Adjectives and adverbs (AQA GCSE French): Revision Notes
French adjectives and adverbs
Understanding adjectives and adverbs is crucial for describing people, places, and actions in French. These words help you paint detailed pictures with your language and express yourself more precisely. Unlike English, French adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe, whilst adverbs remain unchanged.
Adjectives in French
Adjectives are describing words that give us more information about nouns. In French, they must match the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun they describe. This is called agreement.
The concept of agreement is one of the most distinctive features of French grammar compared to English. Every time you use an adjective, you must consider both the gender and number of the noun it modifies.
Useful adjective vocabulary
| French | English | French | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| actuel(le) | current | libre | free |
| affreux/euse | dreadful | long(ue) | long |
| agréable | pleasant | mal | bad, badly |
| beau/belle | beautiful | mauvais | bad, wrong |
| blanc/blanche | white | meilleur | better, best |
| bleu | blue | moderne | modern |
| bon(ne) | good | moral | moral |
| brun | brown | nécessaire | necessary |
| capable | able, capable | négatif/ive | negative |
| certain | certain, sure | noir | black |
| chaud | hot, warm | normal | normal |
| cher/chère | expensive | nouveau/nouvelle | new |
| clair | clear | ouvert | open |
| complet/complète | full, complete | parfait | perfect |
| content | glad, pleased | passionnant | exciting |
| courant | current, common | petit | short, small |
| culturel(le) | cultural | plein | full |
| dangereux/euse | dangerous | populaire | popular |
| demi | half | positif/ive | positive |
| dernière/ière | last | possible | possible |
| désolé | sorry | pratique | practical |
| différent | different | préféré | favourite |
| difficile | difficult | premier/ière | first |
| disponible | available | prêt | ready |
| droit | right | prochain | next |
| énorme | enormous | propre | clean, own |
| essentiel(le) | essential | quotidien(ne) | daily |
| étranger/ère | foreign | récent | recent |
| évident | obvious | rouge | red |
| excellent | excellent | sale | dirty |
| extraordinaire | extraordinary | seul | alone |
| facile | easy | simple | simple |
| fatigué | tired | spécial | special |
| faux/fausse | false | super | great |
| fou/folle | crazy | terrible | terrible |
| froid | cold | utile | useful |
| gauche | left | vert | green |
| général | general | vide | empty |
| génial | great, brilliant | vrai | true |
| gratuit | free (of charge) | ||
| haut | high | ||
| idéal | ideal | ||
| important | important | ||
| impossible | impossible | ||
| inquiétant | worrying, disturbing | ||
| intéressant | interesting | ||
| inutile | useless | ||
| juste | true, fair |
Key grammar points for adjectives
Most French adjectives come after the noun they describe, but some common ones come before. Remember the acronym BAGS: Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size adjectives typically go before the noun.
Agreement Rules for Adjectives:
- Add -e for feminine (if not already ending in -e)
- Add -s for plural
- Add -es for feminine plural
This is essential to master for proper French grammar!
Adverbs in French
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They tell us how, when, where, or to what extent something happens. Unlike adjectives, adverbs don't change their form - they remain the same regardless of what they're describing.
Useful adverb vocabulary
| French | English | French | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| (un) peu | a bit, a little | bien | well |
| alors | so, well, then | bientôt | soon |
| assez | quite | d'abord | first of all |
| aujourd'hui | today | déjà | already, yet |
| aussi | also, too | demain | tomorrow |
| beaucoup | a lot | également | also, equally |
| encore | yet, again | ||
| enfin | finally | ||
| ensemble | together | ||
| ensuite | next | ||
| environ | about | ||
| facilement | easily | ||
| finalement | finally | ||
| généralement | generally | ||
| hier | yesterday | ||
| ici | here | ||
| immédiatement | immediately | ||
| là, là-bas | there, over there | ||
| lentement | slowly | ||
| longtemps | a long time | ||
| maintenant | now | ||
| malheureusement | unfortunately | ||
| même | same, even | ||
| mieux | better | ||
| moins (que...) | less (...than) | ||
| normalement | normally | ||
| par exemple | for example | ||
| parfois | sometimes | ||
| partout | everywhere | ||
| peut-être | perhaps | ||
| pire | worse | ||
| plus (...que/qu') | more (...than) | ||
| près | nearby, close | ||
| presque | almost, nearly | ||
| probablement | probably | ||
| puis | then, so | ||
| rapidement | quickly, rapidly | ||
| récemment | recently | ||
| seulement | only | ||
| souvent | often | ||
| surtout | especially | ||
| tellement | so much | ||
| tôt | early | ||
| toujours | always | ||
| très | very | ||
| trop | too much/many | ||
| vite | quickly, fast | ||
| vraiment | truly, really |
Grammar and pronunciation tips
Many French adverbs end in -ment, similar to English adverbs ending in -ly. To form these adverbs, take the feminine form of an adjective and add -ment:
Formation Pattern:
- lent (slow) → lente → lentement (slowly)
- heureux (happy) → heureuse → heureusement (fortunately)
This pattern works for most regular adjective-to-adverb transformations.
Position matters: adverbs usually come after the verb they modify, but some short, common adverbs (like bien, mal, beaucoup) can come between the auxiliary verb and past participle in compound tenses.
Example sentences
Here are some practical examples showing adjectives and adverbs in use:
Present Tense Examples:
-
"Ma sœur est très intelligente et travaille rapidement."
(My sister is very intelligent and works quickly.) -
"Les nouveaux étudiants semblent un peu nerveux aujourd'hui."
(The new students seem a bit nervous today.)
Past Tense Examples:
-
"Hier, j'ai acheté une belle robe rouge."
(Yesterday, I bought a beautiful red dress.) -
"Il a parlé clairement pendant la présentation."
(He spoke clearly during the presentation.)
Translation practice
Test your understanding with these translation exercises:
French to English:
- "Cette vieille maison est vraiment magnifique."
- "Nous avons mangé rapidement parce que nous étions pressés."
English to French:
- "The small car is very practical."
- "She always speaks politely to her customers."
Answers:
- "This old house is really magnificent."
- "We ate quickly because we were in a hurry."
- "La petite voiture est très pratique."
- "Elle parle toujours poliment à ses clients."
Key Points to Remember:
- French adjectives must agree with their nouns in gender and number
- Most adjectives come after the noun, but BAGS adjectives (Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size) usually come before
- Adverbs don't change form and typically modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
- Many adverbs end in -ment and are formed from the feminine form of adjectives
- Building a strong vocabulary of descriptive words will greatly improve your ability to express yourself in French