Adjective agreement in French

French adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in grammatical gender and number.

This means that an adjective may have a masculine or feminine form and a singular or plural form:

The exact change depends on the adjective. Some adjectives have visibly different forms, while others use the same form in more than one case.

Masculine and feminine adjective forms

Many adjectives have a basic masculine singular form. To form the feminine, you often add -e:

You can see the agreement when these adjectives describe masculine and feminine nouns:

Adding -e is a common pattern, but it is not the only way French adjectives form the feminine.

Some adjectives do not visibly change

If the masculine form already ends in an unaccented -e, the feminine form is often identical:

For example:

The adjective still agrees with the noun even when its written form does not change.

Other feminine forms

Some adjectives change their endings in other ways. Common patterns include doubling a consonant or changing the ending:

These patterns occur in many adjectives, but not every adjective follows a predictable pattern. When you learn a new adjective, it is useful to learn its feminine form with it.

Singular and plural adjective forms

Adjectives also agree with nouns in number.

For many adjectives, the plural is formed by adding -s:

For example:

The adjective agrees with both grammatical gender and number, so the form depends on the noun it describes.

Agreement with more than one person or thing

When an adjective describes more than one person or thing, it takes a plural form:

Traditionally, a group containing both masculine and feminine nouns takes the masculine plural form:

Paul et Julie sont français.

You will encounter this pattern frequently when describing groups of people.

Agreement depends on the noun, not the speaker

Choose the adjective form according to the noun or person being described.

Compare:

The pronouns je and tu do not tell you which adjective form to use. The form depends on the person they refer to.

The same principle applies when an adjective describes a noun:

La voiture est petite.

Voiture is grammatically feminine, so petit takes the feminine form petite.

Not every agreement is visible

Adjective agreement is required even when the spelling or pronunciation does not make the difference obvious.

For example:

Paul est sympathique.

Julie est sympathique.

The adjective sympathique agrees with Paul in the first sentence and Julie in the second, but its form is identical.

Other adjective forms may differ in writing but sound the same in ordinary speech. Learning to recognize agreement therefore involves both written and spoken French.

From learning to practice

Adjective agreement becomes easier when you connect the adjective to the noun it describes. In both writing and speech, pay attention to whether the noun is masculine or feminine and singular or plural, then use the adjective form that matches it.