Feminine adjectives
Add -e for the feminine
In French, adjectives agree with the noun they describe: they change for feminine and for plural. The basic rule for the feminine is simple: add -e.
Add -e
- un petit garçon → une petite fille
- un homme grand → une femme grande
- il est content → elle est contente
The extra e often makes the last consonant pronounced: petit (pe-ti) → petite (pe-tite), grand (gran) → grande (grand). This is how you hear the feminine.
Adjectives already ending in -e
No change:
- un garçon jeune → une fille jeune
- un livre facile → une question facile
- rouge, triste, rapide, sympathique, belge…
But -é is not -e: fatigué → fatiguée.
Common patterns
| masculine | feminine | example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | -ère | cher → chère |
| -eux | -euse | heureux → heureuse |
| -f | -ve | sportif → sportive, neuf → neuve |
| -el | -elle | naturel → naturelle |
| -en | -enne | ancien → ancienne |
| -on | -onne | bon → bonne |
| -et | -ette | muet → muette |
| -c | -che | blanc → blanche |
Irregular ones to learn
- beau → belle, nouveau → nouvelle, vieux → vieille
- gentil → gentille, long → longue, doux → douce, faux → fausse
See Plural adjectives and Irregular adjectives.
Practice
- Il est petit. Elle est _____.
Show the answer
petite
- Il est content. Elle est _____.
Show the answer
contente
- Il est jeune. Elle est _____.
Show the answer
jeune — Adjectives ending in -e don't change.
- Il est heureux. Elle est _____.
Show the answer
heureuse
In the app, this lesson is taught one idea at a time with the examples read aloud, followed by questions that explain the rule when you get one wrong. It then comes back for review on later days until you've mastered it.