You already know how to use être to say who someone is.
You can also use être with an adjective to describe someone:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Paul est patient. | Paul is patient. |
| Sofia est calme. | Sofia is calm. |
Words such as patient and calme are adjectives. They give information about the person you are describing.
Adjectives can change form
Look at these two sentences:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Paul est français. | Paul is French. |
| Julie est française. | Julie is French. |
Here, the adjective français changes to française when describing Julie.
In French, nouns have grammatical gender. They are either masculine or feminine. Adjectives must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they describe. This often changes the form of the adjective.
For many adjectives, you form the feminine by adding -e to the masculine form:
| Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
| français | française | French |
| patient | patiente | patient |
| intelligent | intelligente | intelligent |
| sympathique | sympathique | nice, friendly |
| timide | timide | shy |
| grand | grande | tall |
| petit | petite | small |
| excellent | excellente | excellent |
You can see the change in complete sentences:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Paul est français. | Julie est française. |
| Omar est patient. | Sofia est patiente. |
| Paul est intelligent. | Sofia est intelligente. |
Some adjectives have the same form
Some adjectives have the same masculine and feminine form.
For example, calme already ends in -e:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Omar est calme. | Sofia est calme. |
The adjective still agrees with the grammatical gender of the noun, but its form does not change.
This gives you two patterns to recognize:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Paul est patient. | Julie est patiente. |
| Omar est calme. | Sofia est calme. |
Listening and reading
Listen as Julie describes herself and the other people. Try to understand as much as you can before revealing the French text.
Listen again while reading the French.
Show the French transcription
Je suis Julie. Je suis française. Je suis patiente et sympathique.
Paul est français. Il est intelligent et calme.
Sofia est anglaise. Elle est timide et intelligente.
Omar est canadien. Il est sympathique et patient.
Compare the English version with what you understood from the French.
Show the English translation
I am Julie. I am French. I am patient and friendly.
Paul is French. He is intelligent and calm.
Sofia is English. She is shy and intelligent.
Omar is Canadian. He is friendly and patient.
Put it together
You can now use adjectives with être to describe people and choose an adjective form that agrees with grammatical gender.
In the next lesson you'll learn how nouns, grammatical gender, and articles work together in simple descriptions.