[Drapeaux] You too can learn French !
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Created by Jacques LΘon
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Lesson 4 - Adjectives and Plural
1. Adjectives
In the second lesson we saw that in French nouns have a gender : they can
be either masculine or feminine. Some of them can be both and the feminine
form is derived from the masculine by appending a " e ". We also learned
how the plural affects the nouns, i.e. by appending a " s ", in most of the
times. To sum up, we can say that the gender and the number (singular or
plural) affect the nouns termination, by appending either a " e " or a " s
" (or sometimes something more complex).
There is an other kind of words in French which change in accordance to the
gender and the number : the adjectives. Adjectives change according to the
gender and the number of the noun which they qualify. The rules which we
drew up for the nouns are applicable to the adjectives :
Adjectives Concordance Rules
* Rule 1 - Concordance with the gender When the noun which an adjective
qualifies is feminine, an " e " is appended to the adjective, if it
does not already end with an " e ".
* Rule 2 - Concordance with the number When an adjective refers to a
noun in the plurial form or more than 1 noun, a " s " is appended to
it, if it does not end with a " s ", a" z " or a " x ".
* Rule 3 - The rules 1 and 2 are cumulative, i.e. if an adjective
qualifies a feminine and plurial noun, it takes an " e " and a " s "
at the end.
* Rule 4 - Masculine is stronger ! When an adjective refers to a group
of masculine and feminine nouns, only the masculine concordance rule
applies. This rule is also known as " the masculine wins over the
feminine ", which is the more macho French grammar rule !
Note : In most cases, the adjectives follow the noun or the group of nouns
they refer. However, this remark is not rigid and you can actually put an
adjective before the noun it qualifies but be careful, by doing this, you
may change the meaning ! (idiomatic form).
Examples :
* un homme petit (a small man) / un petit homme (a kid)
* une femme bonne (a good woman) / une bonne femme (a woman with a
pejorative meaning)
* une voiture sale (a dirty car) / une sale voiture (a awful car)
Some adjectives are placed before the noun they qualify rather than after.
Examples :
* grand (big, large) : we say " une grande voiture " (a big car) rather
than " une voiture grande "
* beau (nice) : we say " un beau graτon " (a nice boy) rather than " un
graτon beau "
Note that, in these examples, both forms are grammatically correct but
French speaking people prefer the first one.
Examples of adjective concordance rules
Original sentence : Il conduit un camion bleu (He drives a blue truck).
Let's apply the fourth rules we mentioned above :
* Rule 1 - concordance with the gender: Il conduit une voiture bleue
* Rule 2 - concordance with the number : Il conduit des camions bleus
* Rule 3 - accumulation of rules 1 and 2: Il conduit des voitures bleues
* Rule 4 - " masculine wins over feminine " : Il conduit un camion et
une voiture bleus
2. Some adjectives
* big or tall
masculine singular : grand
feminine singular : grande
masculine plural: grands
feminine plural: grandes
* small
masculine singular : petit
feminine singular : petite
masculine plural: petits
feminine plural: petites
* nice
masculine singular : beau
feminine singular : belle
masculine plural: beaux
feminine plural: belles
* ugly
masculine singular : laid
feminine singular : laide
masculine plural: laids
feminine plural: laides
* good
masculine singular : bon
feminine singular : bonne
masculine plural: bons
feminine plural: bonnes
* bad
masculine singular : mauvais
feminine singular : mauvaise
masculine plural: mauvais
feminine plural: mauvaises
* high
masculine singular : haut
feminine singular : haute
masculine plural: hauts
feminine plural: hautes
* low
masculine singular : bas
feminine singular : basse
masculine plural: bas
feminine plural: basses
* heavy
masculine singular : lourd
feminine singular : lourde
masculine plural: lourds
feminine plural: lourdes
* light
masculine singular : lΘger
feminine singular : lΘgΦre
masculine plural: lΘgers
feminine plural: lΘgΦres
* clean
masculine singular : propre
feminine singular : propre
masculine plural: propres
feminine plural: propres
* dirty
masculine singular : sale
feminine singular : sale
masculine plural: sales
feminine plural: sales
* long
masculine singular : long
feminine singular : longue
masculine plural: longs
feminine plural: longues
* short
masculine singular : court
feminine singular : courte
masculine plural: courts
feminine plural: courtes
From this list, you can derive the following additional concordance rules
which apply most of the time :
1. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a e, the
feminine form is identical to the masculine one (e.g. sale / sale)
2. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a n, the
feminine form is derived by appending a e and by doubling the ending n
(e.g. bon / bonne)
3. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a er, the
feminine form end by Φre (e.g. lΘger / lΘgΦre)
4. when the masculine singular form of the adjectif ends with a eau or
au, the plural form is composed by appending a x and the feminine form
is built by replacing eau or au by elle (e.g. beau / belle / beaux)
3. Our first sentences
Very simple sentences can be built using a subject, an adjective and the
verb Ωtre (to be) such as :
* La maison est grande (The house is big).
* La voiture bleue est chΦre (The blue car is expensive).
* Tu es grand (You are tall).
* Elle est belle (She is nice).
* Les garτons et les filles sont grands (The boys and the girls are
tall) - Note that in this example the "macho" rule applies because the
adjective grand is only in concordance with the noun garτons.
* Nous sommes intelligents (We are smart).
Note that the concordance rules apply to the adjective according to the
gender and the number of the subject. I advise you to buid such sentences
using the few words you have already learnt. It's a good exercise which
make you practice the feminine and plurial forms of the adjectives as well
as the present tense conjugation of the verb Ωtre. Have a good time.
4. More Numbers
* 11 - onze (onz)
* 12 - douze
* 13 - treize [trΦz']
* 14 - quatorze
* 15 - quinze
* 16 - seize [sΦz']
* 17 - dix-sept
* 18 - dix-huit [dizuit']
* 19 - dix-neuf
* 20 - vingt [vin]
* 21 - vingt et un [vintΘ un]
* 22 - vingt-deux [vint deu]
* 23 - vingt-trois [vint troi]
* 30 - trente
* 31 - trente et un
* 32 - trente-deux
* 40 - quarante
* 41 - quarante et un
* 42 - quarante-deux
* 50 - cinquante
* 51 - cinquante et un
* 52 - cinquante-deux
* 60 - soixante [soissant']
* 61 - soixante et un [soissantΘ un]
* 62 - soixante-deux
* 70 - soixante-dix (septante [pronounce the p] in Belgium and
Switzerland)
* 71 - soixante-et onze (septante un in Belgium and Switzerland) 72 -
soixante-douze
* 73 - soixante-treize
* 74 - soixante-quatorze
* 75 - soixante-quinze
* 76 - soixante-seize
* 77 - soixante-dix sept
* 78 - soixante-dix huit
* 79 - soixante-dix neuf
* 80 - quatre-vingt (octante in Switzerland)
* 81 - quatre-vingt-un (octante un in Switzerland)
* 90 - quatre-vingt-dix (nonante in Switzerland) >
* 91 - quatre-vingt-onze (nonante un in Switzerland)
* 92 - quatre-vingt-douze (nonante trois in Switzerland)
* 93 - quatre-vingt-treize
* 94 - quatre-vingt-quatorze
* 95 - quatre-vingt-quinze
* 96 - quatre-vingt-seize
* 97 - quatre-vingt-dix-sept
* 98 - quatre-vingt-dix-huit
* 99 - quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
* 100 - cent [ssen]
* 200 - deux cents
* 1.000 - mille [meel']
* 10.000 - dix mille
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