Level A2 (Upper Beginner)
Today’s French Word of the Day explores the adjective “gros” (feminine: “grosse”), meaning big, large, or fat. We’ll also explain this adjective’s special placement.
Meaning
Pronunciation
Example sentences
Word origin
Meaning
“Gros” (feminine: “grosse”) is a French adjective meaning “big,” “large,” or “fat.” Unlike most adjectives, it typically precedes the noun— un gros chat (a big cat). The lesson also highlights phrases like “un gros mot” (a swearword) and contrasts it with the English “gross.”
Pronunciation
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!
Word origin
Gros comes from grossus (fat, large, great) in Medieval Latin and is related to groß in German.
Final note
Note that translations for the English adjective “gross” (as in disgusting) are dégoûtant, dégueulasse and répugnant in French.
Related lessons
References
- fr.wiktionary.org (gros)
- wiktionary.org (grossus)
