This key facts covers Key rules at a glance within Adjective agreement and position for GCSE French. Revise Adjective agreement and position in Core Grammar Toolkit for GCSE French with 15 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 6 of 7 in this topic. Use this key facts to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📌 Key rules at a glance
- Agree in gender AND number: every adjective must match its noun — masculine/feminine, singular/plural.
- Regular rule: masculine singular is the base; add -e for feminine, -s for masculine plural, -es for feminine plural.
- Doubled consonants: bon→bonne, gros→grosse, mignon→mignonne, gentil→gentille, naturel→naturelle.
- Irregular feminines to memorise: beau→belle, nouveau→nouvelle, vieux→vieille, blanc→blanche, long→longue, doux→douce.
- BAGS adjectives go BEFORE the noun (Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size); all others go after.
- Colour adjectives always go after the noun and compound colours are invariable.
- Position can change meaning for a small set of common adjectives (grand, ancien, pauvre, cher, propre, seul).
Practice questions for Adjective agreement and position
Which ending do you add to most adjectives to make them feminine?
Where do most French adjectives go relative to the noun?
Quick recall flashcards
bon --> feminine form?
bonne (good). The consonant doubles before adding -e. Same pattern: ancien --> ancienne (old/former), italien --> italienne (Italian).
mauvais(e)
bad -- goes BEFORE the noun (BAGS). un mauvais resultat (a bad result), une mauvaise idee (a bad idea). Feminine adds -e only.