GCSE · French · AQA · Spec 8652 · Foundation
Adjective agreement — gender (F)
Say 'the house is big' in French, and it's the house that decides how you spell 'big'.
French · Adjectives
Who decides the ending?
Pick a noun, then pick a form of the adjective. Some phrases come back clean and some slip. Work out what the clean ones have in common.
Le garçon est grand.
The boy is tall.
noun + est
adjective
Start with La fille est and try both forms of grand. Then swap in La maison est. Finally, put calme with a feminine noun.
French · Adjective endings
Which pattern does it follow?
So la fille est grande. But what about heureux, or sportif? Adding -e won't work for those: the masculine ending decides. Pick an adjective, then put it in the pattern its ending calls for.
Still to sort
Add -e (0)
The default, when the ending isn't a special one.
Where the line is: It's the fallback, not the rule for everything. Check the ending, and the irregular list, first.
Ends in -e: no change (0)
The masculine already ends in -e.
Where the line is: Only an -e that's already there counts. Never add a second one.
-x → -se (0)
The x goes and -se takes its place.
-el → -lle (0)
Double the l, then add -e.
Where the line is: Check the letters just before the l: this pattern needs exactly -el.
-en → -nne (0)
Double the n, then add -e.
Where the line is: Check the letters just before the n: this pattern needs exactly -en.
-f → -ve (0)
The f becomes a v, then add -e.
-er → -ère (0)
Add -e and put a grave accent on the e before the r.
Where the line is: The last two letters must be exactly -er. A word that ends in -eur doesn't count.
Listed irregular (0)
Learned as its own vocabulary item, not worked out from a pattern.
WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED
A quick recap of today's lesson.
The noun decides whether an adjective changes. The adjective's ending decides how.
What you need to know
- An adjective agrees with the noun it describes: a feminine noun needs the feminine form of the adjective.
- The default is to add -e (petit → petite). An adjective that already ends in -e does not change (jeune → jeune).
- Five endings have their own feminine: -x → -se, -el → -lle, -en → -nne, -f → -ve, -er → -ère.
- Some very common adjectives are irregular and are learned as separate vocabulary items: net/nette, bon/bonne, nouveau/nouvelle, pareil/pareille, travailleur/travailleuse.
The big picture
In French, an adjective has to match the noun it describes. If the noun is feminine, the adjective takes its feminine form, and which feminine form depends on how the masculine adjective ends. Most adjectives just add -e, adjectives that already end in -e stay the same, and five endings (-x, -el, -en, -f and -er) each have their own feminine. A few very common adjectives are irregular and are learned as words in their own right.
Key points
Worked example
Problem
Translate into French: 'The kitchen is new and modern.' (la cuisine = the kitchen; nouveau = new; moderne = modern)
⚠ Watch out
Adding a plain -e to every adjective: naturele instead of naturelle, or jeunee instead of jeune. Check the ending before you add anything.
Memory hook
Noun first, ending second: the noun tells you WHETHER the adjective changes, and the ending tells you HOW.
Check yourself
Explain why la fille est calme needs no change to the adjective, but la fille est grande does.
Flashcards
(13)What decides whether a French adjective takes its feminine form?
Default pattern: what is the feminine of intelligent?
What is the feminine of facile?
-x pattern: what is the feminine of dangereux?
-el pattern: what is the feminine of cruel?
-en pattern: what is the feminine of européen?
-f pattern: what is the feminine of positif?
-er pattern: what is the feminine of dernier?
What is the feminine of bon?
What is the feminine of net?
What is the feminine of pareil?
What is the feminine of nouveau?
What is the feminine of travailleur?
Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.
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