Catherine:	Dis-moi, Guillaume, quelle est ta marque française préférée ?
Guillaume:	Hum… Pas facile. J’hésite entre plusieurs marques mythiques…
Catherine:	Et si on discutait ensemble d’une marque de boisson chocolatée qui suscite une grande nostalgie. Il existe même des collectionneurs de ses produits et de ses célèbres publicités…
Guillaume:	Banania ?

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. There are many types of adjectives: descriptive adjectives, verbal adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, relative adjectives etc. In this chapter we will study the descriptive or qualifying adjectives.

Let’s start with the following examples:

J’ai acheté un grand coffre à jouets.
I bought a big toy chest.

“grand” is a descriptive adjective. It modifies or describes the noun “coffre”.
Notice that the adjective in the sentence above preceded the noun.

Elle a des parents très sévères.
She has very strict parents.

“sévères” is a descriptive adjective. It modifies the noun “parents”.
Notice that the adjective in the sentence above followed the noun.

Remember: Unlike in English, adjectives related to nationality, religion and ethnicity in French are not capitalized.

The Position of adjectives according to nouns

The rules about the position of the descriptive adjectives according to nouns are full of exceptions.

It is said that in his letter to Balzac, Stendhal the author of Le Rouge et le Noir said: “Sometimes I think for fifteen minutes before I decide whether I should put the adjective before or after the nouns” (Reiner, 1968).

As a general rule we place the adjective before a noun when:

A) the descriptive adjective is shorter than the noun

Vous avez fait un bon travail !
You did a good job!

Il a un bel avenir devant lui !
He has a great future ahead!

Exceptions:

The following adjectives are always placed before the nouns even if the noun is shorter:

grand/grande

petit/petite

beau/bel/belle

gros/grosse

nouveau/nouvel/nouvelle

vieux/vieil/vieille

For example:

Un nouveau pont vient d’être construit.
A new bridge has just been built.

Le vieil homme que j’ai vu près de la boulangerie m’avait l’air malheureux.
The old man I saw near the bakery looked sad.

B) the adjective is ordinal

For example:

C’est la deuxième fois que tu viens en retard.
This is the second time that you come late.

We place the adjective after the noun when:

A) the descriptive adjective is longer than the noun:

For example:

Leur démarche est inconstitutionnelle.
Their approach is unconstitutional.

J’aime beaucoup les chansons traditionnelles.
I love traditional songs.

B) the descriptive adjective indicates a color or a geometrical shape: For example:

La voiture bleue qui est à côté de la voiture rouge appartient à mon voisin.
The blue car next to the red car belongs to my neighbor.

C) the descriptive adjective designates a social or religious category or derives from nouns:

For example:

Il y a vingt-deux pays arabes dans le monde.
There are twenty two Arab countries in the world.

Le parti républicain a du mal à trouver le bon candidat présidentiel.
The Republican party has trouble finding the right presidential candidate.

Remember: There are some adjectives that change meaning depending on their position according to the noun.

C’est un brave homme !
He is a nice man!

C’est un homme brave !
He is a brave man!

The Feminine of Adjectives

As a general rule, the feminine form of an adjective is obtained by adding an “e” to the masculine adjective.

Masculine	Feminine
joli	jolie
clair	claire
froid	froide
chaud	chaude
noir	noire
profond	profonde
haut	haute
content	contente
rond	ronde

Remember: The adjectives that end in “e” in their masculine form stay unchanged in the feminine form.

For example:

Masculine	Feminine
logique	logique
large	large
utile	utile
nécessaire	nécessaire