French Adjectives

Overview

As mentioned earlier, an adjective is a word that describes a noun. Unlike in English, French adjectives agree with the noun’s gender and number. An adjective is an important element to any language. These words tell the listener or the reader what something looks, feels, smells or sounds like. Adjectives are known as descriptive words.

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French Adjectives

An adjective is a descriptive word. It describes a noun or a pronoun. In the English sentences below, the adjective is italicized and the word that it is describing is underlined.

I have a big dog.

I love this yellow birdhouse.

She is so energetic!

In French, there are several forms of adjectives. As usual, they are either in their masculine, feminine, plural, or preceding-vowel form depending on what is being described. The most common form of writing adjectives in French is to start with the masculine singular form and add letters to the end of the word where needed. This concept is outlined in the table below with the example intelligent.

Intelligent - Intelligent/Smart

Form	Rule	Adjective	Example
Masculine Singular	Default	Intelligent	Il est intelligent!
Feminine Singular	Add -e to masculine singular form	Intelligente	C'est une fille intelligente.
Masculine Plural	Add -s to masculine singular form	Intelligents	Les élèves sont très intelligents!
Feminine Plural	Add -es to masculine singular form	Intelligentes	Les deux sœurs ne sont pas intelligentes.

Note: Before, the gender of plural nouns was not important for choosing definite/indefinite/partitive articles. However, you should know the gender of the plural nouns that you wish to describe as their adjective spellings will change for each.

Other Adjective Rules:

Masculin adjective ending in...	Change to… in order to make it feminine	Examples Masc. → Fem.	Translation
-l	-lle	gentil → gentille	nice
-et	-ète	inquiet → inquiète	worried
-teur	-trice	manipulateur → manipulatrice	manipulative
-f	ive	actif → active	active/sporty
-x	-se	heureux → heureuse	happy
-er	-ère	cher → chère	expensive
-el	-elle	cruel → cruelle	cruel
-an, -en, -on	-anne, -enne, -onne	bon → bonne	good

Note: There are several other adjective forms as well as a variety of irregular adjective spellings (which don’t follow any rule/pattern).

Adjective Placement

Unlike in the English examples above, the French adjective most often follows the word that it is describing. Look how these French sentences would translate literally to English:

Le héros courageux a sauvé le peuple.

Literal English translation: The hero courageous saved the people.

Actual meaning: The courageous hero saved the people.

J’étudie (study) avec les garçons drôles de la classe.

Literal English translation: I study with the boys funny of the class.

Actual meaning: I study with the funny boys of the class.

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Alexa teaches you 25 really useful French adjectives and their opposites.
-credit: Learn French with Alexa

List of Common French Adjectives

âgé	old/elderly
amical	friendly
ancien	old, ancient, time-honored, antique; former, ex; senior
argenté/e	silver
assuré	confident
autre	distinct, different; supplementary; other, remaining
beau	beautiful (with masculine word), good-looking, handsome, lovely, fine; noble; nice, tidy, good
belle	beautiful (with feminine person or noun)/ pretty
bizarre	odd, peculiar, strange
blanc	white; Caucasian; blank; innocent, pure
bleu	blue
bon	good, sound; valid; nice; right, correct; proper
bronzé	tan
brun/e (or) marron	brown
certain	definite, positive, clear, certain
chaud	warm, hot; ardent, keen; horny
cher	dear, beloved; expensive
clair	light, bright; clear; thin, sparse; obvious
confus	embarrassed, confused, ashamed
content	happy, glad, pleased
courageux	brave
dernier	last, final; previous; bottom; highest, top
désolé	apologetic, contrite, sorry; disconsolate, sorrowful; desolate, bleak
désorienté	confused
différent	different
difficile	difficult, hard, tough
doré/e	gold
doux	soft, smooth, sweet, milk
droit	straight; upright, plumb; honest, sound, sane
drôle	comical, funny, amusing; strange, funny, peculiar
du brouillard (il y a)	foggy
du soleil (il y a)	sunny
du vent (il y a)	windy
effrayé	scared
ennuyé	annoyed
ennuyeux	boring
entier	whole, entire; absolute, complete; intact
épuisé	exhausted
étrange	strange, odd
fâché	angry
facile	easy
faible	weak (person, object)
fatigué	tired
faux	wrong, untrue, false, mistaken; fake, forged, imitation, counterfeit
fort	strong, sturdy, powerful, hard, weighty; big, thick, stout, large; intense
frais	cool
français	French
froid	cold, chilly; insensitive, unfeeling; unfriendly; bleak
gèle	freezing
gentil	kind, nice, sweet
grand	tall, big, large, long, great, full-grown; major, top, leading, important
grave	grave, solemn; serious; major / totally (slang)
gris/e	gray
gros	large, big, thick; fat, heavy
haut	high, tall; top; lofty, high-minded
heureux	happy, glad, lucky, fortunate
humain	human; humane
humide	humid
impatient	impatient
important	important, significant, serious; substantial, large, sizeable, considerable
impossible	impossible; unbearable; intolerable
inquiet	worried
intelligent	smart
intéressant	interesting
jaune	yellow
jeune	young, green
joli	pretty, lovely, nice, attractive
juste	fair; just, legitimate; right
léger	light, subtle, superficial
libre	free; available; vacant
long, longue	long
lourd	heavy
malade	ill, sick, unwell; bad, diseased; mentally ill
mauvais	bad, poor; wrong, faulty; unpleasant, nasty
méchant	mean
meilleur	better, superior
même	same
mince	thin
moche, laid	ugly
mort	dead; buried, long-gone; lifeless, dull, stagnant
naïf	naive
navré	sorry
neige	snowing
nerveux	nervous
noir	black; dirty, grimy; dark; gloomy, somber
nouveau	new, young; latest; further; novel, original
nuageux	cloudy
orageux	stormy
orange	orange
ouvert	outgoing
pareil	the same, alike, similar; such (a)
paresseux	lazy
patient	patient
patriotique	patriotic
pauvre	poor; humble, wretched
petit	small, little, short; younger; brief; slight, minor
plein	full; solid; busy (as in day or life)
pleut	raining
pleut à verse	pouring
possible	possible, feasible
premier	early; nearest; next, first; main; chief, leading; original, initial
pressé	in a hurry
prêt	ready
prochain	next; imminent, near; immediate
propre	clean, neat, tidy; own, private
ravi	delighted
rose	pink
rouge	red
sale	dirty, filthy, murky, grimy; nasty
sérieux	serious, solemn, responsible; conscientious
seul	alone, on one's own; lonely, lonesome; only, single, sole; mere
simple	straightforward, simple, easy; mere; uncomplicated
solitaire	lonely
sportif	athletic
stupide	stupid
super	great, terrific
sympa	nice
timide	shy
tout	all (the), the whole (of the); all; completely; only
tranquille	quiet, peaceful, tranquil, calm. still
travailleur	hard-working
triste	sad, unhappy, sorrowful
vert	green; inexperienced
vide	empty; bare
vieille	old (feminine)
vieux	old (masculine), long-standing, ancient
violet	purple
vivant	living, alive; lively, spirited, bustling; vivid
vrai	true; genuine, real; complete, utter; straightforward

Directions: Use the Quizlet vocabulary set on adjectives to complete each blank. Remember to choose between the masculine, feminine, and plural forms.

À la maison, Isabel est __________. (lazy)
L’enfant _________ a chanté une belle chanson. (gifted)
Elles ne veulent pas de classes avec les professeurs ___________. (mean)

Directions: According to the rules above, change the following French adjectives from their masculine form (given) to their feminine form.

Adventureux → …
Essentiel → …
Naïf → …

Answers and Translation:

À la maison, Isabel est paresseuse. / At the house, Isabel is lazy.
L’enfant doué a chanté une belle chanson. / The gifted child sang a beautiful song.
Elles ne veulent pas de classes avec les professeurs méchants. / They do not want any classes with the mean professeurs.
Adventureuse
Essentielle
Naïve