Demonstrative adjectives (ce / cet / cette / ces)

Summary

Demonstrative adjectives (ce, cet, cette, ces) mean "this/that" or "these/those" and agree in gender and number with the noun.

Explanation

Demonstrative adjectives point to a specific person or thing and replace the article in front of a noun. There are four forms: ce before a masculine singular noun (ce livre), cette before a feminine singular noun (cette table), and ces before any plural noun, masculine or feminine (ces enfants, ces tables). French does not separate "this" from "that": each form covers both.

There is one extra masculine form for pronunciation. Before a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel or a silent h, ce becomes cet, so that two vowels are not pronounced in a row: cet homme, cet ami, cet hôtel. The feminine cette and the plural ces never change for this reason — cet exists only to fix the masculine singular.

When you really need to distinguish "this" from "that", or contrast two items, add the suffixes -ci (near) and -là (far) to the noun: ce livre-ci (this book here) vs ce livre-là (that book there); je préfère cette robe-ci à cette robe-là. In everyday speech -là is very common even without an explicit contrast.

The main pitfalls are forgetting cet before a vowel (ce homme instead of cet homme) and confusing the masculine cet with the feminine cette — they sound almost identical but cet goes with masculine nouns, cette with feminine. Rule of thumb: choose by the noun's gender and number (ce / cette / ces), switch ce to cet before a vowel sound, and reach for -ci / -là only when you must mark proximity or contrast.

Examples

ce livre, cette table, ces enfants — this book, this table, these children

cet homme — this man (ce becomes cet before a vowel sound.)

cet hôtel est complet — this hotel is full (cet also before a silent h.)

Je préfère ce manteau-ci à ce manteau-là. — I prefer this coat to that one. (-ci (near) vs -là (far) for contrast.)

Ces fleurs sont magnifiques. — These flowers are magnificent. (ces for any plural, masculine or feminine.)

Common mistakes

Prerequisites

• Noun gender (masculine / feminine)

Related rules

• Definite articles (le / la / les)
• Possessive adjectives (mon / ma / mes)
• Adjective agreement