Working with Possessive Adjectives

In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use possessive adjectives in French. While it may first seem like there are a lot of them (15 compared to 7 in English), the good news is that they all work together in a big system. It’s important to learn these, and chances are that your teacher will want you to memorize them. Before we get started, there are a few quick rules to keep in mind:

• Possessive adjectives agree in number and gender with the words they modify.
• Since these adjectives are based on the speaker to determine their use, you don’t have to modify them to reflect the speaker.
• If a feminine word is being modified and starts with a vowel, use the masculine version of the adjective.
• Possessive adjectives always come before the word they modify.

When you speak French, you’ll need adjectives to add rich color to your speech. Would you prefer to taste a dessert, or would you prefer to taste a delicious, heavenly, luscious, mouthwatering, rich, dreamy, scrumptious dessert? Most people would choose the latter, even if they knew nothing else about the dessert being served. It’s all because of the words describing the dessert. These are adjectives, or simply put, describing words. Here are a few simple French adjectives. grand (tall) petit (short, little) joli (pretty) laid (ugly)

Adjectives and Gender

Let’s see if you can find a pattern at work. Imagine you meet two new friends when you visit Paris. You meet Lucas and his girlfriend, Anissa. Why don’t we use some adjectives we know to describe them? Lucas est grand. Il n’est pas petit. Il est joli. Il n’est pas laid. Anissa n’est pas grande. Elle est petite. Elle est jolie. Elle n’est pas laide. Do you see a difference between the way the adjectives are spelled when we describe Lucas and when we describe Anissa? It’s an extra e! We have to match up the adjective with the gender of the subject. When we are talking about Lucas, we don’t add an e. This is called the masculine or base form of the adjective. When we are talking about Anissa, we add the e. This is called the feminine form.

Nouns in French Have Genders!

Every object or thing in French has a gender, either masculine or feminine. You can memorize the gender when you learn a new word, or you can look it up in a reliable French dictionary. This can help when you need to decide whether or not to add that extra e when you’re using an adjective. Let’s try it out. Here’s a new noun. The word for fox, un renard, is masculine. Does it require an extra e if you use an adjective? Let’s test your guess. Le renard est intelligent. (The Fox is smart.) If you guessed no, then you were right! Because un renard is masculine, there is no extra e on the end of the base form of the adjective. Let’s try another new noun. The word for a turtle, une tortue, is feminine. Do you think it will require an extra e if you use an adjective? La tortue est lente. (The turtle is slow.) Because une tortue is feminine, then we must add on an extra e at the end of the adjective. What if there is already an ‘e’ in the base form of the adjective? You’ll find that there are quite a few French adjectives that have an e already in their basic, masculine form. It’s very important to look closely at the kind of e that ends the adjective. If it’s an accented e, then you must add an extra e in the feminine form. This is true with fatigué (tired) and désolé (sorry). You might say, ‘Il est fatigué; elle est fatiguée.’ (He is tired; she is tired.) As you can see in this example, we added an e in the feminine form, right after that accented e. Now, on the other hand, if you find an adjective that ends with just an e without an accent, then you do nothave to add another e in the feminine form: It’s already done for you. This is true with faible (weak) and jeune (young), for instance. You might say, ‘Il est jeune et elle est jeune.’ (He is young and she is young.) Notice we didn’t have to add an eto the feminine form in this example. It was already there! Here are some more regular adjectives you can work with and add to your growing vocabulary. fort (strong) faible (weak) amusant (funny) intéressant (interesting) méchant (mean) sympathique (nice) mauvais (bad) fatigué (tired) désolé (sorry) lent (slow) rapide (quick) sale (dirty) propre (clean) riche (rich) pauvre (poor) facile (easy) difficile (difficult) triste (sad) content (happy) jeune (young) agréable (agreeable, okay) désagréable (disagreeable, unpleasant)

Match it Up! Adjectives and Number

Just as French adjectives must be masculine or feminine according to the objects they describe, they also have to accurately match up to the number of objects they are describing. Don’t despair! This is easy to do. Let’s start with a good example. Here’s another new noun. We have here a group, or plural, with a masculine noun, designating the sheep. Let’s apply an adjective and see what it looks like. Let’s say that they are happy: They do look happy grazing together like that. Les moutons sont contents.

Interrogative Adjectives: Grammar Basics

Interrogative adjectives in French can be masculine (quel, quels) or feminine (quelle, quelles). Like all other adjectives, they must agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify. Here is a quick reference chart:

Masculine	Feminine
quel (singular)	quelle (singular)
quels (plural)	quelles (plural)

Whether you’re using interrogative adjectives to modify a masculine or feminine noun, plural or singular,quel/quelle/quels/quelles is always pronounced ‘kell.’ Interrogative adjectives are often used in sentences where English would use the word ‘what,’ e.g. ‘What books do you like?,’ or Quels livres aimes-tu? (kell leevrö ehm-tü). In this example, livres is the noun. It’s plural and masculine, so we use the interrogative adjective quels. Here are a couple more examples: Tu aimes quels films? and Quel est ton groupe préféré? In the first example,films is a plural masculine noun, which corresponds with quels, while the noun in the second example, groupe, is singular and masculine, so it takes quel. Interrogative adjectives almost always come directly before the noun they are modifying, and they are typically used in the beginning of a sentence before the subject and verb (Quels livres aimes-tu?). But interrogative adjectives need not always come at the beginning of a sentence. They might come after the subject and verb (Tu aimes quels films?). Also, there is an exception to interrogative adjectives coming directly before the noun they modify: a sentence construction using the verb être, which follows the general format: interrogative adjective + conjugated form of être + noun (Quel est ton groupe préféré?). Note that lequel and laquelle, while often used in similar contexts, are interrogative pronouns, and are thus not covered in this lesson. Furthermore, although French exclamatory adjectives are identical to interrogative adjectives, they are used not to ask questions, but to express emotion, as in Quel bonheur! (What happiness!)

Asking What and Which

Interrogative adjectives be useful both in professional contexts, and in making small talk. In a meeting, for instance, you might be asked Quelles sont vos idées? (What are your ideas?) If comparing notes with friends, you might ask Quels livres faut-il acheter pour ton cours de français? (What books do you have to buy for your French course?) Here are some further examples of how you might use interrogative adjectives:

• Quelle écharpe penses-tu acheter? / What scarf are you thinking of buying?
• Quelles villes françaises pensez vous à visiter? / What French cities are you thinking of visiting?
• Vous préferez quelle cuisine? / What sort of cuisine do you prefer?
• Quel jardin est le plus beau? / What garden is the most beautiful?
• Quelle heure est-il? / What time is it?