Adjectives agree in gender and number
A French adjective changes its ending to match its noun: -e for feminine, -s for plural (un sac vert → une veste verte → des sacs verts → des vestes vertes). Family patterns: -eux → -euse, -f → -ve, -er → -ère; adjectives already in -e change only for the plural. Key irregulars: beau → belle, nouveau → nouvelle, vieux → vieille, bon → bonne. Nationalities follow the family rules: français → française.
Placement (BAGS) + comparatives/superlatives
Most adjectives follow the noun (une voiture rouge); a short set comes before it — BAGS: Beauty (beau, joli), Age (jeune, vieux, nouveau), Goodness (bon, mauvais), Size (grand, petit, gros): une belle voiture, une grande maison. Comparative: plus/moins/aussi + adjective + que (plus grand que). Superlative: le/la/les plus (or moins) + adjective, agreeing (la plus grande ville). Irregulars: bon → meilleur (adjective), bien → mieux (adverb, invariable).
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Feminine agreement dropped mid-essay
Reports flag candidates who identify a noun as feminine in one place (often the essay title) but then use masculine adjectives later. Gender never changes partway through — every adjective for that noun must agree: ma photo préférée (NOT préféré); une région importante (NOT important). Find the noun, fix its gender once, then audit every attached adjective.
w22 42 Q3(a) (missing -e on préférée/importante)
Ordinary adjective placed before the noun
Most French adjectives go AFTER the noun, unlike English. A common error is to translate word-for-word and put the adjective first: une rouge voiture ✗ → une voiture rouge. Only the short BAGS set (beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau, bon, mauvais, grand, petit, gros) precedes the noun. When in doubt, place it after — that is right far more often than not.
general FL trap
Adverb misplaced in a compound tense
Short common adverbs (aussi, bien, déjà, souvent, trop) sit BETWEEN the auxiliary and the past participle in a compound tense, not after the whole verb: j'ai aimé aussi les professeurs ✗ → j'ai aussi aimé les professeurs; j'ai bien mangé. English often puts "also/already" after the verb phrase, so this is a transfer error — named directly as an Accuracy fault.
s23 42 Q3(b); w23 41 Q3(b) (adverb placement)
Saying plus bon instead of meilleur
The comparative of bon (good) is irregular: use meilleur, never plus bon. It agrees like any adjective — meilleur/meilleure/meilleurs/meilleures: ce gâteau est meilleur que l'autre; elle est la meilleure élève. (mauvais likewise has the option pire.) A plain adjective stays regular — plus grand, plus intéressant — only bon triggers meilleur.
general FL trap
-ent/-ant adverbs: -emment / -amment
Most adverbs add -ment to the feminine adjective (heureuse → heureusement). BUT adjectives ending -ent or -ant do NOT just add -ment: they take -emment / -amment — récent → récemment (NOT récentment), constant → constamment, patient → patiemment. The two endings sound the same but are spelled differently, so it is a Writing spelling trap.
general FL trap
Confusing meilleur (adj) with mieux (adv)
meilleur is the irregular comparative of the ADJECTIVE bon, so it agrees with its noun (une meilleure note). mieux is the irregular comparative of the ADVERB bien, and it never changes. Rule of thumb: describing a thing → meilleur(e)(s); describing how an action is done → mieux: ce livre est meilleur but elle lit mieux, elle chante mieux que moi.
general FL trap
Myth: adjectives always precede the noun
English speakers put every adjective before the noun ("a red car"), the only English pattern. In French it is backwards for most: une voiture rouge, NOT une rouge voiture. Only the short BAGS list (beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau, bon, mauvais, grand, petit, gros) precedes, and even those still agree: une belle voiture, not un belle voiture.
Add a comparison to lift your Range band
Examiner reports name comparisons (plus/moins/aussi... que, meilleur, mieux) as a way out of the mid "parce que + simple sentence" band. Plan at least one comparison, and ideally a superlative, in your Q3 — and keep the adjective agreeing with its noun.
Do a dedicated agreement pass at the end
As a final step, reread your answer and check every adjective against the gender and number of its noun — including ones far from the noun and ones that began as a past participle (préféré → préférée). This is where easy agreement marks are won or lost.
Placement: BAGS before, everything else after
Before writing each adjective, ask: is it a short BAGS word? If yes, it precedes the noun; if no — the vast majority — it follows. When unsure, put it after: une voiture rapide, un film intéressant. BAGS adjectives still agree: une belle plage, not un belle plage.
Adjectives describe nouns and must agree with them; adverbs describe verbs/adjectives and do not agree; comparatives and superlatives let you rank things against each other.
| Form | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | dictionary form | un pull noir |
| feminine singular | usually + -e | une chemise noire |
| masculine plural | usually + -s | des pulls noirs |
| feminine plural | usually + -e + -s | des chemises noires |
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