How To Say Beautiful In French? 7+ Easy Ways

Are you looking for easy ways to say beautiful in French? The French language has many words that can describe something nice or indicate a beautiful person.

While one can use one or two words to express this specific feeling, there are many other ways to say it, which can add elegance and shades of meaning to a sentence. This article covers the best creative ways to say beautiful in French.

What Are The Best Easy Ways To Say Beautiful In French?

In general, you use the word belle to say beautiful in French when using the feminine version, which means you are referring to feminine nouns or persons. But, if you are referring to masculine nouns or people, you can use beau.

The French grammar when using adjectives is a bit challenging. But to make it simple, the words describing people or objects change when used in feminine and masculine forms and when used with a name in the single or plural form.

Here are a few examples of how to say beautiful in French:

1. Belle – Handsome (feminine object or person) 🔊 Play Belle
2. Beau – Handsome (masculine object or person) 🔊 Play Beau
3. Joli – Pretty or attractive 🔊 Play Joli
4. Mignon – Cute 🔊 Play Mignon
5. Ravissant – Delightful 🔊 Play Ravissant
6. Canon – Good-looking 🔊 Play Canon
7. Adorable – Lovely 🔊 Play Adorable
8. Magnifique – Gorgeous 🔊 Play Magnifique
9. Splendid – Splendid 🔊 Play Splendid
10. Sublime – Sublime 🔊 Play Sublime

Masculine And Feminine Forms In French

As a general rule of thumb, in the French language, you transform a masculine noun into a feminine noun by changing the ending.

For example:

• un ami – a (male) friend  🔊 Play un ami
• une amie – a (female) friend  🔊 Play une amie

But there are exceptions. In fact, if the masculine noun already ends in -e, no e is added.

For example:

• un collègue – a (male) colleague  🔊 Play un collègue
• une collègue – a (female) colleague  🔊 Play une collègue

There are other variations to consider, depending on how the French words end. Here are the rules. If the male version ends in:

• -f, then it will become a -ve in the feminine version
• -x, then it will become a -se
• -eur, then it will become a -euse
• -teur, then it will become a -teuse or -trice
• -an, then it will become a -anne
• -ien, then it will become a -ienne
• -on, then it will become a -onne
• -re, then it will become a -ère 
• -te, then it will become a -ette
• -el, then it will become a -elle

Here are some examples of use:

• Un veuf (masculine) becomes une veuve  (feminine) – A widower/a widow  🔊 Play Un veuf / 🔊 Play une veuve
• Un Parisien (masculine) becomes une Parisienne (feminine) – A Parisian  🔊 Play Un Parisien / 🔊 Play une Parisienne
• Le cadet (masculine) becomes la cadette (feminine) – The youngest child 🔊 Play Le cadet / 🔊 Play la cadette

What Is The Difference Between French And English Adjectives?

There is a big difference between the French and English adjectives, which is that French adjectives need to change to agree with the noun gender and number. This means that each adjective can be:

• Masculine
• Feminine
• Singular
• Plural

For example, one French word for beautiful is “Joli.” Here is how it can change when used in different ways:

• Singular masculine: Joli 🔊 Play Joli
• Singular feminine: Jolie 🔊 Play Jolie
• Feminine plural: Jolies 🔊 Play Jolies
• Masculine plural: Jolis 🔊 Play Jolis

But there are exceptions too. The most obvious is the word belle. Here is how it changes in the different forms:

• Singular masculine: Beau 🔊 Play Beau
• Singular feminine: Belle 🔊 Play Belle
• Feminine plural: Belles 🔊 Play Belles
• Masculine plural: Beaux 🔊 Play Beaux

How Do You Position French Adjectives?

While in English, you see that the adjective always precedes the noun, in French, the adjective can be placed before and after the noun depending on the meaning.

The general rules are the following:

• Descriptive adjectives are placed after the noun they need to modify
• Adjectives that have to do with beauty, size, good and bad are generally placed before the noun
• Non-descriptive adjectives usually are placed before the noun

Descriptive adjectives are those words that express color, nationality, religion, personality, taste, and similar.

Examples:

• Ami italien – Italian friend 🔊 Play Ami italien
• Mur blanc – White wall 🔊 Play Mur blanc

Example Sentences Using Beautiful In French

Now that you know some basic grammar regulations, here are examples of French expressions using the word beautiful in different forms:

• Il est beau – He is handsome 🔊 Play Il est beau
• Un beau home – A handsome man 🔊 Play Un beau home
• Vous êtes belle – You are beautiful 🔊 Play Vous êtes belle
• Une belle femme – A beautiful woman 🔊 Play Une belle femme
• Tu es belle – You’re pretty 🔊 Play Tu es belle
• Vous êtes belles – You are beautiful (used for more than one person – feminine form) 🔊 Play Vous êtes belles
• Vous êtes beaux – You are beautiful (used for more than one person – masculine form) 🔊 Play Vous êtes beaux
• Le chien mignon – Cute dog 🔊 Play Le chien mignon
• Bel ami / Belle amie – Nice friend (masculine adjective) / Nice friend (feminine adjective) 🔊 Play Bel ami / Belle amie
• Belle robe – Beautiful dress 🔊 Play Belle robe
• Jolie maison / Belles maisons – Beautiful house / Beautiful houses 🔊 Play Jolie maison / 🔊 Play Belles maisons
• Bel écureuil – Beautiful squirrel 🔊 Play Bel écureuil
• Bel oiseau – Beautiful bird 🔊 Play Bel oiseau
• Tu es magnifique – You are magnificent 🔊 Play Tu es magnifique
• Une belle fille – A beautiful girl 🔊 Play Une belle fille
• Beau garçon – Handsome boy 🔊 Play Beau garçon

Would you like to learn more about the French language? Or add more words to your vocabulary?

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Learning French or any other language can be challenging without a path to follow. This is why the Ling App can help you. This language learning tool has all the necessary to guide a person to fluency.

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To learn vocabulary to speak French, check out our great blog posts: How To Say Funny In French and Basic French Pronouns.

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