Nouns and Adjectives: Irregular Feminine Forms

Noms et adjectifs : Formes féminines irrégulières

French adjectives and nouns
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Most French nouns and adjectives become feminine with the addition of -e, but there are some exceptions. Some irregular adjectives and nouns require an additional spelling change, depending on the final letter(s) of the word.

   Par exemple…
c>che 
francfranche(adj) frank
c>que 
public
 
publique
 
(adj) public
 
er>ère 
un jardinierune jardinière(noun) gardener
cher
 
chère
 
(adj) expensive
 
et>ète 
secret
 
secrète
 
(adj) secret
 
eur>euse 
un chanteurune chanteuse(noun) singer
heureuxheureuse(adj) happy
eur>rice 
un traducteurune traductrice(noun) translator
migrateur
 
migratrice
 
(adj) migratory
 
eux>euse 
heureux
 
heureuse
 
(adj) happy
 
f>ve 
naïf
 
naïve
 
(adj) naive
 
g>gue 
long
 
longue
 
(adj) long
 
gu>güe, guë 
aigu
 
aigüe, aiguë
 
(adj) acute
 
l>lle 
formel
 
formelle
 
(adj) formal
 
n>nne 
un patronune patronne(noun) boss
mignon
 
mignonne
 
(adj) cute
 
s>sse 
bas
 
basse
 
(adj) low
 
t>tte 
un chatune chatte(noun) cat
netnette(adj) neat, tidy

 Conseil concis

-c and -eur have two different feminine endings, but that doesn’t mean you can choose which one to use. Each noun and adjective requires a specific feminine ending – you can find out the correct one for your word in the dictionary.

The location of the tréma on -gu is in flux. The feminine was originally spelled -guë and this is still very common, even though the spelling was officially changed to -güe in 1990.

 French nouns and adjectives

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French irregular adjectives and nouns

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