Formation du Féminin

This page is the complete catalogue of how French adjectives form their feminine. The default is simple: take the masculine, add -e. But that default applies to maybe sixty percent of adjectives, and the rest split among about a dozen named patterns based on what the masculine ending looks like. Mastering this is not about memorizing each of the thousands of adjectives in the language — it is about learning the patterns, so that when you meet a new adjective, the ending tells you which feminine form to expect. By the end of this page you should be able to take an unfamiliar masculine adjective and predict its feminine with high confidence.

The default: + -e

Add a silent -e to the masculine singular.

This works for adjectives ending in any non-special consonant or vowel: fort / forte, vert / verte, content / contente, intelligent / intelligente, fatigué / fatiguée, bleu / bleue, intéressant / intéressante, charmant / charmante, poli / polie, joli / jolie, foncé / foncée, clair / claire, lourd / lourde, froid / froide, chaud / chaude, court / courte.

A silent final consonant in the masculine often becomes audible in the feminine: grand /ɡʁɑ̃/ → grande /ɡʁɑ̃d/, petit /pəti/ → petite /pətit/, froid /fʁwa/ → froide /fʁwad/. This is the most reliable phonetic clue that you are dealing with the default pattern.

-e already in masculine: no change

If the masculine singular already ends in a silent -e (not -é), the feminine is identical.

Common members: rouge, jaune, rose, orange, jeune, facile, difficile, triste, rapide, honnête, libre, autre, moderne, pratique, sympathique, timide, calme, sage, propre, sale, aimable, agréable, responsable, capable, aveugle, jeune, vide, riche, pauvre.

Distinguish -é (with acute accent) from -e (no accent). Fatigué is a default-pattern adjective: feminine fatiguée, with both é and e present. The -e-no-change rule applies only to forms ending in unaccented -e, like rouge or jeune.

-er → -ère (grave accent)

Adjectives in -er drop nothing but add a grave accent on the e and append -e.

Full list of common members: cher, premier, dernier, léger, fier, familier, régulier, singulier, particulier, entier, étranger, amer (amère). The grave accent is not optional — writing chere without it is a spelling mistake.

Why the accent? In French, an e before a single consonant followed by a silent -e lands on /ɛ/, the open e sound. Writing it as é would suggest /e/ (closed e); writing it as plain e would be ambiguous. The grave accent locks in the right pronunciation.

-eux → -euse

Adjectives ending in -eux swap the x for se.

Common members: heureux, sérieux, amoureux, curieux, jaloux (jalouse), paresseux, peureux, courageux, dangereux, délicieux, furieux, généreux, joyeux, merveilleux, nerveux, nombreux, orgueilleux, précieux, religieux, silencieux, studieux, vaniteux, vertueux.

Note that jaloux belongs here despite ending in -oux, not -eux: feminine jalouse. The plural masculine of -eux adjectives is unchanged (the -x is already a plural marker): un homme heureux / des hommes heureux. The feminine plural adds the regular -s: des femmes heureuses.

-eur → -euse (most behavioral adjectives)

Adjectives ending in -eur that describe a typical behavior or activity take -euse in the feminine.

Common members: menteur, travailleur, trompeur, flatteur, moqueur, rêveur, vendeur (also a noun), charmeur, frondeur, querelleur, songeur, bagarreur. These come from verbs and describe agents or characteristics.

-teur → -trice (for verb-derived Latin-style adjectives)

A subset of -teur adjectives takes -trice instead of -teuse.

Common members: créateur, protecteur, destructeur, évocateur, séducteur, consolateur, moteur (also a noun), conducteur, éducateur, fondateur, libérateur, novateur, organisateur, réalisateur, traducteur. Most of these come from Latin agent nouns and have a corresponding -tion nominal: création / créateur / créatrice.

The rough rule: if the -teur adjective comes from a verb of action and corresponds to a -tion noun, expect -trice. If it describes a habitual behavior, expect -teuse. Menteur (from mentir — to lie) takes -teuse; créateur (from créer — to create, with création) takes -trice. Note that some pairs admit both forms, with subtle nuance — enchanteur / enchanteresse preserves the older -eresse feminine for the literary "enchantress" sense.

The Latin-comparative -eur group

A small set of adjectives in -eur takes a regular -e in the feminine: meilleur → meilleure, supérieur → supérieure, inférieur → inférieure, intérieur → intérieure, extérieur → extérieure, antérieur → antérieure, postérieur → postérieure, majeur → majeure, mineur → mineure, ultérieur → ultérieure. These are mostly Latin comparatives and they refuse to take -euse or -trice.

-f → -ve

Adjectives ending in -f turn the f into v and add -e.

Common members: actif, passif, sportif, attentif, créatif, productif, positif, négatif, vif, naïf (naïve), bref (brève — with grave accent), neuf (brand-new — neuve).

