Types of Adjectives

Adjectives are classified into five major groups: descriptive, possessive, interrogative, demonstrative, and indefinite adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives usually indicate a quality, what kind it is:

petit, pur, historique, intelligent, rouge
(small, pure, historical, intelligent, red)

They agree in gender and in number with the noun they modify:

un petit enfant (a small child)
l'eau pure (pure water)
une maison historique (a historical house)
des garçons intelligents (intelligent boys)
des chapeaux rouges (red hats)

Possessive adjectives show possession. They are:

*Notes:

mon, ton, son are also used before a feminine singular noun beginning with a vowel or "mute" h.

C'est mon amie. (She is my friend.)
C'est ton histoire. (It is your affair.)

son, sa, ses, like the rest of the possessives, have the gender of the object possessed, and not of the person who owns it. When it is necessary to differentiate, ...à lui, ...à elle are added.

C'est sa chemise à lui. (It is his shirt.)
C'est sa chambre à elle. (It is her bedroom.)

See Possessive Pronouns and Articles.

Interrogative adjectives ask questions about someone or something: The interrogative adjective in French is quel? (which? what?)

It agrees in gender and in number with the noun it modifies:

Quel livre lisez-vous?
(What book are you reading?)

Quelles sont vos robes préférées?
(Which are your favorite dresses?)

Note: Quel may also be an exclamation, as in:

Quel bel animal! (What a beautiful animal!)
Quelles journées merveilleuses! (What marvelous days!)

Demonstrative adjectives point out someone or something. They are:

ce masculine singular
cet masculine singular before a vowel or "mute" h
cette feminine singular
ces plural of both genders

ce chapeau (this hat)
cet enfant (this child)
cet hôpital (this hospital)
cette route (this road)
ces prunes (these plums)
ces oiseaux (these birds)

Notes:

Demonstrative adjectives precede the nouns and agree with them in gender and number:

Cette cathédrale est magnifique.
(This cathedral is magnificent.)

Ces villages sont perdus dans la campagne.
(These villages are lost in the countryside.)

The demonstrative adjective is repeated before each noun:

Ce printemps et cet été...
(This spring and this summer...)

Ce pantalon et cette chemise vont bien ensemble.
(These trousers and this shirt go well together.)

To differentiate between this and that, -ci (this) and -là (that) with hyphens are added to the noun:

ce magasin-ci (this store)
ce restaurant-là (that restaurant)

Indefinite adjectives include English words such as several, certain, such, etc. In French they are:

aucun, nul (no, not any)
autre (other)
certain (certain)
chaque (each)
même (same)
plusieurs (several)
quelque (some, any)
tel (such)
tout (all)

Numeral adjectives indicate the quantity and the order. Cardinal numeral adjectives indicate the quantity. Ordinal numeral adjectives indicate the order.

Compare:

Nous avons quatre maisons.
(We have four houses.)
[quatre = cardinal adjective]

Marie est la première fille de la famille.
(Mary is the first girl in the family.)
[première = ordinal adjective]

Cardinal numeral adjectives express the number:

deux garçons (two boys), une tasse de thé (one cup of tea), deux cents kilos (two hundred kilos)

Ordinal numeral adjectives express the order:

quatrième du jour (fourth in the day), vingt-cinquième de la classe (twenty-fifth in the class)

Nouns Used as Adjectives

There is a special group of nouns used as adjectives of color:

des gants marron (brown gloves), des rideaux orange (orange curtains)

In English, nouns are frequently used as adjectives: a teapot, a windmill, etc. These imply "used for," "for the purpose of," "intended for," "made from," etc. In French, these nouns are usually placed after the main noun, and joined to it with a preposition which clarifies the relationship. The prepositions used are de, à, and en:

un match de football (a soccer game)
une machine à laver (a washing machine)
un collier en argent (a silver necklace)

See Also:

• Adjectives
• Feminine and Masculine Forms
• Singular and Plural Forms
• Comparative and Superlative
• Sequence of Adjectives in a Noun Phrase
• Demonstrative Pronouns
• Noun Phrases