Grammar
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Grammar / Agreement and position of adjectives
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Do you like grammar? Learn everything there is to know about adjectives, their agreement and position in a sentence.
The agreement of adjectives
The qualitative adjective designates the quality of a noun.
Examples:
Un café noir
A black coffee
A black coffee
Une grande maison
A big house
The adjective agrees in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun it qualifies.
A big house
The adjective agrees in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun it qualifies.
Masculine singular |
Feminine singular |
|
Un petit garçon
|
Une petite fille
|
Masculine plural |
Feminine plural |
|
Des petits garçons |
Des petites filles |
Masculine singular |
Feminine singular
|
Masculine plural
|
Feminine plural
|
| ancien former |
ancienne | anciens | anciennes |
| bas low |
basse | bas | basses |
| cassé broken |
cassée | cassés | cassées |
| intéressant interesting |
intéressante | intéressants | intéressantes |
| grand big |
grande | grands | grandes |
| petit small |
petite | petits | petites |
| premier first |
première | premiers | premières |
| rouge red |
rouge | rouges | rouges |
| sale dirty |
sale | sales | sales |
| beau beautiful |
belle | beaux | belles |
| original original |
originale | originaux | originales |
| vieux old |
vieille | vieux | vieilles |
Position of adjectives
There is no simple rule that determines the position of adjectives.
Most of the adjectives are placed after the noun, including adjectives that indicate colour, form, religion and nationality.
Un livre intéressant, des pommes vertes, une église catholique, des tables rondes, des femmes heureuses.
Generally, the short adjectives, such as beau, joli, double, jeune, vieux, petit, grand, gros, mauvais, demi, bon, nouveau, are placed before the noun.
Some adjectives can be placed before or after the noun. The meaning changes.
Examples:
Un homme pauvre (who is not rich) ≠ Le pauvre homme (a man to be pitied).
Une curieuse histoire (a strange story) ≠ Une femme curieuse (an indiscreet woman).
Practical exercises
Grammar: Noun-adjective agreement and the place of adjectives
A1
5 exercises
Look • Listen • Grammar (characterization / masculine / feminine, characterization / adjectives - agreement)