Adjective (Adjectif)

As in the other Romance languages, the adjectives in French agree in gender and number with the nouns they refer to, cf.:

• grand homme great man : grands hommes great men;
• grande femme great woman : grandes femmes great women.

Gender of the Adjectives (Genre des Adjectifs)

As the nouns, the adjectives in French  are gendered masculine or feminine.

Adjectives undergo predictable changes between masculine and feminine forms, and between singular and plural forms. These forms are numerous, as demonstrated below.
 

Adjectives of one form

Generally, if an adjective ends in -e in the masculine, the feminine forms will be identical:

• facile : facile easy
• solide : solide solid

Adjectives of two forms

If an adjective in the masculine ends in any other vowel, or in -ent, -ant, a mute -e is added to form the feminine:

• passé : passée past
• ravi : ravie ravished
• intéressant : intéressante interesting

• gentil : gentille gentle
• gros : grosse fat, rude, gross
• ancien : ancienne ancient

Adjectives of three forms

A few adjectives have two forms for masculine - one used in front of nouns beginning with consonant, and another used in front of nouns beginning with vowel or mute h-:
 

	Masculne in front  of consonant	Masculne in front  of vowel	Feminine	Meaning
	beau	bel	belle	beautiful
	fou	fol	folle	mad, foolish
	mou	mol	molle	soft
	nouveau	nouvel	nouvelle	new
	vieux	vieil	vieille	old

Examples:
 

beau jour beautiful day  bel homme beautiful men belle femme beautiful woman

vieux journal old newspaper  vieil homme old man vieiille femme old woman

Invariable Adjectives

Certain colors, especially compound adjectives or adjectives formed from nouns, are invariable:

• orange orange
• châtain chestnut brown
• bleu foncé dark blue

Plural of the Adjectives (Pluriel des Adjectifs)

Generally, the plural of the adjectiives follows the pattern of the plural of the nouns.

The most common way to form the plural is by adding -s to the singular:

• grand : grands
• intéressant : intéressants

• gros : gros;
• heureux : heureux.

• national : nationaux;
• radical : radicaux;

but final : finals; festival : festivals.

• beau : beaux;
• nouveau : nouveaux.

Degree of the Adjectives (Degré des Adjectifs)

Comparative degree (Degré Comparatif)

Comparative degree is formed analitically. Note that adjective agreement is with the principal noun:
 

Comparative Degree	Formation	Examples
of Superiority	plus + ADJ. + que	Jean est plus grand que Catherine. Jean is taller than Catherine.
of Equality	aussi + ADJ. + que	Marie est aussi grande que Jean.  Marie is as tall as Jean.
of Inferiority	moins + ADJ. + que	Philippe est moins grand que Jean.  Philippe is less tall [shorter] than Jean.

Superlative degree (Degré Superlatif)

The superlative degree is formed analytically according to the following pattern:
 

Note that sometimes the context of comparison may be implied.

Examples:

• C'est le plus beau jour de ma vie!

It's the best day of my life!
• Il est le plus grand [de tous].

He is the greatest [of all].

• C'est elle qui est arrivée la première [de tous les coureurs].

She's the one who came in first [among all the runners].

Irregular degrees (Degrés irréguliers)

A few adjectives have irregular synthetical comparative forms, inherited from Latin:
...

	Adjective	Comparative degree	Superlative degree
	bon	meilleur	le meilleur
	mauvais	pire, plus mauvais	le pire, le plus mauvais
	grand	majeur, plus grand	le plus grand
	petit	moindre (old mineur), plus petit	le moindre, le plus petit
	bas	plus bas, inferieur	le plus bas, infime
	haut	plus haut, supéreur	le plus haut, suprême
	--	extérieur	extrême

...
See also Placement of the Adjectives.