Adjectives in French agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify.

In French, while several common adjectives come before the noun, the majority of
adjectives, including all less frequent adjectives, follow the noun.

1. Adjective forms

The table below lists the main families of adjectives in French; while there are certain exceptions
that need to be learned individually, the groups below illustrate how to decline most French
adjectives in their different forms. Nonetheless, given the number of exceptions, it is advisable to
check a new adjective you learn, using a good dictionary.

Table of French adjective forms

Types of adjective: Examples
Masc sing Fem sing Masc plural Fem plural Meaning
grand grande grands grandes big
The general cher chère chers chères dear
rule fini finie finis finies finished
noir noire noirs noires black
low
bas basse bas basses
good,
bon bonne bons bonnes
Several short adjectives fat
gros grosse gros grosses
ending in vowel+ consonant worth-
nul nulle nuls nulles
less
las lasse las lasses
tired
Adjectives ending in -g long longue longs longues long
sage, sage sages sages, wise
Many adjectives ending in -e
efficace efficace efficaces efficaces efficient
blanc blanche blancs blanches white
Short adjectives ending in c
sec sèche secs sèches dry
actif active actifs actives active
Adjectives ending in -f
nocif nocive nocifs nocives poison
adjectives ending in -el or -eil réel, réelle réels, réelles, real
, pareil pareille pareils pareilles similar
léger légère légers légères light
adjectives ending in -er
premier première premiers premières first
joyeux, joyeuse, joyeux, joyeuses, joyful
adjectives ending in -eux or - heureux, heureuse heureux, heureuses happy
oux poreux poreuse poreux poreuses porous
jaloux jalouse jaloux jalouses jealous
load -
adjectives ending in -teur porteur porteuse porteurs porteuses
bearing
général générale généraux générales general
adjectives ending in -al
génial géniale géniaux géniales brilliant

beau / bel belle beaux belles beautiful

The most common nouveau / nouvel nouvelle nouveaux nouvelles new
vieux / vieil vieille vieux vieilles old
completely irregular frais fraîche frais fraîches fresh
adjectives doux douce doux douces gentle
faux fausse faux fausses wrong

2. Adjective position in French

2.1. Adjectives that come before the noun:

beau, cher, gros, grand,

mauvais, méchant, meilleur, bon
joli, petit, vilain, jeune, bref,
nouveaux, vieux, gentil, haut,
autre, premier.
However any of these nouns can occasionally be placed after the noun if context or a grouping of
adjectives requires it.

2.2 Adjectives that sometimes come before the noun,

depending on context
long, court, double

2.3. A few adjectives vary their position according to different meanings:

 The adjective "ancien" normally comes before the noun when it means "former",
and after it when it means "ancient".
 The adjective "certain" normally comes before the noun when it means
"particular", and after it when it means "sure".
 The adjective "même" normally comes before the noun when it means "same", and
after it when it means "very same".
 The adjective "pauvre" normally comes before the noun when it means
"unfortunate", and after it when it means "not rich".
 The adjective "propre" comes before the noun when it means "own", and after it
when it means "clean".
 The adjective "seul" comes before the noun when it means "single, or just one",
and after it when it means "lonely".

2.4. Other adjectives follow the noun. These include adjectives of colour and of nationality.

Examples:
Une belle jeune dame très intélligente.
A beautiful and very intelligent young lady .
 Il y avait une longue file de voitures.
There was a long queue of cars.
Une journée longue et difficile.
A long and difficult day.
Un ancien président de la Société d'histoire ancienne.
A former president of the Ancient History Society
Il a commencé le matin et terminé le jour même..
He started in the morning and finished the very same day
Un dictionnaire bilingue populaire.
A popular bilingual dictionary
Un cadre métallique flexible.
A flexible metal frame
C'est mon propre chat, et il couche dans un panier propre..
It's my own cat, and he sleeps in a clean basket

3. Adjective order

Generally speaking, adjective order in French and adjective order in English follow similar
principles. The closer an adjective comes to a noun in English, the closer it will come in French.

Thus, in a simple world where all adjectives in English came before the noun, and all French
adjectives came after the noun, the order of adjectives in French would be the mirror image of
the order of the equivalent adjectives in an English sentence .

Sadly the world is not as simple as this, and as we have seen adjectives in French often come
before the noun. Yet the principle remains valid. When organising three or four adjectives round
a noun in French, try and keep the same relationship of proximity as in English, even though
some of the adjectives may go before the noun and others after it.

