Feminine adjectives in French. Feminine adjectives

An adjective in French is an important and integral part of speech that allows you to define an object, its properties and characteristics. It changes in gender, number and degree of comparison, which agree with the gender and number of the noun to which it refers.

Gender and number of adjectives (briefly)

We have already discussed such a grammatical phenomenon as . Here we will consider only the basic concepts.

How the feminine gender of adjectives is formed: a masculine adjective receives the ending – e to form the feminine gender. Eg:

• Grand – grande – big – big
• Petit – petite – small – small
• Rusé – rusee – cunning – cunning

For example: une petite fille (little girl) – un petit garçon (little boy)

If the adjective ends in – With, in the feminine gender the ending changes to - che :

• Blanc c– blan che– white – white
• Fran c– fran che– open – open
• Se c– sè che– dry – dry

For example: Un homme fran c(frank man) – une femme fran che (outspoken woman)

Agreement of adjectives in gender and number

Ending - eur euse :

• Ment eur–ment euse- deceitful - deceitful
• Moq ueur–moq ueuse– mocking – mocking

For example: un garçon menteur (lying boy) – une fillette menteuse (lying girl)

Ending - teur in the feminine gender it changes to - trice:

• Observa teur– observa trice– observant – observant
• Interroga teur– interroga trice– interrogator – interrogator

For example: un professeur observateur (observant professor) – une élève observatrice (observant student)

Ending - eau goes into - elle:

• Nouv eau–nouv elle– new – new
• Jem eau– jum elle– similar – similar (twin – twin)
• B eau–b elle- beautiful - beautiful

For example: un nouveau ami (new friend) – une nouvelle amie (new friend)

Masculine ending - ou becomes feminine - olle:

• F ou– f olle– crazy – crazy
• M ou–m olle– soft – soft

Silent ending - s in the masculine gender it becomes voiced in the feminine gender:

• Françai s– françai se– French – French

Ending - f in the feminine gender it changes to – ve:

• Neu f-neu ve– new – new

Ending - eux goes to - euse:

• Heur eux–heur euse – happy – happy

Some French adjectives do not fit any rule, so you need to remember them:

• Bass – basse – low – low
• Blanc– blanche– white – white
• Frais– fraiche– fresh – fresh
• Gros– grosse– thick – thick
• Long– longue– long – long
• Pais– paisse– thick – thick
• Doux– douce– sweet – sweet

Plural adjective

The adjective in French also changes in number.

The general rule for forming plurals is to add the ending - s to a singular adjective.

• Différent – ​​differents – different – ​​different
• Petit – petits – small – small
• Pointu – pointus – sharp – sharp

Feminine adjectives have the same ending:

• Différente – differentes – different – ​​different
• Petite – petites – small – small
• Pointue – pointues – sharp – sharp

Adjectives ending – al in the plural they get the ending - aux:

• Vertical – verticaux – vertical – vertical

Endings – s or - x in the plural remain unchanged:

• Gros – gros – thick – thick
• Heureux – heureux – happy – happy

Everyone has a friend like that: examples of adjectives

Adjective location

In Russian, we are accustomed to the fact that the adjective is placed before the word that it defines: a cozy home, a beautiful girl, a tall man, etc. In French the situation is different.

Most adjectives are found after the word they define: un homme heureux, une chambre comfortable, un ami hospitalier.

Before nouns

The following adjectives are placed before the noun:

• Autre – different
• Beau (belle) – beautiful
• Bon (bonne) – good, kind
• Grand (grande) – big
• Gros (grosse) – thick
• Haut (haute) – tall
• Joli (jolie) – cute
• Long (longue) – long
• Mauvais (mauvaise) – bad, evil
• Nouveau (nouvelle) – new
• Petit (petite) – small
• Vilain (vilaine) – nasty
• Jeune – young
• Vieux (vieille) – old

BUT: if an adverb is used with these adjectives, then both words are found after the noun: un garçon très haut - a very tall boy. And if such adjectives have an addition, then they are also placed after the noun: le vin bon à boire - wine good for drinking.

Position of evaluative adjectives

Some French adjectives can be placed both before and after the noun. They do not change their meaning. These are evaluative adjectives that can be placed either before or after a noun without changing the meaning. But, if they stand before a noun, they acquire a subjective meaning. These are the adjectives:

• Délicieux – delicious; delicious
• Magnifique - beautiful
• Splendide – magnificent
• Superbe - amazing
• Horrible - terrible
• Extraordinaire - extraordinary
• Etonnant – amazing
• Formidable - incomparable
• Parfait is excellent
• Râvissant - beautiful
• Passionnant – exciting
• Merveilleux - wonderful
• Incroyable - incredible
• Admirable - wonderful
• Epouvantable - terrifying
• Excellent - excellent
• Remarquable – wonderful

The meaning of an adjective depending on its position

An adjective in French changes its meaning depending on its position. That is, when they are in front of a noun, they have one meaning; when they are after a noun, they take on a different meaning. Pay attention to the pattern of adjectives and their translation depending on their position: adjective – meaning after a noun – meaning before a noun.

