In this article, we’re going to go through how to use French adjectives:
- what they are,
- how to use them,
- how they change,
- and where to place them in a sentence.
Adjectives are the life-blood of lively French, and it’s the perfect thing to learn about for intermediate French learners.
Author : Marie Drouvin
Salut! Je suis Marie and I'm on a mission to make learning French simple. You can find me on Youtube, or here, on this blog. And if you want to know more about how to learn French, take a look at my book.
What are adjectives?
Adjectives, in French and in English, are words that add details on a noun. So we can use adjectives to get precise about what we are describing, or how something is.
It’s not just a car. It’s a yellow car.
Une voiture jaune.
It’s not just people. It’s 20 people.
Vingt personnes.
It’s not just a man, it’s a handsome one.
Un bel homme.
Adjectives allow us to paint a better picture. To add colours: rouge, bleu, noir, blanc, jaune... To precise quantity : vingt, deux, trente-trois, cent… To be specific : vieux, gros, beau, stricte, gentil,…
Agreement of French adjectives
Because an adjective is closely linked to a noun, it needs to match it. To match is in number, and in genre.
This means that if the noun is plural, then the adjective needs to be plural too. If the noun is feminine, then the adjective needs to be feminine…
So blue is bleu when it’s a blue knife.
Un couteau bleu.
It takes an -e and becomes bleue if we’re talking about a blue rose.
Une rose bleue.
And it takes an -s if we are talking about several ones.
Des couteaux bleus.
Des roses bleues.
However, it’s not always that simple.
Some adjectives have a different spelling if they are feminine. It’s the case of beau. Which becomes BELLE in the feminine.
Un beau jardin. Une belle maison.
Some adjectives also don’t have a regular plural. Beau is one of them. For it doesn’t take an -s but a -x.
Les beaux jardins.
A few, even more troublesome ones, like to change form if the noun after them starts with a vowel or an H.
Those criminal adjectives are BEAU, NOUVEAU and VIEUX.
They become bel, nouvel and vieil in the masculine, in front of a vowel or an H.
Un bel homme.
Un nouvel homme.
Un vieil homme.
Where to place French adjectives in sentences
Besides shifting in form, French adjectives don’t all follow the same pattern when it comes to placement.
So far, you’ve seen:
Un bel homme.
Une voiture jaune.
Vingt personnes.
Des roses bleues.
The adjective is sometimes in front, and sometimes after the noun.
The general rule is that adjectives are placed after the noun they go with.
La maison bleue.
Un cheval énorme.
Ton film préféré.
All colors will be placed after the noun for example.
BUT, any short and common adjective is likely to be placed before the noun.
La belle vie.
Un jeune homme.
La mauvaise réponse.
AND, any adjective that refers to numbers will be placed before.
Vingt personnes.
Sa première fille.
Les trois mousquetaires.
How to learn to use adjectives correctly in French
Overall, adjectives aren’t very easy to use in French. Not because the rules aren’t easy.
But because there are a lot of exceptions.
This is why I’ve created a new workshop all about adjectives.
This workshop is a set of audio drills that will help you memorize how adjectives change, and where to place them.
It contains 100 of the most common adjectives, their translations, their plural, their feminine, their plural feminine and an example of how to use each one.
It comes with a PDF and audio so you just have to listen and repeat to memorize them.
With 100 adjectives under your belt, you’ll be way on your way to add some color to your French. You’ll be able to be more precise when you speak when you write, and you’ll understand French in more detail.
Happy learning!
