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.
 A house/
Une maison Une table A table
home
Un
An apartment Une chaise A chair
appartement
Un salon A living room Un fauteuil A couch

Une cuisine A kitchen Une lampe A lamp

Une salle de
A bathroom Un placard A cupboard
bains
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

Une
Un frigo A fridge A stove
cuisinière
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 Feminine
Examples
(ending) (ending)
-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 Feminine
Examples
(ending) (ending)
-ou -olle mou/molle (soft) ; fou/folle (crazy)
beau/belle (nice/pretty); nouveau/
-eau -elle
nouvelle (new)
-ousse doux/douce (soft); roux/rousse (red
-oux
-ouce - hair color)
blanc/blanche (white); sec/sèche
-c -che
(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

 Exceptions

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:
 False/
Gros Big/Fat Faux
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 Masculine Feminine
singular plural 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 Masculine
Examples
singular plural

Banal (banal) Banals Des hommes banals

Des changements
Fatal (fatal) Fatals
(changes) fatals
Glacial
Glacials Des vents (winds) glacials
(very cold)
Les pays natals (native
Natal (home) Natals
countries)
d. The spelling of some
adjectives remains
invariable at the feminine
and the plural:
 Des chaises marron (brown
Marron (brown)
chairs).

Orange Une table orange.

Des personnes snob (snobbish

Snob (snobbish)
people).
Bon marché Une cuisinière bon marché (a
(cheap) cheap stove).
Une amie sympa (a nice
Sympa (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

Exceptions

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:
grand/grande Une grande maison
(tall/big) (a big house)

bon/bonne Un bon ami

(good) (a good friend)
jeune Une jeune femme
(young) (a young woman)
petit/petite Une petite cuisine
(small) (a small kitchen)
beau/belle/bel* Un beau salon
(nice/pretty) (a nice living room)

joli/jolie Une jolie chambre

(nice/pretty) (a nice bedroom)

Une vieille lampe

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

mauvais/mauvaise Un mauvais film

(bad) (a bad movie)
autre L’autre jour
(other) (the other day)
nouveau/
Un nouveau fauteuil
nouvelle/nouvel*
(a new couch)
(new)
(new)
gros/grosse Un gros gâteau
(big/fat) (a big cake)

faux/fausse Un faux numéro

(wrong/fake) (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
 When you have two adjectives…
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.
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 Plus More
adjectives, plus, moins or
aussi is placed before the
adjective, and que/qu’ is Moins Less
placed after.

plus/moins/aussi + Aussi As…as

adjective + que
• 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

Meilleur.e.s
Moins Aussi
Bon que
[Link].s que [Link].s que
Moins Aussi
Pire que
Mauvais mauvais.e.s mauvais.e.s
que 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

Le plus/ La plus/
Singular
Le moins La moins

Les plus/ Les plus/

Plural
Les moins Les moins
 Masculine Feminine
(singular/ (singular/
plural) plural)
Le La
meilleur/ meilleure/
Bon
Les Les
meilleurs meilleures

Le pire/ La pire/
Mauvais
Les pires 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/Tes

Il/Elle
Their Son/Ses Sa/Ses
(he/she)
Nous (we) Our Notre/Nos Notre/Nos
Vous
(you - plural or Your Votre/Vos Votre/Vos
formal)
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
Cher
Nouveau
Blanc
Heureux
Propre
2. Decide on the masculine plural
of the following adjectives, based
on their ending at the singular:
Masculine Masculine
singular plural
Gros
International
Fatal
Frais
Grand
3. From the list of adjectives below, say which ones are
placed before the noun:
Before the noun After the noun
Grand
Rouge
Nouveau
Français
Joli
Rond (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

____________________________________

b. Elle/aussi/beau/sa soeur

____________________________________
c. Vous/plus/bon/moi/en français

__________________________________

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

__________________________________
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 +)

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

__________________________________

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

__________________________________
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.)

_________________________________

b. ‘My father’ / Père (masc. sing.)

_________________________________
c. ‘Their car’ / Voiture (fem. sing.)

_______________________________

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

_______________________________

e. ‘My school’ / École (fem. sing.)

_______________________________