Gender and number agreement of adjectives in French

• Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

• Make most adjectives agree with the nouns by adding an e, s or es.

• Some adjectives stay the same with masculine and feminine nouns but add an s when they are plural.

• Change -el to -elle, -en to -enne, -f to -ve and -er to -ère to make an adjective agree with a feminine singular noun.

• Some adjectives are irregular and change their spelling with masculine and feminine nouns or when they are plural, such as beau(x)/belle(s).

Adjectives describe a noun and all French adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.

The general rule is:

• for feminine nouns, add e

• for masculine plural nouns, add s

• for feminine plural nouns, add es

For example:

J’ai les yeux verts. – I have green eyes.

Il aime chanter beaucoup de chansons différentes. – He likes singing lots of different songs.

Did you know?

If an adjective already ends in -s, the masculine plural stays the same, but feminine singular and plural adjectives usually follow the same rules as regular adjectives, adding e and es.

For example:

L’enfant est anglais. – The child is English.

Les enfants sont anglais. – The children are English.

Ma voiture est anglaise. – My car is English.

Les voitures sont anglaises. – The cars are English.

Adjectives must agree with the noun even if they are not right next to each other in the sentence.

For example:

Je trouve les documentaires très intéressants. – I find documentaries very interesting.

L’eau est trop froide. – The water is too cold.

If an adjective already ends in -e, there is no need to add another e to make it feminine.

To make the adjective plural, add an s for both masculine and feminine.

For example:

J’ai une voiture jaune. – I have a yellow car.

Elle n’aime pas porter les vêtements jaunes. – She doesn’t like wearing yellow clothes.

When an adjective ends in -x, remove the -x and add se to make it feminine. For example:

J‘ai bu du café délicieux. – I drank some delicious coffee.

Nous avons mangé une glace délicieuse. – We ate a delicious ice cream.

For masculine plural nouns, keep the -x and for feminine plural nouns, remove the -x and add ses.

For example:

Mon ami pense que les devoirs sont vraiment ennuyeux. – My friend thinks that homework is really boring.

Mon père pense que les comédies sont vraiment ennuyeuses. – My dad thinks that comedies are really boring.

Choose the correct form of the adjective for the following sentences.

When an adjective ends in -el, add le to make it feminine. If the adjective ends in -en, add ne to make it feminine.

Add s to make the masculine adjectives plural and les or nes to make the feminine adjectives plural.

For example:

Ma sœur est bisexuelle. – My sister is bisexual.

Mes oncles sont végétariens. – My uncles are vegetarian.

When an adjective ends in -al, add e to make it feminine and es to make it feminine plural.

To make it masculine plural, change the -al to -aux.

For example:

Mes parents sont géniaux. – My parents are great.

J’ai regardé une émission géniale hier. – I watched a great programme yesterday.

When an adjective ends in -f, remove the -f and add ve to make it feminine. For example:

Mon père est très actif. – My dad is very active.

Ma mère est très active. – My mum is very active.

To make the adjectives plural, add s with masculine nouns and ves for feminine nouns.

For example:

Mes frères sont très actifs. – My brothers are very active.

Mes sœurs sont très actives. – My sisters are very active.

When an adjective ends in -er, remove the -er and add ère with feminine nouns.

For example:

Elle voudrait acheter un pantalon cher. – She wanted to buy some expensive trousers.

Elle voudrait acheter une robe chère. – She would like to buy an expensive dress.

To make the adjective plural, add an s for both masculine and feminine.

For example:

Il a acheté des vêtements chers. – He bought some expensive clothes.

Il a acheté des jupes chères. – He bought some expensive skirts.

Remember

Sévère (strict) is the same with both masculine and feminine nouns. Add s to make it plural. For example:

Mon prof est trop sévère. – My (male) teacher is too strict.

Mes profs sont trop sévères. - My teachers are too strict.

Some adjectives are completely irregular, meaning they do not follow the rules when agreeing with feminine and plural nouns.

Some useful irregular adjectives to learn are:

Choose the correct form of the adjective for the following sentences.

Practise what you've learned about gender and number agreement with this quiz.

Watch these videos for further information on adjectives in French.

Now you’ve learned about gender and number agreement in French, why not explore how to use the comparative and superlative in French?