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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Position of descriptive adjectives
In French, unlike in English, most descriptive adjectives.... (a hard-working student) (an interesting course) |
In French, unlike in English, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify:
un étudiant travailleur (a hard-working student) un cours intéressant (an interesting course) |
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Position of descriptive adjectives
In French, like in English, descriptive adjectives are....... (This student is hard-working) (He’s hard-working) (This course is interesting) |
In French, like in English, descriptive adjectives are often used after the verbe être (to be):
Cet étudiant est travailleur (This student is hard-working) Il est travailleur (He’s hard-working) Ce cours est intéressant (This course is interesting) NB. un étudiant travailleur et intéressant (a hard-working, interesting student) |
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Adjective placed before the noun
(a pretty girl) (a young man) (a good idea) (a big lecture theatre) (an interesting young man) |
there is a group of short, commonly-used French adjectives that usually precede the noun.
beauty, age, goodness, size----for adjectives with no more than 2 syllables une jolie fille (a pretty girl) un jeune homme (a young man) une bonne idée (a good idea) un grand amphithéatre (a big lecture theatre) NB. un jeune homme intéressant (an interesting young man) |
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Adjective placed after the noun
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colour, shape, nationality
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Agreement of descriptive adjectives
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In French, most descriptive adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun or pronoun they modify.
In other words, they have four possible forms: masculine singular; feminine singular; masculine plural; feminine plural. The feminine singular is usually formed by adding an -e to the masculine singular. Plural adjectives of either gender are usually formed by adding an -s to the singular. Adjectives referring to a group of mixed gender take the masculine plural form: • Un homme intéressant • Une femme intéressante • Des hommes intéressants • Des femmes intéressantes • Des hommes et des femmes intéressants |
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Final -d, -s and -t, usually silent in French, are pronounced
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NB. Final -d, -s and -t, usually silent in French, are pronounced when -e is added:
grand grande français française intelligent intelligente |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in an unaccented... |
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in an unaccented -e do not change in the feminine:
un problème difficile une question difficile |
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EXCEPTIONS
Certain adjectives whose masculine form ends in -e + consonant |
Certain adjectives whose masculine form ends in -e + consonant place a grave accent over this -e as well as adding the regular -e to form the feminine:
le premier homme (the first man) la première femme (the first woman) le pain complet (wholemeal bread) la farine complète (wholemeal flour) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in |
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -f change the -f to -ve in the feminine:
un homme actif (an active man) une femme active (an active woman) • un bâtiment neuf (a new building) • une maison neuve (a new house) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -x |
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -x change the -x to -se in the feminine
un homme heureux (a happy man) une femme heureuse (a happy woman) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -eur |
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -eur change the -eur to -euse in the feminine or, less commonly, to -rice:
un homme travailleur (a hard-working man) une femme travailleuse (a hard-working woman) un homme créateur (a creative man) une femme créatrice (a creative woman) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -el, -ien, -as or -os |
Adjectives whose masculine form ends in -el, -ien, -as or -os double the final consonant before adding e in the feminine:
quel homme? (which man?) quelle femme? (which woman?) un bâtiment ancien (an old building) une maison ancienne (an old house) le bas peuple (the lower classes) la basse saison (the low season) un gros problème (a big problem) une grosse erreur (a big mistake) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Some adjectives have irregular feminine endings |
Some adjectives have irregular feminine endings. These include:
beau belle (handsome / beautiful / good-looking) blanc blanche (white) bon bonne (good) doux douce (soft / gentle / sweet) faux fausse (false) fou folle (mad) frais fraîche (fresh) gentil gentille (kind / nice) grec grecque (Greek) jaloux jalouse (jealous) nouveau nouvelle (new) vieux vieille (old) |
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EXCEPTIONS
NB. The masculine singular adjectives beau, nouveau and vieux have an alternative form |
NB. The masculine singular adjectives beau, nouveau and vieux have an alternative form (bel, nouvel, and vieil) which is used in front of a noun beginning with a vowel or mute h:
un beau garçon (a good-looking boy) un bel homme (a good-looking man) un vieux garçon (an old bachelor) un vieil homme (an old man) un nouveau logiciel (a new software program) un nouvel ordinateur (a new computer) |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -s or -x |
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -s or -x do not change form in the plural:
un vin français des vins français • un homme courageux • des hommes courageux |
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -eau add -x |
Adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -eau add -x to form the masculine plural:
un nouveau restaurant de nouveaux restaurants |
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EXCEPTIONS
Most adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -al |
Most adjectives whose masculine singular ends in -al change the –al to -aux in the masculine plural:
l’hymne national les hymnes nationaux |
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EXCEPTIONS
A small number of adjectives are invariable: |
A small number of adjectives are invariable: they never agree in number or gender with the noun or pronoun they modify. These include:
some adjectives of colour (marron, orange, noisette, kaki, turquoise) chic sympa |
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Adjectives preceding plural nouns
When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des............. |
Adjectives preceding plural nouns
When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des generally becomes de J’ai des livres français → J’ai de nouveaux livres français Il y a des films à la télé →Il y a de vieux films à la télé. |
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When an adjective precedes a noun in the plural form, the plural indefinite article des.............
Except |
Except if compound type nouns, eg. des jeunes filles, des petits pois
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Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify
Some adjectives can either precede or follow a noun, but their meaning depends on their |
Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify
Some adjectives can either precede or follow a noun, but their meaning depends on their position. Generally, the adjective in question has a literal meaning when it follows the noun and a figurative meaning when it precedes the noun. |
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Adjectives that can precede or follow nouns they modify
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Literal sense Figurative sense
Il a des chaises anciennes M. Sellier est l’ancien propriétaire He has antique chairs Mr Sellier is the former landlord C’est un lecteur de CD très cher Ma Chere amie… That’s a very expensive CD player My dear friend C’est un homme très grand C’est un très grand homme He’s a very tall man He’s a great man Les étudiants pauvres n’ont pas Pauvres étudiants! Il y a un examen de voiture demain Poor students don’t have a car The poor students! There is an exam tomorrow! |
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Placement of more than one adjective
When more than one adjectives modifies a noun......... |
Placement of more than one adjective
When more than one adjectives modifies a noun, each adjective precedes or follows the noun as it were used alone. Eg. C’est un vieil immeuble agréable |
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Adjective examples
i'm shy I do not communicate easily I am generous I give a lot to others I am independent I like to be free I hate the routine I hate monotony I am passionate about reading I love reading |
Je suis timide
Je ne communique pas facilement Je suis généreuse Je donne beaucoup aux autres Je suis indépendante J’aime être libre J’ai horreur de la routine Je déteste la monotonie Je suis passionné par la lecture J’adore lire |