Adverbs - Part 1

Adverbs are words that describe or modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. In English, we often form adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective (as in careful, carefully). In French, many adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of an adjective. Here are some examples:

facile: facilement – easily

heureuse: heureusement – happily

finale: finalement – finally.

Sometimes adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the masculine form of the adjective, when the last letter of the adjective is a vowel, for example:

poli: poliment – politely

vrai: vraiment – truly

absolu: absolument – absolutely.

If the masculine form of an adjective ends in -ant, this ending changes to -amment to form the adverb:

constant: constamment – constantly

puissant: puissamment – powerfully.

Similarly, masculine adjectives ending in -ent change this ending to -emment to form the adverb:

évident: évidemment – evidently

fréquent: fréquemment – frequently

One common exception to this rule is lent: lentement – slowly.

Some adverbs do not follow these rules and are irregular in form. Here are some of the most common ones:

bon (good): bien – well

mal (bad): mauvais – badly

petit (small, little): peu (little)

gentil: gentiment – nicely.

In some cases, the adverb is exactly the same as the masculine singular adjective, for example:

fort – loudly, strongly

dur – hard (for example, to work hard – travailler dur)

clair – clearly.

Adjectives - Part 3

One of the problems that native English native speakers in mastering the use of French adjectives is the fact that they are usually placed after the noun they modify, which is the opposite of English. Here are some examples:

C'est un film intéressant. - It's an interesting film.

J'aime les chats noirs. - I like black cats.

Nous avons mangé une salade délicieuse. - We ate a delicious salad.

However, there are some adjectives that come before the noun they modify. As a general rule, they concern size, age, looks and goodness/badness, for example:

un beau jardin – a beautiful garden

une jolie femme – a pretty woman

un gros lapin – a fat rabbit

une longue histoire – a long story

un petit enfant – a small child

un vieux film – an old film

un bon repas – a good meal

une mauvaise idée – a bad idea

There are some adjectives that have a special masculine singular form that is used before a noun beginning with a vowel or silent h, for example:

un nouvel aspirateur – a new vacuum cleaner

un bel arbre – a beautiful tree

un vieil homme – an old man

A number of adjectives have different meanings depending on whether they are placed before or after the noun:

C'est ma propre voiture. - It's my own car.

C'est une voiture propre. - It's a clean car.

C'est mon ancien bureau. - It's my former office.

C'est un monument ancien. - It's an ancient monument.

une pauvre famille - A poor family (wretched, miserable)

une famille pauvre - A penniless family

mon cher papa – my dear dad

une bague chère – an expensive ring

un grand peintre – a great painter

un garçon grand – a tall boy

la même maison – the same house

la chose même – the thing itself

une seule dame – only one lady

une personne seule – a single person

This list is by no means exhaustive, but the examples given here are some of the most useful ones.

Adjectives - Part 2

In the first article we looked at various ways of changing masculine forms of adjectives to feminine forms. If a noun is in the plural, the adjective that modifies it must also be in the plural.

PLURAL FORMS OF ADJECTIVES

As in English, the usual way to form a plural is by adding -s to the singular form. Here are a few examples:

petit – petits (m.); petite – petites (f.) - small

long – longs (m.); longue – longues (f.) - long

difficile – difficiles (m. and f.) - difficult

Masculines adjectives ending in -eau or -eu add -x to form the plural:

beau – beaux (m.) - beautiful, handsome, attractive

nouveau – nouveaux (m.) - new

(The feminine forms of these adjectives just add -s.)

Masculine adjectives ending in -s or -x stay the same in the plural. Examples are dangereux (dangerous), heureux (happy), ennuyeux (boring), gros (fat) and frais (fresh).

Some masculine adjectives ending in -al change this ending to -aux in the plural, for example:

loyal – loyaux (m.) - loyal

royal – royaux (m.) - royal.

There are, however, some adjectives ending in -al that just add -s to form the plural. Some examples are fatal, final and naval.

Adjectives - Part 1

In French, adjectives (describing words) have to agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. In other words, if an adjective describes a feminine noun, the feminine form of the adjective must be used; if an adjective describes a plural noun, the plural form must be used, and sometimes the feminine plural differs from the masculine plural form.

FEMININE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES

The feminine form of an adjective is often formed by adding an e to the masculine form. Here are a few examples:

petit – petite (small)

grand – grande (big, great)

lourd – lourde (heavy)

long – longue (long): note that a letter u precedes the e to preserve the hard sound of the g.

Some masculine adjectives double the final consonant before adding the e. This is especially the case with adjectives ending in -n and -l:

gentil – gentille (kind)

bon – bonne (good)

The masculine form of the adjective may already end in -e, in which case the feminine form will be the same as the masculine, for example:

facile – easy

difficile – difficult

rouge – red

jaune – yellow

and so on.

Masculine adjectives ending in -x will change the x to -se, e.g.,

heureux – heureuse (happy)

dangereux – dangereuse (dangerous)

Masculine adjectives ending in -f will change the f to -ve, for example:

actif – active (active)

vif – vive (lively)

Adjectives ending in -er in the masculine form will end in -ere in the feminine:

premier – première (first)

cher – chère (dear, expensive)

Masculine adjectives ending in -eau will end in -elle in the feminine, e.g.,

beau – belle (beautiful, handsome, good-looking)

nouveau – nouvelle (new)

The two adjectives above may be considered irregular. Other irregular adjectives include the following:

blanc – blanche (white)

vieux – vieille (old)

fou – folle (mad)

SPECIAL MASCULINE FORMS

There are a few adjectives that have a special masculine form that is used immediately before a noun beginning with a vowel or silent h:

un bel homme – a handsome man

un vieil abri – an old shed

un nouvel appartement – a new flat

un fol acteur – a mad actor