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Adjective Agreement: Gender

FoundationHigherAQA

Revise Adjective Agreement: Gender for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Adjectives add -e for the feminine, with patterns such as -x becoming -se and -f becoming -ve.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

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Higher

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Topic overview

French adjectives must agree with the noun they describe, and the first part of that is gender.

The basic rule is to add -e for a feminine noun: un livre vert becomes une voiture verte. If the adjective already ends in -e, nothing changes: un livre rouge, une voiture rouge.

Adding the -e often changes the pronunciation, because a silent final consonant becomes sounded. Vert ends with no t sound; verte ends with a clear t. Several endings change more substantially: -eux becomes -euse, -f becomes -ve, and -er becomes -ère. So heureux gives heureuse, actif gives active, and cher gives chère.

Revision notes

The basic rule

Add -e for a feminine noun: vert becomes verte, grand becomes grande.

If the adjective already ends in -e, it does not change: rouge stays rouge, jeune stays jeune. This is the most common situation.

Pronunciation changes

Adding -e sounds a previously silent final consonant.

Vert has no t sound; verte does. Grand has no d sound; grande does. This is often the only audible difference, which matters for listening tasks.

Endings that change more

-eux becomes -euse: heureux gives heureuse.

-f becomes -ve: actif gives active. -er becomes -ère: cher gives chère. Some double the consonant: bon gives bonne, gros gives grosse.

Key points

  • Adjectives agree with the noun's gender.
  • Add -e for a feminine noun.
  • Adjectives ending in -e do not change.
  • Adding -e sounds a silent consonant.
  • -eux becomes -euse.
  • -f becomes -ve.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the feminine form of vert. [2 marks]

Working

verteadd -e to the masculine form
The final t is now pronounced, unlike in vertnote the pronunciation change

Example 2

Give the feminine form of heureux. [2 marks]

Working

heureusechange the -eux ending to -euse
This is a pattern change rather than simply adding -eexplain the pattern

Example 3

Explain why rouge does not change in the feminine. [2 marks]

Working

It already ends in -estate the reason
so no further -e is added and the form stays the sameexplain the consequence

Common mistakes

  • Adding -e to adjectives already ending in -e.

    Rouge stays rouge.

  • Using -eux for the feminine.

    It becomes -euse.

  • Forgetting the doubled consonant.

    Bon becomes bonne, not bone.

  • Ignoring the pronunciation change.

    The sounded consonant is the audible difference.

Exam tips

  • Check whether the adjective already ends in -e.
  • Learn -eux/-euse and -f/-ve as pairs.
  • Watch for doubled consonants.
  • Listen for the sounded final consonant.

Key terms

Agreement
Changing an adjective to match its noun.
Feminine form
The version used with a feminine noun.
Silent consonant
A final letter not pronounced in the masculine.
Pattern change
An ending change such as -eux to -euse.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.