grammar

Qualifying adjectives: Matching gender and number.

Bonjour ! In English, adjectives are perfectly rigid-a "small" bed is the same word as a "small" room. In French, qualifying adjectives (adjectifs qualificatifs) are flexible. They must always change their spelling to agree with the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun they are describing.

The Basic Rules of Agreement

The standard rule for making an adjective feminine is to add an -e to the end. To make it plural, you generally add an -s.

Irregular Feminine Adjectives

Some of the most common adjectives in French are highly irregular when they switch from masculine to feminine. Instead of just adding an 'e', the entire ending changes.

Irregular Plurals

When dealing with these irregular adjectives in the plural form, watch out for the masculine plurals. Words ending in -eau take an -x instead of an -s. The feminine plurals, however, follow the standard rule by simply taking an -s.