An English adjective never changes: a green book, a green house, green books. A French adjective is a chameleon: it takes the gender and number of the noun it describes, every single time.
| Masculine | Feminine | Masculine plural | Feminine plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| vert | verte | verts | vertes |
| petit | petite | petits | petites |
| français | française | français | françaises |
| content | contente | contents | contentes |
The default recipe: add -e for feminine, -s for plural, -es for both. If the masculine already ends in -e (rouge, jeune, facile), the feminine is identical. If it already ends in -s or -x (français, heureux), the masculine plural doesn't change.
That silent-looking final -e wakes up the consonant before it. Petit is "puh-TEE" but petite is "puh-TEET". Grand is "grahn", grande is "grahnd". So agreement isn't just spelling — it is audible, and getting it wrong is noticeable.
| Masculine | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| beau (bel) | belle | beautiful |
| nouveau (nouvel) | nouvelle | new |
| vieux (vieil) | vieille | old |
| blanc | blanche | white |
| heureux | heureuse | happy |
| sportif | sportive | sporty |
| gentil | gentille | kind |
| cher | chère | expensive, dear |
| gros | grosse | big, fat |
| long | longue | long |
French avoids a clash of vowel sounds. Before a masculine noun starting with a vowel, beau borrows a softer form: un bel appartement, un nouvel ami, un vieil homme. It's the same instinct as l' instead of le.
The default in French is after the noun — the opposite of English. Une voiture rouge, un film intéressant, un repas délicieux.
But a small, very common set goes before. Remember them with BANGS: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size.
| Category | Adjectives | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | beau, joli | une jolie maison |
| Age | jeune, vieux, nouveau | un jeune homme |
| Number | premier, deuxième, dernier | le premier jour |
| Goodness | bon, mauvais, meilleur | un bon restaurant |
| Size | grand, petit, gros, long | une grande ville |
Un ancien professeur = a former teacher · un professeur ancien = an ancient teacher.
Un grand homme = a great man · un homme grand = a tall man.
Ma propre chambre = my own room · ma chambre propre = my clean room.
Before the noun tends to be figurative; after the noun tends to be literal.
To build most adverbs, take the feminine adjective and add -ment. It is the direct equivalent of English "-ly".
| Adjective (m) | Feminine | Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| lent | lente | lentement | slowly |
| heureux | heureuse | heureusement | fortunately |
| doux | douce | doucement | gently, quietly |
| franc | franche | franchement | frankly |
| vrai | vraie | vraiment | really |
| poli | polie | poliment | politely |
Adjectives ending in -ent / -ant swap to -emment / -amment (both pronounced "ah-MAHN"): évident → évidemment, constant → constamment.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bien | bee-EN | well |
| mal | mahl | badly |
| vite | veet | quickly |
| toujours | too-ZHOOR | always, still |
| souvent | soo-VAHN | often |
| parfois | par-FWAH | sometimes |
| rarement | rar-MAHN | rarely |
| déjà | day-ZHAH | already |
| encore | ahn-KOR | again, still |
| trop | troh | too much |
Bon is an adjective (describes a noun): un bon film, une bonne idée.
Bien is an adverb (describes a verb): Il parle bien, Ça va bien.
"The food is good" = C'est bon. "You did well" = C'est bien. Same trap with mauvais (adjective) and mal (adverb).
Short adverbs go straight after the conjugated verb, not between the subject and the verb as in English.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Je mange souvent ici. | zhuh mahnzh soo-VAHN ee-SEE | I often eat here. |
| Elle parle bien français. | el parl bee-en frahn-SAY | She speaks French well. |
| Tu travailles trop. | tü trah-VYE troh | You work too much. |
Three little words do all the work: plus (more), moins (less), aussi (as). The thing you compare to follows que.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Paris est plus grand que Lyon. | pah-REE ay plü grahn kuh lee-OHN | Paris is bigger than Lyon. |
| Le métro est moins cher que le taxi. | luh may-TROH ay mwan SHAIR | The metro is less expensive than the taxi. |
| Elle est aussi rapide que moi. | el ay oh-SEE rah-PEED kuh mwah | She's as fast as me. |
| Je travaille plus que toi. | zhuh trah-VYE plü kuh twah | I work more than you. |
Add the definite article to the comparative: le / la / les plus or le / la / les moins. If the adjective normally follows the noun, the superlative does too — and the article repeats.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| C'est le plus grand musée de Paris. | say luh plü grahn mü-ZAY | It's the biggest museum in Paris. |
| C'est le restaurant le plus cher de la ville. | say luh res-toh-RAHN luh plü SHAIR | It's the most expensive restaurant in town. |
| C'est la moins chère des options. | say lah mwan SHAIR | It's the cheapest of the options. |
"The best restaurant in Montréal" = le meilleur restaurant de Montréal. Using dans here is a classic English-speaker slip.
| Base | Comparative | Superlative | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| bon (adjective) | meilleur | le meilleur | never "plus bon" |
| bien (adverb) | mieux | le mieux | never "plus bien" |
| mauvais | pire / plus mauvais | le pire | both are accepted |
Ce vin est meilleur. (This wine is better — adjective.) Elle chante mieux. (She sings better — adverb.)
Intensifiers move fast in France: trop bien, super sympa, hyper cher, grave bon among younger speakers. Vachement ("really, seriously") is informal but universal: C'est vachement bien.
Québec's all-purpose intensifier is ben (from bien): C'est ben bon ! You'll also hear pas pire ("not bad", i.e. pretty good) as a compliment and le fun as an adjective: C'était le fun ! (That was fun!)
1. How do you say "a green car"?
2. Which adjective goes BEFORE the noun?
3. "She sings better than me" is:
4. Un ancien collègue means: