Our Day 25

Immersion – 25
Adjectifs –Genre et en nombre
(Adjectives - Gender and Number)

• French nouns have both gender and number.
• To match the nouns the French adjectives also change accordingly in gender and number.

I. Gender of Adjectives

     1. Most of the masculine adjectives become feminine by adding “-e” at the end.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	grand	grande	big, tall
2	Petit	petite	small
3	vert	verte	green
4	joli	jolie	pretty
5	froid	froide	cold
6	chaud	chaude	hot
7	brun	brune	brown

     2. Adjectives ending in “-e” remain the same for both masculine and feminine.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	calme	calme	calm
2	jaune	jaune	yellow
3	rouge	rouge	red
4	pourpre	pourpre	purple
5	rose	rose	pink
6	sage	sage	wise

     3. Masculine adjectives ending in “er” change the ending as “ère” in the feminine.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	fier	fière	proud
2	cher	chère	dear,expensive
3	léger	légère	light
4	premier	première	first
5	dernier	dernière	last

     4. Adjectives ending in”f”in masculine change the ending as”ve” in feminine.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	sportif	sportive	athletic
2	actif	active	active
3	noctif	noctive	harmful

     5. Adjectives ending in ’on’and ‘en’ in masculine double the last consonant and add the ‘e’ mute in the feminine.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	ancien(ahN-syaN)	ancienne(ahN-syehN)	ancient
2	bon(bohN)	bonne(bohhN)	good
3	canadien(kah-nah-dee-ahN)	canadienne(kah-nah-dee-ehN)	Canadian
4	Indien(ahN-dee-ahN)	Indienne(ahN-dee-ehN)	Indian
5	Italien(ee-tahlee-ahN)	Italienne(ee-tah-lee-ehN)	Italian

     6. Adjectives ending in ‘-eux’ and ‘-eur’ in masculine change the ending as ‘-euse’ in feminine.

          Example:

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	heureux(uh-ruh)	heureuse (uh-ruhz)	Happy
2	travailleur(trah-vahy-uhr)	travailleuse (trah-vahy-uhz)	Hard working
3	délicieux (dey-lee-see-uh)	délicieuse (duy-lee-see-uhz)	delicious
4	poreux (poh-ruh)	poreuse (poh-ruhz)	porous

     7. Some irregular adjectives

          A few adjectives given below have very irregular forms in the feminine singular

No	Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
1	beau (boh)	belle (behl)	beautiful
2	nouveau (nooh-voh)	nouvelle (nooh-vehl)	new
3	vieux (vyuh)	vieille (vyehy)	old
4	faux (foh)	fausse (fohz)	wrong
5	doux (doh)	douce (dohs)	gentle
6	frais (frehz)	fraîche (frehz)	fresh

         Example:

          1) un beau garÇon = A beautiful (handsome) boy
              une belle fille = A beautiful girl

          2) un nouveau manteau = A new coat
              une nouvelle robe = A new dress

          3) un vieux bureau = An old desk
              une vieille maison = An old house

II. Number (Singular / Plural) of the adjectives

     1. Most of the singular adjectives become plural by adding‘s’ at the end for both masculine          and feminine.

         Example:

Singular	Plural	Meaning
fatigué (fah-tee-gey)	fatiqués (fah-tee-gey)	tired
bon (bohN)	bons (bohN)	good
grand (grahN)	grands (grahN)	big,tall
Petit (puh-tee)	Petits (puh-tee)	small
calme (kahlm)	calmes (kahlm)	calm

     2. Adjectives ending with ‘x’ remain the same in singular and plural.

         Example:

Singular	Plural	Meaning
heureux (uh-ruh)	heureux (uh-ruh)	happy
faux (foh)	faux (foh)	wrong
doux (doh)	doux (doh)	gentle
vieux	vieux	old

     3. For some adjectives plurals are formed with an –x

         Example:

Singular	Plural	Meaning
nouveau	nouveaux	new
beau	beaux	beautiful
international	internationaux	international

III. Gender and number of interrogative adjectives

English	French
	Masculine		Feminine
Which/What	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
	quel	quels	quelle	quelles

IV. Putting the adjectives in the right place

     1. In English,adjectives always preceed the noun they describe.
        But in French most of the adjectives are placed after the noun they describe.

         Example:

               English : An interesting trip.
               French: un voyage intéressant (uhN voh-yahzh aN-tey-reh-sahN)

     2.But in the following cases the adjectives go in front of the nouns as in English.

Remember:         B-A-N-G-S

               B- Beauty

               A- Age

               N- Number

               G-Goodness

               S-Size

               The above related adjectives will precede the nouns.

         Example:

               Beauty -      beau/belle (boh/behl) = beautiful
                                   joli/jolie (zhoh-lee) = pretty

               Age -           jeune (zhuhn) = young
                                   vieux/vieille (vyuh/vy-ey-hy) = old
                                   nouveau/nouvelle (nooh-voh/nooh-vehl) = new

               Number -    premier/première (pruh-myey/pruh-myehr) = first, premier
                                   dernier/dernière (dehr-nyey-dehr-nyehr) = last
                                   deux (duh) = two
                                   trois (trwah) = three

               Goodness
                   or
                lack of it -  bon/bonne (bohN/bohhN) = good
                                   mauvais /mauvaise (moh-veh/moh-vehz) = bad
                                   gentil/gentille (zhahN –tee/zhahN-tee-ehy) = nice

               Size -           grand/grande (grahN/grahNd) = big,tall
                                   petit/petite (puh-tee/puh-teet) = small,little
                                   gros/grosse (groh/grohs) = large,fat,thick

               Note: When adjectives preceed the noun “des” changes in to “de”

         Example:

                1. de jolies jupes = some beautiful skirts

                2. de belles maisons = some beautiful houses

                3. de petites voitures = some small cars.

V. Adjectives that take different meaning when they are placed before and after the noun.

         Example:

No	Adjective	Before the noun	After the noun
1	ancien/ancienne (ahN-syaN/ahN-syehN)	former	old
2	cher/chère (shehr/shehr)	dear	expensive
3	pauvre (poh-vruh)	unfortunate	penniless, poor
4	propre (proh-pruh)	own	clean
5	certain (sehr-than)	particular	sure
6	même (mehm)	same	very same

         Example:

                1. un ancien collègue (uhN-nahN-syaN koh-lehg) = A former colleague.
                    un bâtiment ancien (uhN bah-tee-mahN-ahN-syaN) = An old building.

                2. une robe chère (ewn shehr rohb) = An expensive dress.
                    mon cher ami (mohN shehr ah-mee) = My dear friend.

                3. un pauvre garÇon (uhN poh-vruh gahr-sohN) = An unfortunate boy.
                    un enfant pauvre (uh-nahN-fahN poh-vruh) = A poor child.

VI. The colour adjectives always follow the noun.

         Example:

                une jupe verte (ewn zhewp vehrt) = A green skirt.