In both English and French the general rule is that the adjectives closest to a noun express its
most fundamental qualities. In some cases, this is more evident in French than in English. For
example, in French one could say, of a car...
C'est une voiture allemande bleue or C'est une voiture bleue allemande
In the first expression the speaker probably implies a German car (i.e. made in Germany) that
happens to be blue... , or possibly though less probably a German-registered car of any make.
In the second, we have a blue car that happens to be German, probably a car with German plates
rather than a German make of vehicle.

Note that when two adjectives A & B are linked by "et ", they have an equal value in terms of
required proximity, so can often be placed either in the order AB or in the order BA.

Certain adjectives expressing value-judgement (e.g. misérable), surprise (e.g.incroyable) or

appreciation (e.g.
magnifique
) can be brought forward for purposes of emphasis.
Examples
- Une expérience chimique inutile et dangereuse..
A dangerous and useless chemical experiment .
De belles tomates espagnoles rouges et fraîches.
Some beautiful fresh red Spanish tomatoes.
Une journée longue et difficile. / Une journée difficile et longue.
A long and difficult day.
Une vieille voiture américaine magnifique or
Une magnifique vieille voiture américaine.
A magnificent old American automobile.
In the second case, magnifique is brought to the front for purposes of emphasis

4. Comparison of adjectives

Comparative forms and superlative forms of adjectives in French are not difficult to master;
however the small difference between the comparative form and the superlative form can
sometimes cause confusion.
Other than in a few exceptional cases, the comparative form of an adjective in French is
formed by adding plus in front of the adjective.
The superlative form is made by adding le plus (or la plus or les plus, acccording to context) .
Adjectives that normally precede the noun are often placed after it when used in the superlative
form with le plus.

Normal Comparative Superlative

grand plus grand le plus grand (etc.)
facile plus facile le plus facile (etc)

Examples:
- Une tâche difficile, une tâche plus difficile, la tâche la plus difficile..
A difficult job, a more difficult job, the most difficult job .
Un grand homme, un plus grand homme, le plus grand homme (l'homme le plus grand).
A big man, a bigger man, the biggest man.
Les femmes les plus âgées devraient partir avant les autres..
The oldest women should leave before the others.
La première est plus compliquée que la seconde, mais la troisième est la plus compliquée de
toutes.
The first is more complicated than the second, but the third is the most complicated of all.

Exceptions:
Three common adjectives have exceptional comparative and superlative forms

Normal Comparative Superlative

bon meilleur le meilleur (etc.)
mauvais pire le pire (etc.)
moins moindre le moindre (etc.)

5. Modification of adjectives

Linguists distinguish two different types of adjective; qualitative adjectives, and classifying
adjectives. Qualitative adjectives describe a quality, for example beau, grand, intéressant.
Classifying adjectives categorise the noun they modify; for example français, quotidien,
chimique, principal. Classifying adjectives have an absolute value, and cannot normally be
modified.

Qualitative adjectives can be modified by adverbs of degree or manner.

The most common of these are the adverbs or adverb phrases of degree très (very), assez (rather,
quite), plutôt (rather), peu (little, not very) , trop (too), and trop peu (not...enough), de plus en
plus (increasingly), de moins en moins (decreasingly).
Exceptionally, adjectives can be modified by a noun of degree: un peu.
Many other adverbs, themselves derived from adjectives, can be used to modify adjectives.
Examples: généralement (generally), habituellement (usually), constamment (constantly),
extrèmement (extremely), particulièrement (particularly), hautement (highly), sérieusement
(seriously) and many more.

However French does not use adverbs to modify nouns as easily as English does. For example, a
large number of present participles in English can be made into adverbs to modify nouns;
frustratingly, lovingly, worryingly, disgustingly, boringly, shockingly, etc.... French does not
have many participial adverbs of this sort, so other forms of expression are needed. See example
5 below

Examples:
1. - Ce livre est très intéressant, mais trop peu connu.
This book is very interesting, but not well enough known .
2. Il est de plus en plus exigeant et de moins en moins agréable
He's more and more (increasingly) demanding and less and less pleasant.
3. C'est une jeune femme hautement qualifiée et particulièrement intélligente.
She's a highly qualified and particularly intelligent young lady.
4. Je trouve que c'est un peu compliqué tout cela.
I find all that a bit complicated.
5 C'est inquiétant combien ses prévisions sont justes !
His predictions are worryingly accurate !