3. Chez Moi

3.1 Rooms and Furniture

3.2 French Adjectives

3.3 The Position of Adjectives in a Sentence

3.4 The Comparative

3.5 The Superlative

3.6 Possessive Adjectives

3.7 Mise En Pratique

3.1 Rooms and Furniture

La famille Legendre habite dans une maison. Il y a une cuisine, un salon, quatre chambres, deux salles de bains et un bureau.

Dans la cuisine, il y a une table et des chaises. Dans le salon, il y a un fauteuil, une étagère et une lampe.

Une maison A house/home Une table A table

Un appartement An apartment Une chaise A chair

Un salon A living room Un fauteuil A couch

Une cuisine A kitchen Une lampe A lamp

Une salle de bains A bathroom Un placard A cupboard

Une chambre A bedroom Un lit A bed

Un bureau An office Un balcon A balcony

Une pièce A room Un jardin A garden

Un sous-sol A basement Un toit A roof

Un couloir A hallway Des escaliers Stairs

Un frigo A fridge Une cuisinière A stove

3.2 French Adjectives

Dans la cuisine, il y a une grande table, des placards blancs, un joli frigo et des lampes anciennes.

For regular adjectives, you add an ‘-e’ to the masculine form of the adjective to form the feminine:

Grand - Grande Une grande table

a. Other regular adjectives:

Petit - Petite (small) Une petite maison

Joli - Jolie (nice/pretty) Une jolie cuisine

Masculine adjectives that end with an ‘-e’ do not take an additional ‘-e’ at the feminine. Their spelling remains unchanged:

Triste Sad Vide Empty

Sympathique Friendly Sale Dirty

Confortable Comfortable Propre Clean

Facile Easy Maigre Thin

Drôle Funny Moderne Modern

Difficile Difficult Calme Calm

There are quite a few exceptions to that rule, and the following table will offer you a list of the most common feminine endings for irregular adjectives:

Masculine(ending)

Feminine(ending) Examples

-er -ère cher/chère (expensive)

-aux -ausse faux/fausse (false/wrong)

-eux -eille vieux/vieille (old)

-f -ve neuf/neuve (new)

-ong -ongue long/longue (long)

Masculine(ending)

Feminine(ending) Examples

-ou -olle mou/molle (soft) ; fou/folle (crazy)

-eau -elle beau/belle (nice/pretty); nouveau/nouvelle (new)

-oux -ousse-ouce

doux/douce (soft); roux/rousse (red - hair color)

-c -che blanc/blanche (white); sec/sèche (dry)

-eux -euse heureux/heureuse (happy)

For most adjectives, the plural is formed by adding an ‘-s’ to the singular (for masculine and feminine form):

Des placards blancs (masculine plural)

Des lampes anciennes (feminine plural)

This rule also applies to adjectives with an irregular feminine form:

Blanc Blanche Blanches

a. Masculine adjectives ending with an ‘-s’ or an ‘-x’ at the singular will not take an ‘-s’ at the plural. Their spelling remains unchanged:

Exceptions

Gros Big/Fat Faux False/Wrong

Heureux Happy Joyeux Happy

Frais Fresh Délicieux Delicious

Doux Soft

b. Adjectives ending in ‘-al’ at the masculine singular will usually end in ‘-aux’ at the plural. These adjectives are regular at the feminine plural, though:

Masculine singular

Masculine plural

Feminine plural

Général Généraux Générales

Principal Principaux Principales

International Internationaux Internationales

c. Some adjective ending in ‘-al’ at the masculine singular will take an ‘-s’ at the plural, instead of ‘-aux’:

Masculine singular

Masculine plural Examples

Banal (banal) Banals Des hommes banals

Fatal (fatal) Fatals Des changements (changes) fatals

Glacial (very cold) Glacials Des vents (winds) glacials

Natal (home) Natals Les pays natals (native countries)

d. The spelling of some adjectives remains invariable at the feminine and the plural:

Marron (brown) Des chaises marron (brown chairs).

