Gender Agreement

In French, things are either masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). There are no rules (or not many) to explain why a chair (une chaise) is feminine or why a keyboard (un clavier) is masculine.

The adjective agrees in gender with the subject. Most of the time, add an "e" to the adjective to make it become feminine.

Un homme (a man) is masculine and "a perfect man" is spelled:

• Un homme parfait.

Une femme (a woman) is feminine. So "a perfect woman" is spelled:

• Une femme parfaite.

When an adjective "naturally" ends with "e", its feminine form ending remains the same.

• Un homme agréable. (a pleasant man)
• Une femme agréable (a pleasant woman)

When an adjective "naturally" ends with "x", its feminine form ending is "se". The most common example is:

• Il est heureux (He's happy)
• Elle est heureuse (She's happy)

Do you need more examples ? OK, here they are: