This article is associated with the course(s):
Introduction to French Grammar

Using Adjectives in French

What Is an Adjective?

Adjectives are a category of words that are used to describe things. They provide more information about a noun.

For example, if we take an English noun, such as “the coat,” we can add an adjective, such as a colour, to describe our coat. So we might say, “the red coat,” to distinguish it from “the blue coat.” “Red” and “blue” are both examples of adjectives.

Where Do Adjectives Go in a French Sentence?

Notice that in English we place the adjective before the noun. But in French, the adjective is usually after the noun, so “the red coat” would be ‘le manteau rouge.’

However, there are some important and very common adjectives that break this general rule and are placed before the noun, just like in English.

Adjectives that come before the noun in French are often called B.A.G.S. adjectives to help us remember which they are.

B.A.G.S. adjectives relate to Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size:

What Do We Mean by Agreement?

Adjectives may also change in French according to the gender and number of a noun, so there might be masculine and feminine versions of adjectives, and masculine and feminine plural versions as well!

Let’s break this down, starting with the regular adjectives.

What Are Regular Adjectives?

Regular adjectives follow some simple rules when they are used with nouns. If the noun is feminine, we add an ‘-e.’ If the noun is masculine and plural, we add ‘-s.’ And if the noun is feminine and plural, then we add ‘-es.’

Let’s look at some examples, using ‘le manteau,’ which is a masculine noun, and ‘la veste’, “jacket”, which is feminine.

Adjectives ending ‘-e’

If the adjective already ends in an ‘-e,’ like rouge, then the adjective is the same for both masculine and feminine versions. We still add an ‘-s’ for the plural.

What Are Irregular Adjectives?

Some adjectives have irregular feminine forms, which are not predictable and therefore have to be learned on a case by case basis.

In our list of colours, for example, “white” is an irregular adjective in French. Instead of simply adding an ‘-e,’ we must add ‘-he.’

Let’s have a look at the full table:

Some of the BAGS adjectives that we met above have irregular feminine forms.

Let’s take a look at these:

You’ll see that there are the words bel, nouvel and vieil in the masculine column. These are used when the adjective is used in front of a noun that starts with a vowel. This is to make the pronunciation easier.

They can also have irregular plural forms as well, so let’s take a look at the full variations:

What Are Invariable Adjectives?

Some adjectives don’t change at all. For example, marron (brown):

For colours that are named after objects, this is especially common.

Some examples include:

This is also often true of adjectives borrowed from other languages, such as ad hoc, cool, high-tech, kitsch, sexy, solo.

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