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You are here: Home / French Grammar 104 – Demonstrative Adjectives

French Grammar 104 – Demonstrative Adjectives

It might be useful to remember what these are, they correspond to ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ or ‘those’. In French, demonstrative adjectives are affected by gender and number in the same way that articles and other adjectives are.


Singular form

The masculine demonstrative adjectives, ‘ce’ or ‘cet’ correspond to the word ‘this’. ‘Ce’ is used with any noun starting with a consonant but a ‘t’ is added when the following noun starts with a vowel to ease pronunciation.

For example:
‘Ce’ chien est noir – ‘This’ dog is black
‘Cet’ oiseau est blanc – ‘This’ bird is white.

When the difference between ‘this’ and ‘that’ needs to be made, i.e. to designate things closer or nearer, the small words ‘-ci’ or ‘-là’ are added at the end of the noun or at the end of the phrase.

Examples:

‘ce’ chien ‘-ci’ – ‘this’ dog
‘ce’ chien noir ‘-ci’ – ‘this’ black dog
‘ce’ chien ‘-là’ – ‘that’ dog
‘ce’ chien noir ‘-là’ – ‘that’ black dog
‘cet’ oiseau ‘-ci’ – ‘this’ bird
‘cet’ oiseau blanc ‘-ci’ – ‘this’ white bird
‘cet’ oiseau ‘-là’ – ‘that’ bird
‘cet’ oiseau blanc ‘-là’ – ‘that’ white bird

In the same way, the feminine demonstrative adjective ‘cette’ is used with a feminine noun as in for example:

‘Cette’ fleur est bleue – ‘This’ flower is blue
‘Cette’ rose est rouge – ‘This’ rose is red
And
‘Cette’ fleur bleue ‘-ci’ – ‘ This’ blue flower
‘Cette’ rose rouge ‘-là’ – ‘That’ red rose

Plural form

The translation of ‘these’ and ‘those’ follows a similar pattern but in the plural form. They are both translated by ‘ces’ and the additional ‘-ci’ or ‘-là’ are placed at the end of the noun or phrase when we want to specify that something is close or far in space.

‘These’ examples:
‘These’ peaches are ripe in ‘Ces’ pêches sont mûres (where the peaches are is not specified)
but
‘Ces’ pêches ‘-ci’ sont mûres (tells us the peaches are close to us)

‘Those’ example:
‘Those’ peaches are ripe – ‘Ces’ pêches ‘-là’ sont mûres (tells us the peaches are far away from us)

In the same way:
‘ces oranges ‘-ci’ means ‘these’ oranges.
‘Ces’ oranges ‘-là’ means ‘those’ oranges.
The demonstrative forms are useful when pointing at things whilst shopping, for example:

Je voudrais un kilo de ces pommes- là – I’d like a kilo of those apples.
J’aimerais acheter cette robe-ci, s’il vous plait – I’d like to buy this dress here, please.
Combien coûte ce manteau-là, sil vous plait ? – How much is that coat, please?

EXERCISE: 104 Demonstrative Adjectives | NEXT: 105 Possessive adjectives

FRENCH BEGINNERS’ COURSE

Grammar
101 Articles
102 Pronouns
103 Nouns and Adjectives
104 Demonstrative Adjectives
105 Possessive Adjectives
106 Verbs
107 Adverbs
108 Prepositions
109 Interrogative Form
110 Negative Form


Exercises
101 Articles
102 Pronouns
103 Nouns and Adjectives
104 Demonstrative Adjectives
105 Possessive Adjectives
106 Verbs
107 Adverbs
108 Prepositions
109 Interrogative Form
110 Negative Form

Vocabulary lists
101 Numbers
102 Family
103 Greetings
104 Food and Drinks
105 Time
106 Rooms
107 City
108 Questions
109 Household Objects
110 Jobs

Listening practice
101 Articles
102 Pronouns
103 Nouns and Adjectives
104 Demonstrative Adjectives
105 Possessive Adjectives
106 Present of Verbs
107 Adverbs
108 Adverbs
109 Interrogative Form
110 Negative Form

Dialogues
101 Telephone
102 Clothes shop
103 Restaurant
104 At the Doctor
105 Taxi
106 The Bistro
107 Hotel
108 Tourism Office
109 Bus Station
110 Looking for a Place

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