Adjective Agreement - Singular

Adjectives are one of the main parts of speech, and they can be used in numerous combinations with nouns. However, French adjectives are a little bit more complicated than the English variety - and that is because of the agreement.

What Is an Adjective Agreement?

Rule 1: Unlike English, French adjectives have different endings - and those should agree with the number and gender of the noun the adjective is describing.

The Basics

Rule 2: In singular adjectives, the masculine form is the base. The feminine form is usually created by adding an -e suffix to the base.

Note that grammatical gender in French is not the same as the gender of the object it describes.

Rule 3: If an adjective in a masculine form ends with an -e, the feminine form will be the same.

Exceptions

Rule 4: Many adjectives in French have a particular ending in a feminine form.

Exception: there are many adjectives in French that end with -x, -c, -et, or -s in their masculine form. Those will have different ending in feminine forms, and it's best to look them up in the dictionary and write down.