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Stylish, brunette, premiere, naive. There are a variety of French phrases—together with French adjectives—which might be simply recognizable and infrequently utilized in English! When you begin learning French, you’ll rapidly study that adjectives are an effective way to make your writing and talking extra attention-grabbing. 

There are particular stuff you’ll want to contemplate to make use of adjectives accurately, like when must you use beau as an alternative of belle or petit as an alternative of petite? Or the place are adjectives positioned in a sentence? 

Being accustomed to a number of fundamental guidelines will make it easier to ensure you’re utilizing these adjectives accurately each time. Under, we’ve an inventory of over 100 adjectives to get you began. And ensure not skip the grammar guidelines on the finish to essentially grasp utilizing descriptive language in French.

For those who’re able to dive into mastering adjectives with out memorization, you can begin studying at the moment with Rosetta Stone. With bite-sized classes that make studying really feel enjoyable and pure, Rosetta Stone can put together you for real-world conversations out of your very first lesson! 

Essentially the most generally used French adjectives

French has hundreds of adjectives, however this checklist is the proper place for newbie learners to begin. Right here, you’ll discover generally used adjectives, together with their English translations for quite a lot of subjects, from describing individuals to figuring out colours.

French adjectives to explain an individual (bodily attributes)

French adjectives to explain an individual (non-physical attributes)

French adjectives to explain objects and locations

Colours in French

Nationalities in French

Observe that the adjective types of nationalities in French aren’t capitalized.

• He’s American = Il est américain.
• They’re French = Ils sont français.

>>Need to broaden your vocabulary even additional? Try our checklist of 100+ French phrases.  

Normal guidelines: Easy methods to use French adjectives accurately

Now that you already know some French adjectives, you’ll want to grasp methods to use them accurately in a sentence! Under are a number of ideas to remember when utilizing adjectives in your talking and writing.

1. Adjective placement

Most adjectives go after the noun they modify:

• un homme gentil = a good man
• une fleur rose = a pink flower

Nevertheless, a number of adjectives go earlier than the noun. These are the adjectives that describe an individual or object’s magnificence, age, goodness, and dimension.

• une jolie femme = a fairly lady
• un vieux bâtiment = an outdated constructing
• un bon livre = a good e book
• un grand homme = a tall man

You should use any adjective with the verb être to hyperlink with the noun. In that case, the phrase order is at all times noun + être + adjective, whatever the adjective kind. 

• La fleur est rose. = The flower is pink.
• L’homme est beau. = The person is good-looking.

2. Change the ending to match noun gender and quantity

In English, nouns present singular or plural based mostly on their ending. That is pretty easy and completed by putting an “-s,” “-es” or “-ies” to the top of a phrase. 

Like English, French additionally signifies if a noun is singular or plural by altering the ending. French provides on an additional layer of problem, although. Along with quantity, nouns in French even have a grammatical gender. 

French nouns could be both masculine or female. This is applicable to each noun—not simply individuals!—and as you solidify your French talking expertise, you’ll see that gender is unfair. It’s finest realized via repeated observe and publicity to vocabulary. 

In any case, phrases that modify nouns, like articles and adjectives, must agree in gender and in quantity. You’ll need to be cognizant of each as French adjective endings will typically change to replicate that settlement.

The masculine singular kind is taken into account the bottom type of an adjective; when you’re speaking a few masculine singular noun, you don’t must make any modifications to the adjective ending.

• a livre vert = a inexperienced e book
• un homme américain = an American man

If the noun is female and singular, you possibly can normally make the adjective agree by including an “-e” to the top.

• une pomme verte =  a inexperienced apple
• une femme polie = a well mannered lady

If the noun is plural, you too can normally make an adjective plural by including an “-s” to the top.

• les livres verts = the inexperienced books
• les hommes américains = the American males
• les pommes vertes = the inexperienced apples
• les femmes polies = the well mannered girls

Exceptions to the principles 

French at all times has a number of exceptions, and there are fairly few adjectives which have irregular spelling modifications relying on the gender and variety of the noun.

