Question

French Tutorial: Introduction to Adjectives

Answer 1

this is a very complicated subject, as there are many rules and exceptions regarding the spelling and arrangement of French adjectives. The scope of this tutorial will only cover basic noun + adjective combinations.

\({\bf{Placement:}}\)

In French, adjectives are usually after the noun (ex: le chat noir, not le noir chat) with a few exceptions, including, but not limited to:

- beau (beautiful)
- bon/bonne (good)
- joli/jolie (pretty)
- mauvaise/mauvaise (bad)
- gros/grosse (fat or big)
- jeune (young)
- nouveau (new)
- petit/petite (small or short)
- vieux (old)

ex: un grand homme, not un homme grand

these generally fall under one of four categories: beauty, age, goodness/badness, and size (BAGS)

\({\bf{Gender~and~Number:}}\)

Adjectives must agree in both gender and number w/ the noun.

Gender: the masculine form is treated as the default. typically the adjective form is created by adding an -e (sometimes you will also need to double the last consonant)

ex: intelligent (masc.) --> intelligente (fem.)

For adjectives ending in a silent e (no accent), the feminine version typically keeps the same ending.

ex: extraordinaire (masc). --> extraordinaire (fem.)

Number: the plural form is typically created by adding an s, although there are *many* exceptions to this rule (covering this later)

Answer 2

\({\bf{Invariable~Adjectives:}}\) retain the same spelling regardless of gender or number.

Ex: chassure argent/ chassures argent (silver shoes). note that it is not argents or argentes or anything like that.

In the references section, I will link to a webpage that has a more comprehensive list of invariable adjectives. In general they fall into one of the following categories: adjectives that are derived from non-adjectives; apocopes; counting/numerical; and adjectives borrowed from other languages.

Answer 3

\({\bf{Irregulars:}}\)
certain adjective endings change drastically when going from the masculine to the feminine forms, and/or from singular to plural

examples:
- teur --> trice
conservateur (masc.) becomes conservatrice (fem.)

- eaux --> eause
corageux (masc.) becomes courageuse (fem.)

- eau --> eaux in the plural, not eaus
noveau becomes nouveaux

Here is a more comprehensive list of such exceptions

https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/adj4.html

some adjectives change the singular masculine form in front of h muet or vowels

- beau --> bel
ex: bel homme (not beau homme)

- nouveau --> nouvel
ex: nouvel arrivant (not nouveau arrivant)

- vieux --> vieil
ex: vieil arbre (not vieux arbre)

Answer 4

\({\bf{Plural~Nouns~with~Indefinite~Articles:}}\)

in the case where
- an adjective comes before the noun (see BAGs)
and
- the adjective + noun is plural
and
- the indefinite article des is used

des is shortened to de (in front of a consonant/aspirated h) or d' (in front of a vowel or mute h)

ex: de grandes choses, d'examens

although this distinction is not always present in modern/informal French

Answer 5

\({\bf{Adjectives~that~Change~Position}}\)

certain adjectives can go either before or after, but have different meanings depending on position. as a rule of thumb, putting these adjectives after the noun results in a more literal meaning, while putting them before the noun results in a more figurative meaning.

ex: une maison ancienne --> very old house (literal use of the word "old")
un ancient professeur --> a teacher that I used to have (we would say "my old teacher" but of course we are not referring to the teacher's age, but rather that the teacher used to teach us, but not anymore)

for a more comprehensive list, see: https://www.dummies.com/languages/french/how-to-place-of-french-adjectives-correctly/

Answer 6

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 11-20.

Lawless French, esp. these pages:

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/adjectives/
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/invariable-adjectives/

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers