Expressing Opinions

Expressing and Justifying Opinions
There are a number of ways of expressing opinions in French. Here are some of
them:
Je pense que …
Je crois que … …
A mon avis …
–
–
–
I think that …
I believe that …
In my opinion …
In order to justify your opinions you’ll need a variety of adjectives.
What’s an adjective?
An adjective is a word which describe a noun (a thing, person, place or feeling).
In a dictionary, it says adj next to an adjective.
Remember that in French, the adjective has to agree in gender (masculine /
feminine) and in number (singular / plural) with the noun it’s describing.
Agreement of Gender (feminine / masculine)
To make an adjective feminine, you must usually add an –e to the word.
e.g: A mon avis, il est amusant / elle est amusante.
However, there are some exceptions to the rule!
1. If an adjective ends with an -x, to make it feminine, delete the -x and replace it
with
– se.
e.g: Je pense qu’il est ennuyeux / elle est ennuyeuse.
2. If an adjective ends with an –f, to make it feminine, delete the –f and replace it
with
–ve.
e.g: Je crois qu’il est sportif / elle est sportive.
3. If an adjective ends with an –l, to make it feminine -le is added to the end of the
word.
e.g: A mon avis il est nul / elle est nulle.
4. If an adjective ends in an –e, the feminine form is unchanged.
e.g: Je pense qu’il est formidable / elle est formidable.
Agreement of Number (singular / plural)
To make an adjective plural, you add an –s.
e.g: Je crois qu’il est amusant / ils sont amusants.
Je pense qu’elle est amusante / elles sont amusantes.
What’s a comparative?
A comparative is an adjective used to compare two nouns (people, places, things or
feelings).
For example, who is more funny or more talented, or who is less enthusiastic or less
entertaining?
Here’s how the comparative is formed in French:
Il est plus (adjectif) que (nom) - He is more (adjective) than (noun).
Il est moins (adjectif) que (nom) – He is less (adjective) than (noun)
Il est aussi (adjectif) que (nom) – He is as (adjective) as (noun).
e.g:
Marcel Marron est plus divertissant que Benoît Bleu.
Benoît Bleu est moins barbant que Grégoire Gris.
Remember that you can change Il (he) to Elle (she), but the adjective must then
agree.
e.g:
Véronique Violet est aussi amusante que Nadia Noir.
Nadia Noir est plus talentueuse que Véronique Violet.
What’s a superlative?
A superlative is used to say who or what is the most … or the least …
For example, who’s the funniest, the most talented, the least enthusiastic or the worst
singer?
Here’s how you form a superlative in French:
Il est le plus (+ adjectif) He is the most (+ adjective)
Il est le moins (+ adjectif) He is the least (+ adjective)
Elle est la plus (+ adjectif) She is the most (+ adjective)
Elle est la moins (+ adjectif) She is the least (+ adjective)
e.g:
Il est le plus amusant – He is the funniest.
Elle est la plus divertissante – She is the most entertaining.
Don’t forget!
The adjective must agree with the noun it’s describing.
In order to say ”the best” or “the worst”, the following structure is used:
Il est le meilleur (+nom) He is the best (+noun)
Elle est la meilleure (+nom) She is the best (+noun)
Il est le pire (+ nom) He is the worst (+ noun)
Elle est le pire (+ nom) She is the worst (+ noun)
Notice that the noun comes after the superlative in French and in English, but comes
before the superlative in Welsh.
e.g.
Il est le meilleur chanteur – He’s the best singer - Fe ydy’r canwr gorau
Now get practising expressing and justifying opinions in the Pop Factor section of the
Music Zone!