Les Adjectifs Qualificatifs (Descriptive Adjectives)

Front 1

Position of descriptive adjectives
In French, unlike in English, most descriptive adjectives....

(a hard-working student)
(an interesting course)

Back 1

In French, unlike in English, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify:

un étudiant travailleur (a hard-working student)
un cours intéressant (an interesting course)

Front 2

Position of descriptive adjectives
In French, like in English, descriptive adjectives are.......

(This student is hard-working)
(He’s hard-working)
(This course is interesting)

Back 2

In French, like in English, descriptive adjectives are often used after the verbe être (to be):

Cet étudiant est travailleur (This student is hard-working)
Il est travailleur (He’s hard-working)
Ce cours est intéressant (This course is interesting)

NB. un étudiant travailleur et intéressant (a hard-working, interesting student)

Front 3

Adjective placed before the noun

(a pretty girl)
(a young man)
(a good idea)
(a big lecture theatre)
(an interesting young man)

Back 3

there is a group of short, commonly-used French adjectives that usually precede the noun.

beauty, age, goodness, size----for adjectives with no more than 2 syllables

une jolie fille (a pretty girl)
un jeune homme (a young man)
une bonne idée (a good idea)
un grand amphithéatre (a big lecture theatre)
NB. un jeune homme intéressant (an interesting young man)

Front 4

Adjective placed after the noun

Back 4

colour, shape, nationality

Front 5

Agreement of descriptive adjectives

Back 5

In French, most descriptive adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun or pronoun they modify.

In other words, they have four possible forms: masculine singular; feminine singular; masculine plural; feminine plural. The feminine singular is usually formed by adding an -e to the masculine singular. Plural adjectives of either gender are usually formed by adding an -s to the singular. Adjectives referring to a group of mixed gender take the masculine plural form:

• Un homme intéressant
• Une femme intéressante
• Des hommes intéressants
• Des femmes intéressantes
• Des hommes et des femmes intéressants

Front 6

Final -d, -s and -t, usually silent in French, are pronounced

Back 6

NB. Final -d, -s and -t, usually silent in French, are pronounced when -e is added:
grand
grande

français
française

intelligent
intelligente

Front 7

EXCEPTIONS

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in an unaccented...

Back 7

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in an unaccented -e do not change in the feminine:
un problème difficile
une question difficile

Front 8

EXCEPTIONS
Certain adjectives whose masculine form ends in -e + consonant

Back 8

Certain adjectives whose masculine form ends in -e + consonant place a grave accent over this -e as well as adding the regular -e to form the feminine:
le premier homme (the first man)
la première femme (the first woman)

le pain complet (wholemeal bread)
la farine complète (wholemeal flour)

Front 9

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in

Back 9

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -f change the -f to -ve in the feminine:
un homme actif (an active man)
une femme active (an active woman)

• un bâtiment neuf (a new building)
• une maison neuve (a new house)

Front 10

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -x

Back 10

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -x change the -x to -se in the feminine
un homme heureux (a happy man)
une femme heureuse (a happy woman)

Front 11

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -eur

Back 11

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -eur change the -eur to -euse in the feminine or, less commonly, to -rice:
un homme travailleur (a hard-working man)
une femme travailleuse (a hard-working woman)

un homme créateur (a creative man)
une femme créatrice (a creative woman)

Front 12

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -el, -ien, -as or -os

Back 12

Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -el, -ien, -as or -os double the final consonant before adding e in the feminine:
quel homme? (which man?)
quelle femme? (which woman?)

un bâtiment ancien (an old building)
une maison ancienne (an old house)

le bas peuple (the lower classes)
la basse saison (the low season)

un gros problème (a big problem)
une grosse erreur (a big mistake)

Front 13

EXCEPTIONS
Some adjectives have irregular feminine endings

Back 13

Some adjectives have irregular feminine endings. These include:
beau belle (handsome / beautiful / good-looking)
blanc blanche (white)
bon bonne (good)
doux douce (soft / gentle / sweet)
faux fausse (false)
fou folle (mad)
frais fraîche (fresh)
gentil gentille (kind / nice)
grec grecque (Greek)
jaloux jalouse (jealous)
nouveau nouvelle (new)
vieux vieille (old)

Front 14

EXCEPTIONS
NB. The masculine singular adjectives beau, nouveau and vieux have an alternative form

Back 14

NB. The masculine singular adjectives beau, nouveau and vieux have an alternative form (bel, nouvel, and vieil) which is used in front of a noun beginning with a vowel or mute h:
un beau garçon (a good-looking boy)
un bel homme (a good-looking man)

un vieux garçon (an old bachelor)
un vieil homme (an old man)

un nouveau logiciel (a new software program)
un nouvel ordinateur (a new computer)

Front 15

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -s or -x

Back 15

Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -s or -x do not change form in the plural:
un vin français
des vins français

• un homme courageux
• des hommes courageux

Front 16

EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -eau add -x

Back 16

Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -eau add -x to form the masculine plural:
un nouveau restaurant
de nouveaux restaurants

Front 17

EXCEPTIONS
Most adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -al

Back 17

Most adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -al change the –al to -aux in the masculine plural:
l’hymne national
les hymnes nationaux

Front 18

EXCEPTIONS
A small number of adjectives are invariable:

Back 18

A small number of adjectives are invariable: they never agree in number or gender with the noun or pronoun they modify. These include:
some adjectives of colour (marron, orange, noisette, kaki, turquoise)
chic
sympa

Front 19

Adjectives preceding plural nouns

When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des.............

Back 19

Adjectives preceding plural nouns

When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des generally becomes de
J’ai des livres français → J’ai de nouveaux livres français
Il y a des films à la télé →Il y a de vieux films à la télé.

Front 20

When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des.............

Except

Back 20

Except if compound type nouns, eg. des jeunes filles, des petits pois

Front 21

Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify

Some adjectives can either precede or follow a noun, but their meaning depends on their

Back 21

Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify
Some adjectives can either precede or follow a noun, but their meaning depends on their position. Generally, the adjective in question has a literal meaning when it follows the noun and a figurative meaning when it precedes the noun.

Front 22

Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify

Back 22

Literal sense Figurative sense
Il a des chaises anciennes
M. Sellier est l’ancien propriétaire
He has antique chairs
Mr Sellier is the former landlord

C’est un lecteur de CD très cher
Ma Chere amie…

That’s a very expensive CD player
My dear friend

C’est un homme très grand
C’est un très grand homme
He’s a very tall man
He’s a great man

Les étudiants pauvres n’ont pas
Pauvres étudiants! Il y a un examen de voiture demain
Poor students don’t have a car
The poor students! There is an exam tomorrow!

Front 23

Placement of more than one adjective

When more than one adjectives modifies a noun.........

Back 23

Placement of more than one adjective
When more than one adjectives modifies a noun, each adjective precedes or follows the noun as it were used alone.

Eg. C’est un vieil immeuble agréable

Front 24

Adjective examples
i'm shy
I do not communicate easily
I am generous
I give a lot to others
I am independent
I like to be free
I hate the routine
I hate monotony
I am passionate about reading
I love reading

Back 24

Je suis timide
Je ne communique pas facilement
Je suis généreuse
Je donne beaucoup aux autres
Je suis indépendante
J’aime être libre
J’ai horreur de la routine
Je déteste la monotonie
Je suis passionné par la lecture
J’adore lire