There are rules for how to agree the adjective in French. If you were to look in a dictionary for any adjective, the version you find is the one you can use to describe masculine singular nouns, and then we change it if we want to describe feminine nouns or plural nouns. Let’s have a look at what those changes are:

MASCULINE SINGULAR NOUN
adjective doesn’t change

MASCULINE PLURAL NOUN
add an S to the end of the adjective

FEMININE SINGULAR NOUN
add an E to the end of the adjective

FEMININE PLURAL NOUN
add an ES to the end of the adjective

Let’s have a look at an example of this in use with the adjective “parfait”, which means “perfect”.

MASCULINE SINGULAR NOUN
le poulet est parfait – the chicken is perfect

MASCULINE PLURAL NOUN
les poulets sont parfaits – the chickens are perfect

FEMININE SINGULAR NOUN
la dinde est parfaite – the turkey is perfect

FEMININE PLURAL NOUN
les dindes sont parfaites – the turkeys are perfect

Now, those four rules are general rules that you can apply to most adjectives. There are adjectives that don’t follow these rules, which do their own thing. When you come across irregular adjectives, it’s a good idea to learn how they change. In the 3 Minute French courses, when we learn irregular adjectives, we always learn their unique feminine and plural versions, too.

Let’s go through all the adjectives we’ve learnt in 3 Minute French – Course 1, and how they change depending on the noun they’re describing

GOOD = bon, bonne, bons, bonnes

DELICIOUS = délicieux, délicieuse, délicieux, délicieuses

FANTASTIC = fantastique, fantastique, fantastiques, fantastiques

BEAUTIFUL = beau, belle, beaux, belles

EXTRAORDINARY = extraordinaire, extraordinaire, extraordinaires, extraordinaires

PERFECT = parfait, parfaite, parfaits, parfaits

BAD = mauvais, mauvaise, mauvais, mauvaises

TERRIBLE = terrible, terrible, terribles, terribles

NICE = sympa, sympa, sympa, sympa