Adjectifs qui ne le sont pas
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Adjectives comprise one of the eight French parts of speech, but certain members of other grammatical categories can sometimes be used as adjectives. These "non-adjectives" are invariable: there’s no gender/number agreement with the nouns they modify.
There are four types of non-adjective adjectives.
1) Adverbs used as adjectives
As far as I know, this is the complete list of French adverbs that can be used as adjectives:
| allegro | allegro (quick, lively tempo) | |
| arrière | back, rear | |
| avant | front | |
| bien | nice, decent | |
| debout | standing, up | |
| incognito | incognito | |
| mal | wrong, bad, sick, uncomfortable |
2) Prefixes used as adjectives
Five French prefixes are used as adjectives:
| extra | great, first-rate, top-quality | |
| hyper | excessive, to a very high degree | |
| maxi | maximum, long | |
| mini | small | |
| super | great, terrific |
3) Nouns used as adjectives
Many nouns can be used as adjectives; here are just a few examples.
| les opérations escargot | rolling blockades | |
| l’entrée est / nord / ouest / sud | east / north / west / south entrance | |
| les mères gâteau | soft/indulgent mothers | |
| une tarte maison | homemade pie | |
| des chaussures sport | athletic shoes | |
| les comptes utilisateur | user accounts | |
| les câbles vidéo | video cables | |
| les sites Web | websites |
4) Noun clauses used as adjectives
Like all of the above, noun clauses do not agree with the nouns they are "adjectiving" for*
| une voiture bon marché | a cheap car | |
| ils sont de bonne humeur | they’re in a good mood | |
| elles sont trop collet monté | they’re too straight-laced | |
| les ascenseurs hors service | out-of-service elevators | |
| les soi-disant victimes | alleged victims |
* But there is agreement within the noun clause – note that in the second example, bonne is feminine to agree with its noun humeur.
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