Notes on Adjective Agreement

Adjective Agreement

• In French, adjs must agree with what they’re describing (the subject) in number (singular or plural) and gender (is the word/person described masculine or feminine?)

• To make an adj plural, (after gender) add an –s to the end (if it already ends in s, leave it alone)

Masculine and Feminine• Usually you are going to add an –e to the end

of the adj to make it feminine (90%)• If it ends in eux -> euse• If it ends in if -> ive• If it ends in an unaccented e, it doesn’t change• A few adjs have irregular fem. forms:Long -> longue blanc -> blancheBon -> bonne gros -> grosseGentil -> gentille mignon -> migonne

Placement

• Normally adjs go after the noun they describe• Adjs that go before the nouns describe:Beauty (beau, belle)Age (jeune, vieux)Good or Bad (bon, mauvais)Size (petit, grand)