150 French Adjectives With Phrases – An Easy Guide

french adjectives - France - French flag

Fortunately, in today’s lesson, you will find some rules that will make it easier for you to understand how to place and use French adjectives.

In English, adjectives are easy to use. You put them before the nouns they describe, and you are done. So, you would say “a greenhouse” or “a blue bag.”

However, in French, the positions of adjectives vary. So, you would say “une maison verte” (lit: a house green) or “un sac bleu” (lit: a bag blue). If this is not enough to puzzle you, French adjectives will also vary depending on whether the noun they describe is feminine, masculine, singular, or plural.

French Adjectives Go Before the Noun If…

Remember this little acronym: B-A-N-G-S.

Beauty: Adjectives like beau – beautiful and joli (e) – pretty go before the noun as they are describing beauty.

Age: Adjectives like Vieux/Vieille – old and jeune – young go before the noun.

Numbers: Well, they go in front of the noun

Goodness: Adjectives that we use to say how bad or good something is, like mauvais(e) – bad and bon(ne) – good, will go before the noun.

Size: Adjectives like haut(e) high, gros(se) – fat and petit(e) – small are front-runners as well.

EXCEPTION: Grand(e) used before oneself means “great,” as in un grand homme (a great man), but after oneself means tall. So un homme grand is “a tall man.”

French Adjectives

An Easy Guide For French Adjectives With Examples

French Adjectives For Feminine And Masculine Words

If you have learned a little French, then you will know the terrible feminine and masculine words, and you may even have heard of the same adjectives. French adjectives must correspond to the person speaking, so men are “grand” (tall), and women are “grande.” Add “e” to make it a female adjective.

It may sound quite simple, but the French also have masculine and feminine things! Over time, you will learn to recognize the gender of words. Sometimes there are rules, and sometimes you must know what is feminine and masculine.

Here are some examples of French adjectives (feminine and masculine) with nouns that you may already know:

  • Un bol rond – a round bowl
  • Une assiette ronde – a round plate
  • Une petite porte – a little door
  • Un petit mur – a little wall
  • Une télévision neuve – a new television
  • Un ordinateur neuf – a new computer

What Are The French Adjectives?

It is a list of the most common descriptive French words. If you add the letter “e” to the end of the word, it will become their feminine equivalent:

  • petit – small
  • grand – tall/big
  • mauvais – bad
  • bon – good
  • belle or beau – beautiful
  • froid – cold
  • gentil – kind
  • chaud – hot

For example, “petit” (small) will become “petite.” Likewise, when a word ends in a vowel, then a consonant, we must double the last letter before adding the ‘e.’ For example, bon/bonne, gentil/gentille.

Note: Some adjectives change entirely when they become feminine. For example, as you saw above, “beau” becomes “belle.”

Some French adjectives do not have the equivalent of the feminine. Many of these are French adjectives that already end with the letter ‘e.’ Here are some common examples of adjectives that stay the same for both genders:

  • confortable – comfortable
  • difficile – difficult
  • calme – calm
  • facile – easy
  • riche – rich
  • pauvre – poor
  • propre – clean
  • timide – shy
  • sympathique – kind
  • sale – dirty
  • sympa – kind/nice

Plural

Once you have mastered the masculine and feminine forms, you need to understand the French adjective agreement for plural nouns. Simply put, when we add an “s” to a noun to make it plural, we also need to add an “s” to the adjective.

  1. A big lake– Un grand lac

Two big lakes– Deux grands lacs 

  1. The pink shoe– La chaussure rose

The pink shoes– Les chaussures roses 

Of course, this is the French we are talking about, and things have never been as simple as people imagined! We have seen the feminine gender, we have seen the plural, and now we need to combine the two to create the feminine plural.

  • Les chaises hautes – High chair (meaning = both bar stools and baby high chairs)
  • Les tables basses – Low tables (meaning = coffee tables)

Here is a revision of when to use French adjective agreement with the word “petit”:

  • Le petit garçon (masculine singular) – the little boy (masculine singular)
  • La petite fille (feminine singular) – the little girl (feminine singular)
  • Les petits garçons (masculine plural) – the little boys (masculine plural)
  • Les petites filles (feminine plural) – the little girls (feminine plural)

When using plural feminine and masculine objects or talking about females and males, always the default is masculine (e.g., little children = les petits enfants).

French Adjectives Important And Common

Other Important And Common French Adjectives

EnglishFrench Adjectives Masculine, Feminine Or CommonSound
good or wellbon – bonne
cute mignon – mignonne
badmauvais – mauvaise
prettyjoli – jolie
nicegentil – gentille
strongfort – forte
funnydrôle
oddbizarre
scaredeffrayé – effrayée
angryfâché – fâchée
expensivecher – chère
bravecourageux – courageuse
confuseddésorienté – désorientée
difficultdifficile
ambitiousambitieux – ambitieuse
exhaustedépuisé – épuisée
tiredfatigué – fatiguée
totally (slang)grave
fat; heavygros – grosse
fairjuste
free – availablelibre
bettermeilleur – meilleure
newnouveau – nouvelle
lightléger – légère
uglymoche
sorrynavré – navrée
the samepareil – pareille
poorpauvre
in a hurrypressé – pressée
easyfacile
readyprêt – prête
delightedravi – ravie
nicesympa
calmtranquille
hardworkingtravailleur – travailleuse
sadtriste
emptyvide
oldvieux – vieille
meanméchant – méchante
worriedinquiet – inquiète
highhaut – haute
lowbas – basse
beautifulbeau – belle
thinmince
Softdoux – douce
clearclair – claire
very beautifultrès beau – belle
latestdernier – dernière
onlyseul – seule
funnydrôle
serious sérieux – sérieuse  

Adjectives For Daily Use: 26 Most Common French Adjectives

EnglishMasculine – Feminine or CommonSound
youngjeune
biggrand – grande
littlepetit – petite
happyheureux – heureuse
sadtriste
meanméchant – méchante
politepoli – polie
impoliteimpoli – impolie
weakfaible
inexpensivebon marché
fatgros – grosse
horriblehorrible
wonderfulformidable
smartintelligent – intelligente
stupidstupide
interestingintéressant – intéressante
boringennuyeux – ennuyeuse
richriche
Reasonableraisonnable
Strictstrict – stricte
Unhappymalheureux – malheureuse
famouscélèbre
Popularpopulaire
Emotionalémotif – émotive
Usefulutile
Hotchaud – chaude

Phrases In French Using French Adjectives

English PhrasesFrench PhrasesSound
A delicious mealUn repas délicieux (masculine singular)
A delicious pieUne tarte délicieuse
It is a good restaurantC’est un bon restaurant (masculine singular)
It is a good ideaC’est une bonne idée (feminine singular)
My boyfriend is AustralianMon copain est australien (masculine singular)
The old lady is hereLa vieille femme est ici (feminine singular)
He is a handsome guyC’est un bel homme (masculine singular)

Master Yourself In French With Ling App

That’s it, and you now know the most common French adjectives. Practice will enable you to speak fluent French.

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