Note the diaeresis on naïf / naïve — it stays in both forms. Bref takes a grave accent in the feminine: brève.

-c → -che or -c → -que

Two patterns split the -c class.

-c → -che

Members: blanc, franc (franche), sec (sèche — with grave accent).

-c → -que

Members: public, turc, grec (grecque — note the doubled c), caduc (caduque), ammoniac (ammoniaque).

There is no shortcut to predict which -c adjective takes -che and which takes -que — the split is mostly by etymology (Romance vs. Greek/Latin) and must be memorized. Fortunately the closed lists above cover almost everything you will encounter.

-x → -se (for some non--eux adjectives)

The pattern -eux → -euse covers most of these, but a few non--eux adjectives in -x follow the same logic.

Doux / douce is irregular — note the -ce spelling. Jaloux / jalouse, roux / rousse (red-haired — feminine has doubled s), faux / fausse, vieux / vieille (irregular), and époux / épouse (a noun) round out this small group. Several are genuinely irregular and are listed on the irregular feminines page.

-on → -onne (consonant doubling)

Adjectives ending in -on double the n before adding -e.

Members: bon, mignon, breton, gascon, fanfaron (fanfaronne), glouton (gloutonne), poltron (poltronne).

The doubled n prevents the masculine nasal vowel from carrying over. Without doubling, bone would be read as /bɔn/ — the e would denasalize the vowel, but the spelling would also suggest a different word.

-en → -enne

Same logic as -on: double the n.

Members: parisien, européen, italien, canadien, brésilien, australien, égyptien, coréen, péruvien, vietnamien, moyen (moyenne), ancien (ancienne), quotidien (quotidienne).

This is the source of most nationality and origin adjectives in -en. The masculine ends in a nasal vowel /ɛ̃/; the feminine doubles the n and brings the -en sequence to /ɛn/.

-et → -ette (mostly) but -ète for a closed list

Two patterns split the -et class.

-et → -ette (consonant doubling — most)

Members: muet, net, cadet, coquet, fluet, douillet (douillette), follet (follette), jeunet (jeunette).

-et → -ète (grave accent — closed list)

Members: complet, concret, discret, inquiet, secret, replet, désuet (désuète).

There is no productive rule — these seven or so adjectives form a closed list. Memorize the list.

-eil → -eille

Adjectives ending in -eil double the l before adding -e.

-ot → -otte (some) vs -ote (most)

A small group of -ot adjectives doubles the t: sot → sotte, vieillot → vieillotte, boulot → boulotte, pâlot → pâlotte, maigriot → maigriotte. But the majority of -ot adjectives are regular: idiot → idiote, bigot → bigote, dévot → dévote, manchot → manchote.

The doubled-t group is small enough to memorize as a list; assume the regular pattern unless you have specific evidence otherwise.

Genuinely irregular feminines

A small set of high-frequency adjectives forms its feminine in ways no rule can predict. They include beau / belle, nouveau / nouvelle, vieux / vieille, fou / folle, mou / molle, long / longue, frais / fraîche, gentil / gentille, faux / fausse. These are detailed on the irregular feminines page; here, just be aware that the pattern catalogue above covers most of the language but not these.

A predictive flowchart

When you meet a new adjective, ask in this order:

1. Does the masculine end in unaccented -e? If yes — feminine is identical.
2. Does it end in -er, -eux, -eur, -f, -c, -on, -en, -et, -eil, -ot? If yes — apply the matching pattern above.
3. Is it on the irregular list (beau, nouveau, vieux, fou, mou, long, frais, gentil, faux, doux, sec, blanc)? If yes — use the irregular form.
4. Otherwise — default + -e.

This decision tree handles roughly 99% of French adjectives.

Common mistakes

The first three errors come from English speakers defaulting to the + -e rule without checking the ending pattern. The fourth — missing the grave accent on chère — is one of the most common A1 spelling slips, because cher and chère sound identical. The fifth is a transfer error within the -f → -ve pattern: learners sometimes write neufe by analogy with the default + -e, but neuf must follow the -f → -ve pattern.

Key takeaways

• Default: + -e. Most adjectives. Often makes a silent consonant audible.
• Already -e: no change.
• -er → -ère, -eux → -euse, -eur → -euse (or -trice), -f → -ve, -c → -che / -que.
• Consonant doubling: -on → -onne, -en → -enne, -et → -ette (mostly), -eil → -eille.
• Closed exception lists: -et → -ète, -ot → -otte, Latin-comparative -eur (meilleur → meilleure).
• A small set of genuinely irregular feminines (beau, nouveau, vieux, fou, long, frais, blanc, etc.) requires memorization — see the irregular feminines page.

Once these patterns become reflexive, the feminine of an unfamiliar adjective is predictable from its ending in nine cases out of ten. The remaining tenth is the small irregular set you will meet so often that memorization happens by exposure alone.