1. French adjective settlement with irregular female kinds

We defined above that sure nouns can be female in gender, and usually, adjectives modifying these nouns will simply want an “-e” hooked up to the top. Once you come throughout an irregular female noun, you’ll discover that sure last consonants can be doubled earlier than including the “-e.” Have a look a the next examples: 

n → nne

• un homme canadien = a Canadian man
• une femme canadienne = a Canadian lady

l → lle

• un homme gentil = a good man
• une femme gentille = a good lady

s → sse

• un gros coq = a fats rooster
• une grosse poule = a fats hen

Moreover, some endings will change barely within the female kind

x→se

• un homme heureux = a completely satisfied man
• une femme heureuse = a completely satisfied lady

f → ve

• un homme naïf = a naive man
• une femme naïve = a naive lady

 2. French adjective settlement for plural nouns

Fortunately, for plural settlement there are not any irregular endings to study to make plural adjective kinds. Nevertheless, if a singular adjective ends in x or s, don’t add a further s to the ending to point out plural, depart it as is.

• un homme heureux = a cheerful man
• les hommes heureux = the completely satisfied males
• un gros chat = a fats cat
• les gros chats = the fats cats

3. Working with irregular French adjectives: beau, nouveau, and vieux 

There are a number of adjectives which have considerably completely different kinds relying on the gender and quantity. Listed here are the three very irregular adjectives which might be used most regularly:

Beau = good-looking/stunning

Listed here are a number of examples: 

• un beau garçon = a good-looking boy
• deux beaux garçons = two good-looking boys
• une belle fille = a stunning lady
• deux belles filles = two stunning ladies

And, there’s even another irregular kind for this adjective! Primarily based on the desk above, it might sound logical to say: 

• un beau homme = a good-looking man

However that is incorrect.

On the whole, the French language avoids having two vowel sounds subsequent to one another, and the “o” sound in beau, adopted by the “o” sound in homme, are doing simply that. 

To keep away from this awkwardness, French has a further kind for an adjective positioned earlier than a noun that begins with a vowel sound that’s each masculine and singular.

In these cases, you’ll take the female singular kind (belle) and drop the final two letters (le) to get the proper model of the adjective.

• un bel homme = a good-looking man

Nouveau = new

• un nouveau livre  = a new e book
• un nouvel appartement = a new condominium
• les nouveaux livres = the new books
• une nouvelle maison = a new home
• les nouvelles maisons = the new homes

Vieux = outdated

• un vieux livre  = an outdated e book
• un vieil appartement = an outdated condominium
• les vieux livres = the outdated books
• une vieille maison = an outdated home
• les vieilles maisons = the outdated homes

4. Working with invariable adjectives

Lastly, there are invariable adjectives. These are phrases that maintain the identical kind regardless of the quantity or gender of the noun they modify. You’ll need to verify {that a} modifier is certainly an invariable adjective within the context you intend to make use of it earlier than skipping settlement, however you should utilize the next clues to make an informed guess: 

Shortened types of longer adjectives are sometimes invariable. Check out how sympa (the shortened type of sympathique) is used beneath: 

• les hommes sympa = the good males

Many mortgage phrases (phrases borrowed from a unique language) don’t tackle endings both. For instance, “cool” doesn’t want an “-e” or “-s” on the finish of it to agree with “ladies.”

• les filles cool = the cool ladies

Many coloration phrases derived from nouns (marron, orange, and turquoise, for instance) are additionally invariable adjectives. 

• les livres marron = the brown books

Grasp French adjectives with Rosetta Stone

Adjective settlement in French is important to utilizing adjectives accurately. The essential tips to recollect are: add an “-e” for female settlement and “-s” for plural settlement. Learners additionally must keep in mind that adjectives observe the noun in a sentence, until it’s an adjective of magnificence, age, goodness, or dimension. 

With so many exceptions to these guidelines, adjectives might really feel somewhat overwhelming. Rosetta Stone is right here to assist! Our Dynamic Immersion technique permits you to study via context with publicity to pure language and native audio system. This helps you grasp grammar in the identical approach you acquired it in your first language, as an alternative of counting on memorization. 

You may also get additional immersive observe with Rosetta Stone Tales, or take a Dwell Lesson to work with a tutor on grammar or vocabulary that you simply discover particularly difficult. 

Written by Denise Brown