Question about agreement

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Question about agreement

In the sentence, "Je vais me laisser tenter par la deuxième option qui a l'air vraiment intéressante à faire.", the adjective, intéressante, is féminine.   I would have thought that this adjective is modifying the word 'air', which is masculine, rather than obliqely referring to the feminine noun, 'option'.  Could you explain?

Asked 4 months ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Frank, 

‘ avoir l’air ‘ is usually a fixed verbal expression, and is most frequently treated grammatically as a verb unit. It is not treated as the verb  ‘ avoir ‘ followed by the noun ‘ l’air ‘ in this particular situation.

( After initial posting, found the 2nd link that discusses in much more detail, in French. Worth a look if you want further information )

The subject noun being modified by the adjective is ‘ la deuxième option ‘, hence feminine adjectival agreement. 

One ‘trick’ is that you can replace ‘ avoir l’air ‘ with sembler or paraître, or follow with d’être,  to check/verify the agreement .

 https://www.wordreference.com/fren/avoir%20l'air 

 

https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/cles-de-la-redaction/avoir-lair-accord-de-ladjectif-qui-suit

                   avoir l’air (accord de l’adjectif qui suit) 

Article sur l’accord de l’adjectif qui suit l’expression avoir l’air. 

         – chose 

         Accord avec le sujet:  Lorsque le sujet est une chose, l’adjectif s’accorde en principe avec le sujet. Avoir l’air a le sens de « paraître, sembler, avoir l’air d’être » : 

 

 

Frank C. asked:

Question about agreement

In the sentence, "Je vais me laisser tenter par la deuxième option qui a l'air vraiment intéressante à faire.", the adjective, intéressante, is féminine.   I would have thought that this adjective is modifying the word 'air', which is masculine, rather than obliqely referring to the feminine noun, 'option'.  Could you explain?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
I'll be right with you...