Orange Une table orange.

Snob (snobbish) Des personnes snob (snobbish people).

Bon marché (cheap)

Une cuisinière bon marché (a cheap stove).

Sympa (nice) Une amie sympa (a nice girlfriend).

3.3 The Position of Adjectives in a Sentence

Unlike in English, the majority of French adjectives are placed after the noun they qualify:

Des placards blancs Des lampes anciennes

A limited number of adjectives is placed before the noun. It is important to know them, as they are very common in French. The following table introduces you to these adjectives:

Exceptions

grand/grande (tall/big)

Une grande maison (a big house)

bon/bonne (good)

Un bon ami (a good friend)

jeune (young)

Une jeune femme (a young woman)

petit/petite (small)

Une petite cuisine (a small kitchen)

beau/belle/bel* (nice/pretty)

Un beau salon (a nice living room)

joli/jolie (nice/pretty)

Une jolie chambre (a nice bedroom)

vieux/vieille/vieil* (old) Une vieille lampe (an old lamp)

mauvais/mauvaise (bad)

Un mauvais film (a bad movie)

autre (other)

L’autre jour (the other day)

nouveau/nouvelle/nouvel* (new) (new)

Un nouveau fauteuil (a new couch)

gros/grosse (big/fat)

Un gros gâteau (a big cake)

faux/fausse (wrong/fake)

Un faux numéro (a wrong number)

The adjectives beau, nouveau and vieux will undergo a spelling change when used with a noun that: (a) is singular (b) is masculine (c) starts with a vowel or a silent ‘-h’

An old man: Un vieux homme Un vieil homme

A new computer: Un nouvel ordinateur

A nice apartment: Un bel appartement

a. Placed after the noun • No specific order. • Use the connector et (‘and’)

between adjectives. Une maison rouge et blanche (a red and white house).

OR Une maison blanche et rouge.

When you have two adjectives…

b. Placed before the noun

• Order to respect • Use the acronym B.A.G.S to remember the order:

B(eauty) A(ge) G(oodness) S(ize)

A nice little car Une jolie petite voiture.

• Do not use et between adjectives.

3.4 The Comparative

Yvan est plus grand que sa fille.

When making comparisons with adjectives, plus, moins or aussi is placed before the adjective, and que/qu’ is placed after.

plus/moins/aussi + adjective + que

Plus More

Moins Less

Aussi As…as

• The adjective always agrees in gender and number with the noun:

La première maison est plus petite que la deuxième (the first house is smaller than the second one).

• The words plus, moins and aussi are invariable.

There are two exceptions to the rule: the adjectives bon (‘good’) and mauvais (‘bad’) change spelling when used with plus…que:

Plus Moins Aussi

BonMeilleur.e.s

que Moins bon.ne.s que

Aussi bon.ne.s que

Mauvais Pire que Moins mauvais.e.s

que

Aussi mauvais.e.s

que

Elle est meilleure que sa soeur en français (she’s better at French than her sister).

Elle est aussi bonne que sa soeur en mathématiques (she’s as good as her sister at maths).

Il est pire que son frère en sport (he’s worse than his brother at sport).

3.5 The Superlative

Yvan est le plus grand de la famille Legendre.

• When using the superlative with adjectives, you will use the expressions le plus (‘the most’) or le moins (‘the least’).

• Unlike the comparative, the superlative can’t be used to express equality; consequently the expression le aussi doesn’t exist!

• The words plus and moins are invariable, but the article you place in front of them (le) will change, based on the gender and number of the noun.

• The adjectives bon (‘good’) and mauvais (‘bad’) also have irregular superlatives.

