Module IV·Article IV·~2 min read
Adjectives: Agreement and Position in the Sentence
Family, Professions, and Your Environment
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Agreement of Adjectives
French adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.
Formation of the Feminine
| Rule | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| Add -e (if there is no -e) | grand | grande |
| No change (already ends in -e) | calme | calme |
| -eux → -euse | sérieux | sérieuse |
| -eur → -euse | travailleur | travailleuse |
| -teur → -trice | directeur | directrice |
| -el → -elle | professionnel | professionnelle |
| -if → -ive | actif | active |
| -en → -enne | européen | européenne |
| Doubling + e | bon | bonne |
Formation of the Plural
As a rule, add -s (masculine and feminine):
- grand → grands / grandes
- sérieux → sérieux (already ends in -x, no change)
- professionnel → professionnels / professionnelles
Position of Adjectives: Before or After?
Rule of thumb: Most adjectives stand after the noun (especially color, shape, nationality, technical characteristics):
- un contrat important — an important contract
- un marché international — an international market
- une stratégie commerciale — a commercial strategy
- une voiture rouge — a red car
- un client américain — an American client
Before the noun stand BAGS:
- Beauty: beau, joli (beautiful)
- Age: jeune (young), vieux/vieille (old), nouveau/nouvelle (new)
- Goodness: bon/bonne (good), mauvais (bad), meilleur (best)
- Size: grand (big/tall), petit (small), long/longue (long), court (short), gros (fat/big)
BAGS Examples:
- un grand projet — a big project
- une nouvelle stratégie — a new strategy
- un bon investissement — a good investment
- une petite entreprise — a small enterprise
- un jeune entrepreneur — a young entrepreneur
Adjectives Frequently Changing Meaning
Some adjectives change their meaning depending on position:
| Adjective | Before the Noun | After the Noun |
|---|---|---|
| ancien/ancienne | former (l'ancien directeur) | ancient, old (un bâtiment ancien) |
| certain | certain (un certain succès) | sure (c'est certain) |
| cher/chère | dear (cher ami) | expensive (c'est cher) |
| grand | great (un grand homme) | tall (un homme grand) |
| pauvre | unfortunate (le pauvre homme) | poor (un homme pauvre) |
Business Vocabulary: Adjectives
Description of projects and solutions:
- un projet ambitieux — ambitious project
- une bonne opportunity — good opportunity
- une solution innovante — innovative solution
- un marché prometteur — promising market
- une offre compétitive — competitive offer
- des résultats satisfaisants — satisfactory results
- une situation difficile — difficult situation
- un nouveau partner — new partner
- une longue negotiation — lengthy negotiations
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