• Amer – bitter (tastes) – bitter (figurative)
• Ancien – ancient – ​​former
• Antique - antique - ancient
• Bas – low – low (figurative)
• Brave - brave - decent, nice
• Certain - certain - some
• Chaud – warm – warm (figurative)
• Cher – dear – dear (in circulation)
• Doux – sweet – tender
• Dur – hard – heavy
• Fameux - famous - excellent
• Faux – deceitful – false
• Fier – proud – rare, notorious
• Fin – subtle – skillful
• Fort – strong – intense
• Fou - crazy - crazy
• Franc – direct – obvious
• Froid – cold – cold (portable)
• Furieux – angry – very strong
• Gris – gray – sad
• Léger – light – frivolous
• Maigre - thin - pathetic, meager
• Méchant - evil - insignificant
• Mince - thin - insignificant
• Mortel – mortal – mortal
• Mou – soft – soft (figurative)
• Noble - noble - noble, sublime
• Pâle – pale – pathetic
• Pauvre – poor – unhappy
• Pieux – pious – good
• Plaisant – pleasant – cheerful
• Propre – pure – own
• Rare – rare – rare (figurative)
• Riche – rich – expensive (figurative)
• Royal – royal – royal (figurative)
• Rude – hard, harsh – big, strong
• Sacré – sacred – damned (BUT: in the names le Sacré Collège, Sacré-Cœur means “holy, religious”)
• Saint - sacred - holy
• Sale – dirty – vile, vile
• Seul – lonely – the only one
• Simple - simple - ordinary
• Triste – sad – bad
• Unique - the only one - the only one of what was
• Vague – indefinite – insignificant
• Vrai - truthful - true, real
• Vert – green, unripe – vigorous
• Vif – alive – strong (figurative)

But what to do if there are several adjectives that define a word? In this case, you need to start with a more general characteristic, moving on to a specific one (that is, from the general to the specific):

• Une voiture japonaise noire – black Japanese car
• Un vin blanc français – white French wine

The adjective occupies a fundamental place in the French language, since it is this part of speech that will help you describe events and actions. Use as many adjectives as possible, look for synonyms for them, this will make your speech much more interesting and richer!

The placement of French adjectives is a puzzle of the French language that all students face sooner or later. Why a mystery? Yes, because, at first glance, it seems that there is no logic where the adjective should be placed, because in some cases it comes before the noun, in others – after. For example: “Mon père est un homme grand”, “Louis XIV est un grand homme”. What to do? How do you know where to put an adjective in French? There is a way out - learn some rules!

So, let's begin. The most important rule: most French adjectives come after the noun(J'ai regardé un film intéressant).

After a noun adjectives are always used:

1. Relative adjectives (to make it easier to understand: you cannot put the words “très”, “peu”, “beaucoup” between an adjective and a noun): une usine métallurgique (we cannot say “a very metallurgical plant”);

2. adjectives denoting colors: une robe jaune, une fleur rouge;

3. adjectives with the meaning of the form: une table ronde;

4. adjectives denoting nationalities: un plat chinois, des parfums français;

5. adjectives indicating religion: une tradition catholique;

6 . les participe présents (-ant) et passés: une fille amusante, des feuilles mortes;

7 . adjectives followed by an object: un livre intimate à lire

8. You should also pay attention to the number of syllables in the adjective and noun. If the noun is monosyllabic (that is, it has one syllable), and the adjective is polysyllabic (that is, it has two or more syllables), then you need to put the adjective after noun: un mot étranger. The same rule applies if both the noun and the adjective have one syllable in their composition: un mot court.

Pnext nouns are put:

1. some adjectives: grand, gros, petit, bon, mauvais, beau, joli, jeune, vieux, long, haut, large, double, demi, nouveau : un nouveau livre, une jolie fille, un long chemin;

2. ordinal numbers (in Russian they are not adjectives, but in French they are included): le premier pas, le deuxième livre

Before or after nouns are given adjective evaluations, that is, they can be placed both after and before the noun, while the meaning of the expression does not change: un paysage formidable, un formidable paysage. The French themselves say that in this case you can use the rule of “euphony”, that is, as the expression sounds better, you can use an adjective.

There are also a number of French adjectives that, depending on their position, change the meaning of the expression, but we will talk about them in the next article. See you soon!

Adjectives in French and Russian are very similar: they agree with the noun. In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number. And if we decided on the gender of adjectives in the previous lesson, then this one will be devoted to ways of forming the plural of adjectives.

Ways to form the plural of adjectives

Like nouns, adjectives in French form their plurals according to one simple general rule: they are added to the ending "s" For example: intéressant – intéressants(interesting, -s).

