In English, adjectives are wonderfully low-maintenance. A small dog, a small house, three small dogs: the word “small” never changes.
French asks a little more of you. Adjectives like petit (small), grand (big), and intelligent (intelligent) change their endings depending on the nouns they describe.
This is called adjective agreement, and once you know what to look for, most of the changes follow a predictable pattern.
The first thing we need to know is what noun the adjective is describing. French adjectives agree with that noun in two ways:
- Gender: Is the noun masculine or feminine?
- Number: Is it singular or plural?
Start with the masculine singular form of the adjective. For most adjectives, you’ll add -e for feminine, -s for plural, or -es for feminine plural. Here’s what that looks like with petit (small):
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | petit | petits |
| feminine | petite | petites |
That’s the basic pattern. Now let’s put it to work.
1. Gender Agreement: Masculine vs. Feminine
Every French noun has a grammatical gender, even when it refers to an object rather than a person. Take petit (small):
The adjective changes because chien is masculine and maison is feminine. The same pattern works with many other adjectives:
When the Adjective Already Ends in -E
Some adjectives already end in -e, such as rouge (red), jeune (young), and facile (easy). For these, the masculine and feminine forms are identical.
No need to add another e. French has enough “extra” letters already.
2. Number Agreement: Singular vs. Plural
Adjectives also change depending on whether they’re describing one thing or several. For most adjectives, just add -s to make them plural.
Notice that the adjective keeps its gender agreement too. Feminine plural adjectives commonly end in -es, because they combine the feminine -e with the plural -s.
If an adjective already ends in -s or -x, the masculine plural usually stays the same as the masculine singular form:
Multiple Adjectives
When several adjectives describe the same noun, they all need to agree with it.
Each adjective describes the same noun, so they all follow the same agreement rules.
3. Common Irregular Endings
Of course, not every adjective follows the simple -e, -s, -es pattern. Some change their endings in other ways. Fortunately, many of these changes fall into recognizable groups.
| masculine | feminine | pattern |
|---|---|---|
| heureux | heureuse | -eux → -euse |
| sportif | sportive | -f → -ve |
| bon | bonne | double the n + e |
| naturel | naturelle | double the l + e |
| premier | première | -er → -ère |
| blanc | blanche | -c → -che |
A few examples:
And don’t forget: these adjectives still take plural forms. For example, heureuse becomes heureuses when describing several feminine nouns.
Masculine Plural Endings
Most adjectives simply add -s in the masculine plural, but there’s another common pattern: most adjectives ending in -al change to -aux.
The feminine forms still follow the regular pattern:
There are a few exceptions, such as banal → banals, but -al → -aux is the rule to remember.
4. Beau, Vieux, and Nouveau
Three very common adjectives deserve special attention: beau (beautiful), vieux (old), and nouveau (new).
They have irregular feminine and plural forms, but there’s also a surprise: they have a special masculine singular form before a vowel sound or silent h.
| beautiful | old | new | |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | beau | vieux | nouveau |
| masculine before a vowel or silent h | bel | vieil | nouvel |
| feminine | belle | vieille | nouvelle |
| masculine plural | beaux | vieux | nouveaux |
| feminine plural | belles | vieilles | nouvelles |
Compare:
The same happens with vieux and nouveau:
The special forms bel, vieil, and nouvel aren’t feminine. They’re still masculine; they simply make the words easier to pronounce together.
5. A Few More Rules
Adjectives Don’t Have to Sit Next to the Noun
Even when an adjective comes after a verb like être (to be), it still agrees with the noun it’s describing.
The adjective may be farther away from the noun, but the agreement rule hasn’t changed.
Some Adjectives Never Change
Some adjectives are invariable, meaning they keep the same spelling regardless of gender or number. This is especially common with certain colors, including orange and marron (brown).
Not all color adjectives work this way: vert becomes verte, verts, and vertes, for example.
For most adjectives, though, your starting strategy stays the same: identify the noun, check its gender and number, and apply the appropriate ending. Now it’s time to put those endings to work in the Adjective Agreement deck.