Lesson 1 of 5Décrire: Describing People, Places and Things
Unit 2 · Lesson 1 of 5
Adjective Agreement and Placement
French adjectives change their ending to match the noun they describe (masculine or feminine, singular or plural), and most of them come after the noun, except a small group of common ones remembered as BAGS.
4Most adjectives go after the noun; BAGS adjectives (beauty, age, goodness, size) go before it: une voiture rouge but une petite voiture.
5Before a masculine singular noun starting with a vowel or silent h: bel, nouvel, vieil (un bel arbre, un nouvel ami, un vieil hôtel).
6A group that includes at least one masculine noun takes the masculine plural: Paul et Julie sont contents.
An adjective is a describing word: tall, red, happy, new. In English an adjective never changes — a tall boy, a tall girl, two tall girls. French is different. Every French noun is masculine or feminine (you met this with le and la), and an adjective has to match the noun it describes, in gender and in number. This is called agreement. So petit (small) has four forms: un petit chien (a small dog), une petite maison (a small house), des petits chiens, des petites maisons. Why bother? Agreement ties a description to the right noun: in une voiture et un vélo verts, the plural -s tells you both are green. It also changes how words sound, so if you get it wrong, a francophone hears it. The second thing English speakers must learn is position: in French, most adjectives come after the noun — une voiture rouge, literally a car red. Only a short list of very common adjectives goes in front.
Masculine singular
Feminine singular (+e)
Masculine plural (+s)
Feminine plural (+es)
Meaning
petit
petite
petits
petites
small, short
grand
grande
grands
grandes
tall, big
vert
verte
verts
vertes
green
bleu
bleue
bleus
bleues
blue
content
contente
contents
contentes
happy, pleased
fatigué
fatiguée
fatigués
fatiguées
tired
Start from the masculine singular form, which is the one listed in a dictionary. Add -e for feminine, -s for plural, and both (-es) for feminine plural.
Why the feminine e matters when you speak
In French, a final consonant is usually silent: petit ends in a t you do not say. When you add -e, that consonant is no longer last, so you pronounce it: petite ends with a clear t sound. The same happens with grand / grande (you hear the d) and vert / verte (you hear the t). That is why agreement is not just spelling: il est petit and elle est petite sound different. (Before a vowel, liaison can hide the difference: un petit ami and une petite amie sound the same.) When the adjective ends in a vowel (bleu / bleue, fatigué / fatiguée), the two forms sound the same and the difference is only on paper. The plural -s is almost always silent.
Adjectives with special forms
Masculine ending
Feminine ending
Examples (m. → f.)
-e (no accent)
no change
jeune (young), rouge (red), facile (easy), sympathique (nice), drôle (funny)
Each pattern exists to keep the sound regular: heureux would be impossible to pronounce with just an e added, so French writes heureuse. Notice that an adjective already ending in e does not take a second one.
Plural rule
Examples
Most adjectives: add -s
petits, contentes, sportives
Already ends in -s or -x: no change in the masculine plural
gris (grey) → des chats gris; heureux → des garçons heureux
-eau → -eaux
beau → beaux, nouveau → nouveaux
-al → -aux (masculine only)
génial → géniaux (great); but feminine géniales
Where the adjective goes
By default, a French adjective goes after the noun. This is true of colours (un sac noir, a black bag), nationalities (un film français, a French film), shapes (une table ronde, a round table) and most personality words (une amie sympathique, a nice friend). A small group of short, very common adjectives goes before the noun instead. You can remember them with the letters BAGS: Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size. These are the adjectives French speakers use so often that they have become almost part of the noun.
Fig 1Most adjectives follow the noun; the BAGS adjectives of beauty, age, goodness and size come before it. Every adjective agrees with its noun.
BAGS
Adjectives that go before the noun
Example
Beauty
beau (beautiful, handsome), joli (pretty)
une jolie maison (a pretty house)
Age
jeune (young), vieux (old), nouveau (new)
un nouveau vélo (a new bike)
Goodness
bon (good), mauvais (bad)
une bonne idée (a good idea)
Size
grand (big, tall), petit (small), gros (big, fat)
un petit chien (a small dog)
You can use a BAGS adjective and an ordinary one together: une petite voiture rouge (a small red car).
Masc. sing.
Masc. sing. before a vowel sound
Fem. sing.
