French adjectives gender

Summary

What is an adjective? The feminine of French adjectives - generalities Adjectives ending in '-e' Adjectives ending in '-é' / '-ée' Adjectives ending in '-er' / '-ère' Adjectives ending in '-gu' / '-guë' French adjectives changing the final consonant Adjectives ending in '-c' / '-que' Adjectives ending in '-f' / '-ve' Adjectives ending in '-g' / '-gue' Adjectives ending in '-x' / '-se' French adjectives doubling the final consonant Adjectives ending in '-el' / '-elle' Adjectives ending in '-eil' / '-eille' Adjectives ending in '-en' / '-enne' Adjectives ending in '-on' / '-onne' Adjectives ending in '-et' / '-ette' Adjectives ending in '-ot' / '-otte' French adjectives gender - special cases Adjectives ending in '-eur' / '-esse', '-euse', '-rice' Test your knowledge !

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What is an adjective?

Adjectives are words that describe the quality or state of being of a noun, examlpe : big, small, beautiful, happy, slow, quick, dirty...

They can also show the quantity or the number of nouns, example : many, several, few, two, thirty, hundreds...

Adjectives also indicate the quality, state of being or quantity of pronouns, example: He is rich. They are French.

The feminine of French adjectives - generalities

Unlike English adjectives which are invariable, French adjectives possess the singular and plural, masculine and feminine forms. They have to agree in number and gender with the noun or pronoun that they describe, example: un petit garçon, une petite fille, de petits enfants, il est gentil, elle est gentille.

As a general rule, the feminine of the French adjectives is formed by adding a mute e to the final of the masculine.

examples:

Masculine	Feminine
petit	petite
grand	grande
noir	noire
bleu	bleue
vert	verte

Adjectives ending in '-e'

The adjectives that end with an e do not have a specific feminine form, examples: avide, chauve, grotesque, limpide, livide, pâle, pittoresque, ridicule, sombre, tiède, terne, vorace...

Some adjectives have only one form for both genders, although they do not end in e, examples: angora, chic, choc, grognon, kaki, mastoc, snob.

Adjectives ending in '-é' / '-ée'

We also ad e to the end of the adjectives ending with -é to create the feminine, examples :

Masculine	Feminine
âgé	âgée
aisé	aisée
borné	bornée
doué	douée
privé	privée

Not all French adjectives form the feminine so easily. There are several other endings. To form the feminine of some adjectives, the masculine ending has to be removed and replaced with the feminine one.

Adjectives ending in '-er' / '-ère'

The adjectives that end with -er change this ending with -ère to create the feminine. Thus, e takes on a grave accent and an e is added at the end of the masculine adjective, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
cher	chère
fier	fière
grossier	grossière
journalier	journalière
routier	routière

Adjectives ending in '-gu' / '-guë'

The adjectives that end with -gu change this ending with -guë to create the feminine. Thus, the final e takes on an tréma ¨ which means that u has to be said, unlike the ending -gue which we say g like in dig, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
aigu	aiguë
ambigu	ambiguë
exigu	exiguë
contigu	contiguë
subaigu	subaiguë

French adjectives changing the final consonant

The adjectives ending with c, f, g, x change the ending.

Adjectives ending in '-c' / '-que'

The adjectives ending with -c change this ending with -que to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
caduc	caduque
laïc / laïque	laïque
public	publique
vioc / vioque	vioque
Irregular
blanc	blanche
franc*	franche
sec	sèche
grec	grecque
Comment
* The adjective franc has two feminine endings, -que and -che, the meaning is different for each of them. Franque means relating to the Frankish people, example: une lanque franque. Franche means sincere, example: Marie n'a pas été franche avec moi. There are adjectives ending with -c which have only one form for both genders: antichoc, chic, choc, mastoc.

Adjectives ending in '-f' / '-ve'

The adjectives that end with -f become -ve to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
bref	brève
décisif	décisive
fictif	fictive
incisif	incisive
naïf	naïve

Adjectives ending in '-g' / '-gue'

The adjectives that end with -g add a U between -g and -e. Thus, g can keep its guttural pronunciation, like in the English word guitar, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
long	longue
oblong	oblongue

Adjectives ending in '-x' / '-se'

The adjectives that end with -x become -se to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
creux	creuse
fameux	fameuse
furieux	furieuse
odieux	odieuse
pieux	pieuse
Irregular
doux	douce
faux	fausse
roux	rousse

French adjectives doubling the final consonant

The adjectives ending with -el, -eil, -on, -en, -s, -et, -ot double the consonant and add an e.

Adjectives ending in '-el' / '-elle'

The adjectives that end with -el become -elle to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
actuel	actuelle
beau, bel*	belle
cruel	cruelle
formel	formelle
nouveau, nouvel*	nouvelle
Comment
The adjectives with two masculine forms as beau, bel use the second one in front of nouns starting with a vowel, example: un bel homme.

Adjectives ending in '-eil' / '-eille'

The adjectives that end with -eil become -eille to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
pareil	pareille
vermeil	vermeille
vieux, vieil*	vieille
Comment
The adjectives with two masculine forms as vieux, vieil use the second one in front of nouns starting with a vowel, example: un vieil arbre.

Adjectives ending in '-en' / '-enne'

The adjectives that end with -en become -enne to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
ancien	ancienne
chrétien	chrétienne
moyen	moyenne
païen	païenne
pelvien	pelvienne

Adjectives ending in '-on' / '-onne'

The adjectives that end with -on become -onne to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
bon	bonne
breton	bretonne
maigrichon	maigrichonne
mignon	mignonne
pâlichon	pâlichonne
Exceptions
lapon	lapone
letton	lettone
nippon	nippone

Adjectives ending in '-et' / '-ette'

The adjectives that end with -et become -ette to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
cadet	cadette
douillet	douillette
fluet	fluette
sujet	sujette
violet	violette
Comment
Some of the adjectives that end with -et become -ète to create the feminine, examples:
complet	complète
concret	concrète
désuet	désuète
discret	discrète
inquiet	inquiète
replet	replète
secret	secrète

Adjectives ending in '-ot' / '-otte'

The adjectives that end with -ot become -otte to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
boulot	boulotte
pâlot	pâlotte
sot	sotte
vieillot	vieillotte
Comment
Some of the adjectives that end with -ot become -ote to create the feminine, examples:
dévot	dévote
falot	falote
idiot	idiote
manchot	manchote

French adjectives gender - special cases

Adjectives ending in '-eur' / '-esse', '-euse', '-rice'

The adjectives that end with -eur become -esse, -euse, or -rice to create the feminine, examples:

Masculine	Feminine
enchanteur	enchanteresse
vengeur	vengeresse
boudeur	boudeuse
moqueur	moqueuse
rieur	rieuse
moteur	motrice
rotateur	rotatrice
Comment
Some irregular adjectives that end with -eur become -eure to create the feminine, examples:
antérieur	antérieure
extérieur	extérieure
inférieur	inférieure
intérieur	intérieure
majeur	majeure
mineur	mineure
postérieur	postérieure
supérieur	supérieure

Test your knowledge !

French Adjectives Gender - Quiz 1

French Adjectives Gender - Quiz 2

French Adjectives Gender - Quiz 3

French Adjectives Gender - Quiz 4