For those adjectives that already end in "s" or at "x", one more "s" no need to add: épais(dense, -s). Don't forget, to recognize the plural by ear, you will need to pay attention to the article.

All feminine adjectives form their plural by adding "s" with no exceptions.

Some changes occur with masculine adjectives. First, to the adjectives beau, nouveau, vieux(second form of adjectives bel, nouvel, vieil) in the plural add "x": "beaux" And "nouveau". To the form vieux nothing is added because of the end "x".

Adjectives on "-al" change the plural ending to "-aux" For example: amical - amicaux(friendly, -ie). Don't forget a few exceptions to this rule, namely:
banal – banals(banal, -s)
final – finals(final, -s)
fatal – fatals(fatal, -s)
glacial – glacials(icy, -s)
natal – natals(native)
naval - navals(marine, -ies)
bancal – bancals(curve, -s)

As you can see, there are not many rules. Just be careful. And don't forget to test yourself in practice.

Lesson assignments

Exercise 1. Change singular to plural.
1. ambitieux 2. national 3. beau 4. tableau 5. fatal 6. jeune 7. gris 8. social 9. nouveau 10. rouge

Exercise 2. Put the phrase in the plural.
1. le nouveau livre 2. la pomme jaune 3. la grosse somme 4. un homme généreux 5. un problème compliqué 6. un geste amical 7. un mot fatal 8. un beau jardin 9. une ligne droite 10. une voiture blanche

Answer 1.
1. ambitieux 2. nationaux 3. beaux 4. tableaux 5. finals 6. jeunes 7. gris 8. sociaux 9. nouveaux 10. rouges

Answer 2.
1. les nouveaux livres 2. les pommes jaunes 3. les grosses sommes 4. les hommes généreux 5. des problèmes compliqués 6. des gestes amicals 7. des mots fatals 8. des beaux jardins 9. des lignes droites 10. des voitures blanches

In French, there are masculine and feminine genders of adjectives. There are the following ways to form the feminine gender:

1)
Added - e to
masculine gender which is singular. For example: petit - petite, gris - grise.

2)
If the adjective is masculine
ends:

C (pronounced in speech) feminine ending
will be que. For example: public - publique.

C (which
not pronounced in speech) in the feminine gender will have the ending che. For example: blanc -blanche.

3) If the adjective is masculine
kind ends in - f then in
formation of the feminine gender it changes to -
ve. For example: neuf - neuve.

4) The ending g in the masculine becomes gue in the feminine. For example: long - longue.

5) The ending al changes ale
and at the same time l not
doubles. For example: amical -amicale.

6) The masculine ending el in the feminine forms elle, and also ul becomes ulle and when
this does not change the pronunciation. For example: cruel - cruelle, nul - nulle.

7) If a word ends in eil, then when it becomes feminine it acquires the ending eille, but the pronunciation remains the same. For example: pareil -pareille.

8) In the masculine il, then in the feminine ile. In this case, l does not double. For example: civil - civile.

9) The ending n becomes feminine ne, and words that end in on receive the ending onne.

For example: fin
- fine, bon - bonne. Available
and exception: paysan - paysanne.

10) The ending ien is converted to ienne. For example: Italien -Italienne.

11) When the adjective is standing
in the masculine gender it has an unpronounceable ending er then to form the feminine gender
add e and the “`” sign. For example: premier -
premier.

12) The ending eur changes to euse, and teur to touse (if
This is an adjective formed from a verb that in the infinitive has a t before the ending). For example: rieur-rieuse, flotter (verb) - flotteur(
masculine adjective) - flottouse (feminine). All
other adjectives not formed from a verb with a t in the root are formed in the following way: teur - trice. For example: protector
- protectrice.

13) Some adjectives
of Latin origin having the masculine ending eur forms eure. For example: anténeur - anténeure.

14) s changes to se gris-grise. There are exceptions: frais -
fraiche, tiers - tierce.

15) Several adjectives double s: gros - grosse, gras -
grasse, las - lasse, métis - métisse, expres
-expresse, épais - épaisse, profès - professe, bas - basse.

16) Masculine et in feminine ette. For example:
coquet - coquette. There are ten adjectives that
end in et - ète: complete-
complète, concret - concrète, secret - secrète, incomplete - incomplète, indiseret - indiserète, inquiet - inquiète, désuet -
desuète, discret - discrete,
quiet -
quiète, replete - replete.

17) In the masculine ot in the feminine ote. For example: idiot -idiote. There are words in which the t is doubled: sot -sotte, boulot -doulotte, vieillot - vieillotte.

18) The masculine ending eux in the feminine euse and oux - ouse. For example: jaloux - jalouse.

Exception words: beau
- belle, jumeau - jumelle, mou - molle, vieux - vieille, nouveau - nouvelle.