The French adjectives can also have a plural form which can also be masculine or feminine. Here are the rules that you need to apply:
Adding ” -s” to the adjective
They agree in number and gender, as usual. Normally, all you need to do is to add ” s” to the adjective in the singular.
Singular | Plural | |
Masculine | un étudiant américain | des étudiants américains |
Feminine | une étudiante américaine | des étudiantes américaines |
The “-x” or “-s” at the End
If the adjective ends in “-x “ or “-s “ its plural form stays the same. The same goes for the plural feminine forms.
Singular | Plural |
un choix malheureux
! une femme malheureuse |
des choix malheureux
! des femmes malheureuses |
un immeuble bas | des immeubles bas |
un homme jaloux | des hommes jaloux |
Adjectives with “-al”
If the adjectives ends in “-al ”, it becomes “-aux” in plural.
Singular | Plural | |
Masculine | un livre original | des livres originaux |
un cas normal | des cas normaux | |
un cas social | des cas sociaux | |
! Feminine | ! une histoire originale | ! des histoires originales |
une école normale | des écoles normales |
Adjectives with “-eau”
Adjectives ending in “-eau” become “-eaux”. You just add “-x “ to “eau”
Singular | Plural |
Cet home est beau | Ces hommes sont beaux |
un livre nouveau | des livres nouveaux |
If there are mixed masculine and feminine nouns, the plural masculine adjective is used:
- Les filles et les garçons espagnols
Personal Pronoun Agreement
The French adjectives need to agree with the personal pronoun they describe:
“Je”, “tu”, “vous” and the polite “vous”:
- Êtes-vous américain, Monsieur ? Non, Je suis canadien.
- Êtes-vous allemands, Messieurs ? Non, on est italiens.
- Vous êtes italienne, Madame ? Non, je suis française.
- Êtes-vous italiennes, Mesdames ? Non, nous sommes françaises.
- Elle est très belle, Marie !
- Tu es très beau, Franck.
My Advice
The French adjectives may seem like a complicated thing. No wonder, they are ! But don’t be discouraged by their many rules and complexity. In real life you will use only a certain number of them, many of them regular (that is you will naturally apply the rules seen above as, for example, with the adjectives ending in “-al”) and bear in mind that even the French get confused with their adjectives, let alone someone who is learning the French language ! The best way to master this and any other structure is to repeat it in a number of meaningful exercises, like the ones that you have below. Don’t do them just once, do them several times over a few days until using the correct form becomes almost automatic for you. Good luck !

Exercises
Exercise 1: Check your knowledge and understanding of the lesson
Very useful lessons. Thanks a lot.
Very usefull