Masc. plural
Fem. plural
beautiful
beau
bel (un bel arbre)
belle
beaux
belles
new
nouveau
nouvel (un nouvel ami)
nouvelle
nouveaux
nouvelles
old
vieux
vieil (un vieil hôtel)
vieille
vieux
vieilles
Three BAGS adjectives have a special extra form, used only before a masculine singular noun that starts with a vowel or a silent h.
Why bel, nouvel and vieil exist
French dislikes two vowel sounds bumping into each other. Un beau arbre would put the vowel sound of beau right against the a of arbre. So French uses a form that ends in a consonant sound and links smoothly: un bel arbre (a beautiful tree), un nouvel ami (a new friend), un vieil homme (an old man; the h is silent). These forms sound exactly like the feminine belle, nouvelle and vieille. In the plural there is no problem, because the -x links to the next word with a z sound: de beaux arbres, de vieux amis.
Three more agreement habits
1. After être, the adjective still agrees.Ma sœur est grande. Les fenêtres sont ouvertes.2. A mixed group is masculine plural.Paul et Julie sont contents — one masculine noun is enough to make the group masculine. 3. In careful writing, des becomes de before a plural adjective placed in front of the noun:de bons amis, de beaux arbres. You will hear des in casual speech, but de is the written standard.
Loading interactive…
Switch the noun between masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and watch the article and adjectives change to agree, with the rule for each ending shown.
In context: an email to a new pen pal
Salut Amina ! Je m'appelle Chloé et j'habite à Sudbury, en Ontario. J'ai une petite sœur, Maya. Elle est sportive et très drôle. Mon frère Lucas est grand et un peu paresseux, mais il est gentil. Nous avons un vieux chien noir et une belle maison blanche près d'un grand lac. Mes parents sont sérieux, mais ils sont aussi très sympathiques. Comment est ta famille ? À bientôt, Chloé
Translation: Hi Amina! My name is Chloé and I live in Sudbury, Ontario. I have a little sister, Maya. She is athletic and very funny. My brother Lucas is tall and a bit lazy, but he is kind. We have an old black dog and a beautiful white house near a big lake. My parents are serious, but they are also very nice. What is your family like? Talk soon, Chloé. Check each adjective: petite and sportive are feminine to match Maya; paresseux and gentil stay masculine for Lucas; sérieux does not change in the plural because it already ends in -x. Position: vieux, belle, grand and petite are BAGS adjectives, so they come first, while the colours noir and blanche come after the noun.
Worked examples
Reveal one step at a time and try to beat it to the next line.
Example 1
Translate: a green shirt (chemise is feminine).
Example 2
Translate: an old hotel.
Example 3
Translate: Julie and Marc are happy.
Example 4
Translate: two big black dogs.
Where marks get lost
Copying English word order: une rouge voiture. Colours go after the noun: une voiture rouge.
Forgetting that adjectives agree after être: Ma sœur est grand. Correct: Ma sœur est grande.
Just adding -e to every adjective: une fille heureuxe, une amie sportife. Use the pattern: heureuse, sportive.
Writing un beau hôtel or un nouveau ami. Before a masculine noun starting with a vowel sound, use un bel hôtel, un nouvel ami.
Making a mixed group feminine because the last noun is feminine: Marc et Julie sont contentes. Any masculine noun makes the group masculine: contents.
Flashcards 9
The four forms of petit
Feminine of heureux
Feminine of sportif
Feminine of canadien and bon
+ 5 more
Practice
1
What is the feminine singular form of heureux (happy)?
2
Which phrase correctly says a red car (voiture is feminine)?
3
Write the correct form of sportif: Mes sœurs sont très ___.
4
Write the correct form of nouveau: C'est un ___ ami. (ami is masculine.)
5
Choose the correct form of beau: Ils ont un ___ appartement. (appartement is masculine.)
6
Write the correct form of vieux: Ma grand-mère est ___.
7
Write the correct form of vert: Les pommes sont ___. (pomme is feminine.)
8
Choose the correct form of content: Paul et Sophie sont ___.
9
Match each masculine adjective to its feminine form.
canadien
actif
cher
blanc
gentil
10
Which sentence contains an error?
11
Put the steps for describing a noun with an adjective in the order this lesson's worked examples use.
1Write the article, noun and adjective in order
2Check for bel, nouvel or vieil before a masculine vowel sound
3Add the right ending: -e, -s, -es or a special pattern
4Find the noun's gender and number
5Decide whether the adjective is a BAGS adjective (before) or not (after)