Adjective Agreement

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Adjectives are words that describe nouns. For example, the noun “teacher” can be accompanied by the adjective “tall” as in “the tall teacher.” Because of the adjective “tall,” you now know more about this teacher. From your study of French nouns, you know that each noun has a gender associated with it (le livre and la classe). Adjectives can also be masculine or feminine, singular or plural: grand, grande, grands, grandes.

Pierre est grand. “Peter is tall.” Marie est grande. “Mary is tall.”

Since Pierre is a singular, masculine noun, the adjective that describes him (grand) must also be singular and masculine. Since Marie is singular and feminine, the adjective that describes her (grande) must also be feminine and singular. This concept is known as noun-adjective agreement. Adjectives need to agree in gender and in number with the noun they modify.

Le garçon est grand. “The boy is tall.” Les garçons sont grands.“The boys are tall.”

La fille est grande. “The girl is tall.” Les filles sont grandes. “The girls are tall.”

Ma petite soeur a 12 ans. “My little sister is 12 years old.” Mon petit frère a 12 ans. “My little brother is 12 years old.”

Agreement rules

1. When you change an adjective from masculine to feminine in French, you must consider a few things:

General Rule: For most adjectives, simply add –e at the end

of the adjective.

vert verte Il est occupé. Elle est occupée.

General Rule: When adjectives end in an –e without an accent, don’t make any change.

Il est artistique. Elle est artistique.

Adjective Agreement

Adjective Agreement © 2012 Middlebury Interactive Languages. Page 2

General Rule: When adjectives end in –eux, drop the -x and

add –se.

Il est paresseux. Elle est paresseuse.

General Rule: When adjectives end in –f, drop the -f and add –ve.

Il est actif. Elle est active.

2. When you change an adjective from singular to plural in French, there are also

several rules:

General Rule: For most adjectives, simply add –s at the end of the adjective.

Il est triste. Ils sont tristes. Elle est amusante. Elles sont amusantes.

In the following sentences, the je is a boy because there is not an extra e at the end of fatigué, and the nous is either a group of boys or a mixed group of girls and boys.

Je suis fatigué. Nous sommes fatigués.

However, in the next sentences, je is a girl because of the extra e at the end of fatiguée, and nous, with the es at the end of fatiguées, must be a group of ONLY girls.

Je suis fatiguée. Nous sommes fatiguées.

General Rule: When adjectives end in –s or –x, there is no change.

Il est sérieux. Ils sont sérieux. Il est mauvais. Ils sont mauvais.