Les adjectifs Adjectives

Usually adjectives come in masculine and feminine flavors and reflect the gender of the noun they modify. Normally masculine adjectives end in a consonant and feminine adjectives end in an e.

  un homme fort a strong soldier une femme forte a strong woman

Adjectives are a diverse lot though. You'll find many kinds of masculine and feminine forms including invariable adjectives.

  un maillon faible a weak link une voix faible a weak voice
       

Here are some adjectives in masculine feminine pairs unless invariable.

chaud / chaude
hot lourd / lourde heavy difficile difficult
froid / froide cold léger / légère light facile easy
     
plein / pleine full rapide fast propre clean
vide empty lent / lente slow sale dirty
         
épais / épaisse thick long / longue
long haut / haute
high
fin / fine thin court / courte short bas / basse low
           
dur / dure hard mouillé / mouillée wet    
doux / douce soft sec / sèche dry    

sûr / sûre sure/safe compliqué / compliquée complicated
dangereux / dangereuse dangerous simple simple

stuffed animal

Subject pronouns can refer to objects as well as persons.

Il est doux. He/It is soft.
Elle est douce. She/It (feminine) is soft.

More commonly though, ce or another demonstrative is used with objects and things. Ce is only used with the verb être and becomes c' when the être verb form begins with an e. When an adjective describes ce, it is always masculine, even if a feminine object is being referred to.

C'est doux. It / That is soft.
C'est dangereux. It / That is dangerous.

practice

Most color adjectives are invariable. There are only a few that aren't.

blanc / blanche
white noir / noire black gris / grise gray
vert / verte green        

 

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