Today’s lesson examines the French adjective gros, grosse, which translates to big, large and fat. Unlike most French adjectives which follow the noun, this adjective precedes the noun. For example, un gros chat (a big cat). Gros comes from grossus (fat, large, great) in Medieval Latin and is related to groß in German.
gros, grosse
big, large, fat
Pronunciation [gʀo, gʀos]
Example sentences
This first sentence uses le plus + adjective (the most), which is an example of the French superlative.
Donnez-moi le plus gros morceau de gâteau, s’il vous plaît !
Give me the biggest piece of cake, please!
For this second sentence, the adverb trop means “too” or “too much”. However, it can also be used in French slang as a synonym for très (very).
J’adore ce gros chien. Il est trop mignon !
I love this big dog. He’s very cute!
This sentence uses être (to be) in the imperfect tense, which is used for describing past actions and situations. More polite ways of saying overweight are être en surpoids and pondérale (adjective).
Claudine était une grosse femme avant de suivre un régime.
Claudine was a fat woman before going on a diet.
This final sentence uses the term un gros mot, meaning a swearword. An adjective related to gros/grosse is grossier/grossière, meaning rude or impolite.
Arrête de dire les gros mots. Tu es grossier !
Stop swearing! You are being rude!
Final note
Note that translations for the English adjective “gross” (as in disgusting) are dégoûtant, dégueulasse and répugnant in French.
Related lessons
- Gros bisous – hugs and kisses, lots of love
- Explanation of French adjectives
- Le régime – diet
- Arrêter – to stop
- Mot – word
Word of the Day archive | Lessons by David Issokson
References
- fr.wiktionary.org (gros)
- wiktionary.org (grossus)
