idées sont étranges.
    Our house is simple.  Their ideas are strange. 
   
  Vous avez manqué votre bus.
  You missed your bus.

Feminine Nouns beginning with a Vowel

Mon actrice préférée est dans ce film. 

My favorite actress is in this movie.

Son amitié est importante pour nous. 

His friendship is important to us.
Ton école est amusante.
Your school is fun.

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