Published March 2 2013 • Updated June 16, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson, teaching French online since 2014
French adjectives (les adjectifs) describe people, places, and things. Unlike English, French adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). Most adjectives come after the noun, but some common adjectives—including BAGS adjectives—come before it.
This lesson explains adjective placement, agreement, common spelling patterns, and includes a list of frequently used French adjectives.
✅ BAGS adjectives
✅ Adjective placement
✅ Forming the feminine
✅ Forming the plural
✅ Adjectives with changing meanings
✅ 30 common French adjectives
What are French adjectives?
French adjectives describe or modify nouns.
Examples:
un livre intéressant — an interesting book
une voiture rouge — a red car
des étudiants intelligents — intelligent students
BAGS adjectives
Most French adjectives come after the noun they modify. However, many adjectives expressing Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size (BAGS) come before the noun.
| Category | Common adjectives |
|---|---|
| Beauty | beau, belle (beautiful); joli, jolie (pretty) |
| Age | jeune (young); vieux, vieille (old); nouveau, nouvelle (new) |
| Goodness | bon, bonne (good); mauvais, mauvaise (bad) |
| Size | grand, grande (big, tall); petit, petite (small); gros, grosse (fat, big); long, longue (long) |
Examples:
un vieux film — an old movie
une nouvelle maison — a new house
une jolie fille — a pretty girl
un petit garçon — a little boy
une belle ville — a beautiful city
un long voyage — a long trip
Adjective placement
With the exception of many BAGS adjectives and a few other common words, French adjectives are placed after the noun.
Examples:
le ciel bleu — the blue sky
une voiture rouge — a red car
un homme intelligent — an intelligent man
une personne sympathique — a nice person
Forming the feminine
Most adjectives simply add -e
| English | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| big, tall | grand | grande |
| blue | bleu | bleue |
| gray | gris | grise |
| American | américain | américaine |
| intelligent | intelligent | intelligente |
Examples:
un grand garçon — a big boy
une grande fille — a tall girl
un homme américain — an American man
une femme américaine — an American woman
Adjectives already ending in -e
If the masculine form already ends in -e, it usually stays the same in the feminine.
| English | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| shy | timide | timide |
| fast | rapide | rapide |
| difficult | difficile | difficile |
| red | rouge | rouge |
Examples:
un garçon timide — a shy boy
une fille timide — a shy girl
un train rapide — a fast train
une voiture rapide — a fast car
Common spelling changes
| Pattern | Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| -eux → -euse | heureux | heureuse | happy |
| -f → -ve | actif | active | active |
| Double final consonant | bon | bonne | good |
| -er → -ère | premier | première | first |
| -et → -ète | secret | secrète | secretive |
| -et → -ette | muet | muette | mute |
Examples:
un homme heureux — a happy man
une femme heureuse — a happy woman
un garçon sportif — an athletic boy
une fille sportive — an athletic girl
un homme canadien — a Canadian man
une femme canadienne — a Canadian woman
un homme cruel — a cruel man
une femme cruelle — a cruel woman
Irregular adjectives
Some adjectives have highly irregular masculine and feminine forms.
| English | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| beautiful | beau | belle |
| crazy | fou | folle |
| new | nouveau | nouvelle |
| old | vieux | vieille |
| white | blanc | blanche |
| soft | doux | douce |
| false, wrong | faux | fausse |
| long | long | longue |
| public | public | publique |
| dry | sec | sèche |
Forming the plural
French adjectives must also agree with nouns in number. Most simply add -s.
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| intelligent | intelligents | intelligent |
| petite | petites | small |
| grand | grands | big, tall |
Examples:
un homme intelligent — a smart man
des hommes intelligents — smart men
une petite maison — a small house
des petites maisons — small houses
un grand garçon — a big boy
des grands garçons — big boys
Adjectives ending in -s or -x
These usually do not change in the masculine plural.
un garçon français — a French boy
des garçons français — French boys
un homme courageux — a brave man
des hommes courageux — brave men
Adjectives ending in -al
Many adjectives ending in -al change to -aux in the masculine plural.
un homme génial — a brilliant man
des hommes géniaux — brilliant men
Adjectives ending in -eau
These generally add -x in the masculine plural.
un beau paysage — a beautiful landscape
de beaux paysages — beautiful landscapes
un nouveau camion — a new truck
de nouveaux camions — new trucks
Adjectives whose meaning changes with position
Some French adjectives can appear either before or after the noun. Their meaning changes depending on their position.
| Before the noun | Meaning | After the noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| un ancien ami | a former friend | un livre ancien | an old book |
| un cher ami | a dear friend | une voiture chère | an expensive car |
| ma propre voiture | my own car | une voiture propre | a clean car |
| mon pauvre ami | my poor friend | un pays pauvre | a poor country |
| le mois prochain | next month | le prochain mois | the following month |
| le mois dernier | last month | la dernière page | the last page |
30 common French adjectives
| English | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| old | vieux | vieille |
| young | jeune | jeune |
| good | bon | bonne |
| bad | mauvais | mauvaise |
| big, tall | grand | grande |
| small | petit | petite |
| happy | heureux | heureuse |
| sad | triste | triste |
| nice | sympathique | sympathique |
| mean | méchant | méchante |
| polite | poli | polie |
| impolite | impoli | impolie |
| pretty | joli | jolie |
| beautiful | beau | belle |
| ugly | laid | laide |
| strong | fort | forte |
| weak | faible | faible |
| expensive | cher | chère |
| inexpensive | bon marché | bon marché |
| fat | gros | grosse |
| thin | maigre | maigre |
| horrible | horrible | horrible |
| wonderful | formidable | formidable |
| smart | intelligent | intelligente |
| stupid | stupide | stupide |
| interesting | intéressant | intéressante |
| boring | ennuyeux | ennuyeuse |
| rich | riche | riche |
| poor | pauvre | pauvre |
| long | long | longue |
Summary
- French adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number.
- Most adjectives come after the noun.
- Many adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size (BAGS) come before the noun.
- The feminine form is often created by adding -e, but many common adjectives have irregular spelling changes.
- Some adjectives, such as ancien, cher, and pauvre, change meaning depending on whether they appear before or after the noun.
📚 Related lessons
- French sentence structure
- French noun gender rules
- French articles
- French demonstrative adjectives
- French possessive adjectives
🚀 More lessons on FrenchLearner
