Understanding Demonstrative Adjectives in French

There are several different ways you can try to describe things in languages. You can discuss color, size, age, and condition. You can also classify an object by ownership. When learning French, differentiating between all of the ways to speak about something while trying to perfect your pronunciation can feel like information overload.

However, the important thing is to take things slow, continue practicing, and get additional help when you need it. Whether you’re trying to grow your vocabulary, strengthen your inner conversationalist, or obtain full French fluency, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the four demonstrative adjectives in French.

In this article, we’ll give you everything you need to know about French demonstrative adjectives so you can fine tune your communication skills and continue towards fluency.

What Are Demonstrative Adjectives in French?

French demonstrative adjectives, or adjectifs démonstratifs, are used when you want to point out one or more specific nouns in conversation. They replace the article when identifying any given noun in conversation. Their English equivalents are this, that, these and those. As with English, French demonstrative adjectives can often be distinguished based on distance. This and these are used for nearby objects, where that and those are used to describe things further away.

Demonstrative adjectives in French follow the same rules as other French adjectives in that they must match the gender and number of the noun they’re specifying. All in all, there are four French demonstrative adjectives, as outlined in the table below:

As you can see in the table, when a masculine demonstrative adjective is used in French with a noun or adjective that starts with a vowel, you’ll need to use a different form. This is to avoid difficulties in both pronunciation and understanding. To further strengthen your pronunciation during conversation, don’t forget to practice your French alphabet regularly. The use of cet should only be used when the French demonstrative pronoun precedes words with a vowel or an h. You can see how the different masculine, feminine, and plural demonstrative adjectives are used in the following examples:

• ce sac à dos — this/that backpack
• ce chiot — this/that puppy
• cet homme — this/that man
• cet unique garçon — this/that unique boy
• cette maison — this/that house
• cette chaise — this/that chair
• ces chiots — these/those puppies
• ces hommes — these/those men
• ces maisons — these/those houses

How to Use Demonstrative Adjectives in French?

Demonstrative adjectives in French are always used in place of an article, never in addition to one. This means removing the “the” before the noun and replacing it with any of the four French demonstrative adjectives, depending on gender and number. To help you practice mastering your use of demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives in French, and other elements of this beautiful language, download Tandem and match with a native speaker today. It’s a great way to practice different parts of speech, from reflexive verbs in French to demonstrative adjectives and beyond.

Another rule of using French demonstrative adjectives is that they’re always placed directly in front of a noun or an adjective and a noun. The French adjective list is long, but demonstrative adjectives will always come before simple descriptive adjectives. For example:

• ce grand arbre est vert — this big tree is green
• cet arbre est vert — this tree is green

Although the French demonstrative adjectives used here change due to the preceding word, the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change too much.

Clarifying French Demonstrative Adjectives: This or That? These or Those?

The French demonstrative adjectives themselves provide no details on whether the speaker is referring to this or that, these or those. Although some sentences don’t require clarification, when they do, you’ll need to attach an additional suffix to the noun. When you want to say either “this” or “these,” you’ll need to attach the suffix -ci to the end of the noun. When you want to say either “that” or “those,” you’ll need to attach the suffix -là to the end of the noun. For example:

• cette chaise-ci est parfaite pour votre nouvelle maison — this chair is perfect for your new house
• cette chaise-là est confortable — that chair is comfortable
• cette couleur-ci n'est pas agréable — this color is not nice
• cette couleur-là te va à merveille — that color looks great on you
• ce prof-là parle trop — that teacher talks too much
• ce prof-ci est sympa — this teacher is nice