French Phrases: Basic French adjectives

Basic French adjectives

The following adjectives are useful for describing physical qualities of people in French, plus some other basic qualities:

petit	pəti	small, short
grand	gʁɑ̃	large, tall
jeune	jœn	young
vieux	vjø	old (masculine)
vieille	vjɛj	old (feminine)
âgé	aʒe	elderly
beau	bo	handsome; beautiful (with masculine noun)
belle	bɛl	beautiful (with feminine person or noun)
fort	fɔʁ	strong
faible	fɛbl	weak (person, object)

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The following also relate to physical qualities, but relating more to physical qualities of objects. Adjectives to do with temperature are generally used to describe weather too:

froid	fʁwa	cold
chaud	ʃo	hot
bien chaud	bjæ̃ ʃo	warm
long	lõ	long
court	kuʁ	short
clair	klɛʁ	clear, bright (light); thin (soup etc)
bas	ba	low
haut	o	high, tall
léger	leʒe	light (as in 'not heavy')
lourd	luʁ	heavy
propre	pʁɔpʁ	clean
sale	sal	dirty
plein	plæ̃	full
vide	vid	empty
sec	sɛk	dry
humide	ymid	damp, wet
frais	fʁɛ	fresh; chilly; wet (paint)

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The following are less physical qualities:

bon	bõ	good; right
mauvais	move	bad; wrong
nouveau	nuvo	new
proche	pʁɔʃ	near
facile	fasil	easy
difficile	difisil	difficult
dur	dyʁ	hard (as in 'difficult' or 'not soft')
pauvre	povʁ	poor
riche	ʁiʃ	rich

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Basic adjectives to do with feelings, health, emotions

heureux	hœʁø, høʁø	happy
content	kõtɑ̃	happy, satisfied
fatigué	fatige	tired
triste	tʁist	sad, unhappy
sain	sæ̃	healthy
malade	malad	ill
gentil	ʒɑ̃ti	kind, nice
sympathique	sæ̃patik	nice, friendly

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As a general rule, add an -e (and pronounce the final consonant) when an adjective refers to a feminine noun.

Words that can be used with adjectives

The following words can be used to 'enhance' adjectives. Unless indicated, they can be used with either a masculine or feminine adjective:

il est...	ilɛ	he's..., it's...
elle est...	ɛlɛ	she's..., it's...
c'est...	sɛ	it's...
il fait...	il fɛ	it's... (talking about weather)
plus...	ply	more..., ...er
moins...	mwæ̃	less...
très...	tʁe, tʁɛ	very...
tout...	tu	all..., completely... (masculine)
toute...	tut	all..., completely... (feminine)
complètement...	cõplɛtmɑ̃	completely...
bien...	bjæ̃	quite..., rather..., pretty...
assez...	ase	quite..., rather...; sufficiently...
peu...	pø	hardly..., not...
pas...	pa	not...
si...	si	so...
tellement...	tɛlmɑ̃	so...
nettement...	nɛtmɑ̃	noticeably...
gravement...	gʁavmɑ̃	seriously...

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