Adjective agreement and placement
The short answer
French adjectives agree with their noun in gender and number, usually by adding -e, -s or -es. Most follow the noun: une voiture rouge, but a short list of common short adjectives goes in front: bon, mauvais, grand, petit, jeune, vieux, beau, nouveau, joli, gros.
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The rule
A French adjective changes shape to match the noun it describes: feminine adds -e, plural adds -s, feminine plural adds -es. Adjectives already ending in -e do not change in the feminine, and several groups have irregular feminine forms. Placement is the second half of the rule: unlike English, French puts most adjectives after the noun, and only a small group of short, frequent ones before it. A handful can go either side, and the position changes the meaning rather than the style.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | add -e-s-es | grand, grande, grands, grandes |
| Already ends in -e | no change in the feminine | rouge, rouge, rouges |
| -eux | becomes -euse | heureux → heureuse |
| -f | becomes -ve | actif → active |
| -er | becomes -ère | cher → chère |
| Doubling | -el-on-en double the consonant | bon → bonne, naturel → naturelle |
Part 1 of 3
Agreement
The default is to add -e for feminine and -s for plural, with -es for both. An adjective already ending in -e stays as it is in the feminine, which removes a large group from the problem entirely: rouge, jaune, facile, difficile, jeune.
The irregular groups are small and regular among themselves: -eux becomes -euse, -f becomes -ve, -er becomes -ère, and -el, -on, -en and -et double their consonant before the -e. Learning them as five patterns is faster than learning them word by word.
une décision difficile
a difficult decision
NBAlready ends in -e, so nothing changes.
des résultats décevants
disappointing results
une réponse naturelle
a natural answer
NB-el doubles to -elle.
Part 2 of 3
Placement
Most adjectives follow the noun, which is the opposite of English: une chemise blanche, un problème compliqué, une histoire intéressante. Colour, shape, nationality, religion and any long adjective all go after.
The exceptions are short and frequent, and worth memorising as a set: bon, mauvais, grand, petit, gros, jeune, vieux, beau, joli, nouveau, premier, dernier. Some teachers group them under BAGS: beauty, age, goodness, size, which covers most of the list.
une petite maison blanche
a small white house
NBOne before, one after, in the same phrase.
un vieux quartier historique
an old historic district
des idées intéressantes
interesting ideas
Part 3 of 3
Adjectives that change meaning
About a dozen adjectives can sit either side, and the position decides what they mean. Before the noun they are figurative; after it they are literal.
Un ancien professeur is a former teacher, un professeur ancien an elderly one. Ma propre chambre is my own room, ma chambre propre my clean one. The same applies to cher, grand, pauvre, dernier, seul and certain.
un ancien collègue / un bâtiment ancien
a former colleague / an old building
ma propre voiture / une voiture propre
my own car / a clean car
un pauvre homme / un homme pauvre
a poor man, deserving pity / a man with no money
NBThe difference is not subtle, and choosing wrongly can be unintentionally rude.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
une blanche chemise
une chemise blanche
Colours always follow the noun. English word order transfers directly here and produces a phrase that is immediately marked as foreign, even though it is perfectly comprehensible.
un nouveau appartement
un nouvel appartement
Beau, nouveau and vieux have a special form before a masculine noun starting with a vowel: bel, nouvel, vieil. It exists purely to avoid two vowels colliding.
des grand maisons
de grandes maisons
Two errors: the adjective must agree, and des formally becomes de before a plural adjective that precedes the noun. Many French speakers keep des in speech, but writing expects de.
Elle est content.
Elle est contente.
An adjective after être still agrees with the subject. Agreement is about the noun it describes, not about its position in the sentence, and this one is audible, contente ends in a consonant sound.
Now use it
Accord des adjectifs
Match the adjective to its noun in gender and number. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Is BAGS a reliable rule?
- It is a useful memory aid rather than a rule. Beauty, age, goodness and size covers beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau, bon, mauvais, grand, petit and gros, most of the list, but it misses premier, dernier and autre, and it will not tell you what the meaning-changing adjectives do.
- What happens with two nouns of different genders?
- The masculine wins: un homme et une femme intéressants. It is the standard rule, and where possible French writers reorder the sentence to put the masculine noun next to the adjective, because the alternative can look like a mistake.
- Do colours ever fail to agree?
- Yes, when they come from a noun. Orange, marron and turquoise do not change, des chaussures marron, because they are really the names of a fruit, a chestnut and a stone. Compound colours also stay fixed: des yeux bleu clair.