Adjectives and adverbs

Overview

Welcome to your deep dive into French adjectives and adverbs for the AQA GCSE exam. This topic is a cornerstone of grammatical accuracy and a key differentiator between Foundation and Higher tier performance. AQA examiners award significant credit under Assessment Objective 4 (Writing) and Assessment Objective 2 (Speaking) for the correct manipulation of these structures. This guide will equip you with the rules, patterns, and exam techniques needed to demonstrate a sophisticated command of French, focusing on the three core areas: adjectival agreement (gender and number), adjectival positioning (the BANGS rule), and adverb formation (the -ment rule). By mastering these, candidates can confidently add complexity and precision to their language, securing the marks needed for the highest grades.

Key Concepts: Adjectives

1. Adjectival Agreement: The Chameleon Rule

In French, an adjective must always agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun it describes. Think of it as a chameleon changing to match its surroundings. Failure to do this is one of the most common errors seen by examiners.

The Four Forms: Most adjectives have four forms. Let's take grand (big/tall) as a typical example:

• Masculine Singular: grand (e.g., un garçon grand - a tall boy)
• Feminine Singular: grande (add -e) (e.g., une fille grande - a tall girl)
• Masculine Plural: grands (add -s) (e.g., des garçons grands - tall boys)
• Feminine Plural: grandes (add -es) (e.g., des filles grandes - tall girls)

2. Adjectival Positioning: After or Before?

Most adjectives in French are placed after the noun. This is the default position, especially for adjectives of colour, shape, and nationality.

• Correct: une voiture rouge (a red car)
• Incorrect: une rouge voiture

However, a small but very common group of adjectives come before the noun. These can be remembered with the acronym BANGS.

Key Concepts: Adverbs

1. Adverb Formation: The -ment Rule

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs to describe how an action is performed. In English, this is often done by adding '-ly' (e.g., slow -> slowly). In French, the equivalent is typically adding -ment.

The Standard Method: The most common rule is to find the feminine singular form of the adjective and add -ment.

1. Start with the masculine adjective: lent (slow)
2. Convert to its feminine form: lente
3. Add -ment: lentement (slowly)

Example: Il marche lentement. (He walks slowly.)

2. Irregular Adverbs & Exceptions

As with all rules, there are exceptions that must be memorized. These are frequently tested.

• Adjectives ending in a vowel: Just add -ment to the masculine form. (e.g., vrai -> vraiment - truly, really)
• Adjectives ending in -ant or -ent: Replace the ending with -amment or -emment. (e.g., constant -> constamment; prudent -> prudemment). Note that both endings are pronounced the same.
• Key Irregulars: Some of the most important adverbs are irregular.
  • bon (good) -> bien (well)
  • mauvais (bad) -> mal (badly)
  • gentil (kind) -> gentiment (kindly)