Masculine Feminine

Singular Le plus/ Le moins

La plus/ La moins

Plural Les plus/ Les moins

Les plus/ Les moins

Masculine (singular/

plural)

Feminine (singular/

plural)

Bon

Le meilleur/

Les meilleurs

La meilleure/

Les meilleures

Mauvais Le pire/ Les pires

La pire/ Les pires

3.6 Possessive Adjectives

Ma mère s’appelle Sylvie, elle est plus jeune (younger) que mon père. Mon père s’appelle Yvan, il est le plus grand de la famille. Mes parents sont très gentils (nice). Ma soeur s’appelle Anna, elle est moins sage (well-behaved) que moi. Je m’appelle Julien, et j’adore ma famille!

• Possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they qualify what matters is not the gender of the person who speaks, but the gender/number of the noun that comes after the adjective.

Ma mère s’appelle Sylvie […] Ma soeur s’appelle Anna. It’s a boy talking (Julien), but his gender doesn’t impact on the choice of the possessive adjective. Mère and soeur are both feminine words, which is why we use the adjective ma.

Subject English Masculine Feminine

Je (I) My Mon/Mes Ma/Mes

Tu (you) Your Ton/Tes Ta/TesIl/Elle

(he/she) Their Son/Ses Sa/Ses

Nous (we) Our Notre/Nos Notre/NosVous

(you - plural or formal)

Your Votre/Vos Votre/Vos

Ils/Elles (they) Their Leur/Leurs Leur/Leurs

Let’s observe the differences between English and French, when it comes to choosing the correct possessive adjective: Jenny: My computer Aline: Mon ordinateur In French, you need to know the gender and number of the word ordinateur (masculine and singular) in order to choose the correct possessive adjective. The fact that the person speaking is a woman doesn’t impact on your choice of adjective.

Jenny and Marc: Our dog

Aline and Pierre: Notre chien

Although there are two people talking, the noun chien is singular (no ‘-s’ at the end), which is why you will use the singular notre (and not nos).

Make sure to distinguish between ses and leurs:

His friends Ses ami(e)s

Their friends Leurs ami(e)s

Her dog Son chien

Their dog Leur chien

When a feminine word starts with a VOWEL or a mute H, you won’t use “ma, ta, sa” BUT “mon, ton, son” (the masculine form) for a reason of pronunciation:

My (girl)friend: Ma amie Mon amie

Your school: Ta école Ton école

Only at the singular, not the plural of feminine words:

Your (girl)friends: Tes amies

3.7 Mise En Pratique

1. Find the feminine of the following adjectives, based on their ending:

Masculine Feminine

CherNouveau

BlancHeureuxPropre

2. Decide on the masculine plural of the following adjectives, based on their ending at the singular:

Masculine singular

Masculine plural

Gros

International

FatalFraisGrand

3. From the list of adjectives below, say which ones are placed before the noun:

Before the noun After the nounGrandRouge

NouveauFrançais

JoliRond (round-

shaped)

4. Use the following words to write complete sentences, using the comparative (don’t forget to make all the necessary agreements):

ex: Elle/plus/grand/sa soeur Elle est plus grande que sa soeur

a. Nous/moins/sportif/mes amis

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b. Elle/aussi/beau/sa soeur

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c. Vous/plus/bon/moi/en français

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d. Je/plus/mauvais/ma soeur/en maths

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5. Use the following words to write complete sentences, using the superlative: (don’t forget to make all the necessary agreements):

a. Il/grand/dans sa famille (superlatif +)

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b. Elle/mauvais/en maths (superlatif -)

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c. Nous/bon/en sport (superlatif -)

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6. Translate the following sentences by using the correct possessive adjective: Ex: ‘My dog’ / Chien (masc. sing.) Mon chien a. ‘Our house’ / Maison (fem. sing.)

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b. ‘My father’ / Père (masc. sing.)

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c. ‘Their car’ / Voiture (fem. sing.)

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d. ‘Your clothes’ / Vêtements (masc. plur.)

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e. ‘My school’ / École (fem. sing.)

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