| masculine | feminine | examples |
|---|---|---|
| -e | no change | un homme / une femme calme (a calm man / woman) |
| -er | -ère | cher → chère (dear, expensive), premier → première (first) |
| -en, -on, -el | double consonant + e | italien → italienne, bon → bonne (good), cruel → cruelle |
| -eux, -eur | -euse | heureux → heureuse (happy), travailleur → travailleuse (hard-working) |
| -f | -ve | neuf → neuve (new), sportif → sportive |
| irregular | blanc → blanche (white), frais → fraîche (fresh), long → longue, doux → douce (soft), faux → fausse (false), gentil → gentille (kind) |
beau, nouveau, vieux have a special form before a masculine noun starting with a vowel: un bel appartement (a beautiful flat), un nouvel ami (a new friend), un vieil homme (an old man). Feminine: belle, nouvelle, vieille.
Position: usually after the noun, unlike English: une voiture rouge (a red car), un film intéressant (an interesting film). Before the noun: short adjectives of beauty, age, goodness and size (beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau, bon, mauvais, grand, petit, gros).
Some change meaning with their position:
| before the noun | after the noun |
|---|---|
| un grand homme (a great man) | un homme grand (a tall man) |
| mon ancien appartement (my former flat) | un appartement ancien (an old, historic flat) |
| ma propre voiture (my own car) | une voiture propre (a clean car) |
| un pauvre homme (a poor man, to be pitied) | un homme pauvre (a poor man, without money) |
| cher ami (dear friend) | un restaurant cher (an expensive restaurant) |
Masculine + feminine together → masculine plural: Paul et Marie sont contents. (Paul and Marie are happy.) Colours that come from a noun don't agree: des chaussures orange (orange shoes), des yeux marron (brown eyes).
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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