Demonstrative in French – Part I

Demonstrative in French – Part I: Adjectives

The video is there: VIDEO

The translation of: This, That, These, Those in French.

This (m)	Ce / Cet
That (m)	Ce / Cet
This or That (f)	Cette
These, Those (p)	Ces

The demonstrative adjective is masculine when it is followed by a masculine word in French: This book (livre is masculine in French):
Ce livre

This friend, your friend is a boy: cet ami
Your friend is a girl: cette amie

Rule: As you can see, we add a final ‘t’ when the following word starts with a vowel. This is the difference between Ce and Cet:
– Ce: for masculine words starting with a consonant
– Cet: for masculine words starting with a vowel
– Cette for all feminine words

– Ces is a unique form for masculine or feminine plural.

This or That have the same translation but if you want to stress the difference because you use both terms in your sentence, you will add -ci or -là at the end of the noun: ce livre-ci!

This book	Ce livre / Ce livre-ci
That book	Ce livre / Ce livre-là
This man	Cet homme / Cet homme-ci
These books	Ces livres / Ces livres-ci
Those books	Ces livres / Ces livres-là

This house or that house?: cette maison-ci or cette maison-là?
And that’s all!

Exercise

Image for French Demonstrative Adjectives:

The next lesson is about the Pronouns: Demonstrative Pronouns