French flag

Adding adjectives to 'something', 'nothing' and 'someone'

In English you simply put the adjective after the word: something new, nothing serious, someone nice. French does something similar, but with one extra piece: the little word de has to sit between the pronoun and the adjective. So something new is quelque chose de nouveau, nothing serious is rien de grave, and someone nice is quelqu'un de gentil.

English speakers tend to trip over this in two ways. They leave out de, because English has nothing in that slot, or they try to make the adjective agree with chose, which looks feminine. Once you know the pattern, it becomes one of the easiest ways to sound natural in French.

Word list
personneA1 no one ne... personne d'intéressant = nobody interesting qu'est-ce queA1 what qu'est-ce qu'il y a de nouveau ? = what's new? queA1 what que fais-tu de beau ? = what are you up to? quelqu'unmA1 someone quelqu'un de gentil = someone nice quelque choseA1 something quelque chose de bon = something good quoiA1 what quoi de neuf ? = what's new? rienA1 nothing ne... rien de grave = nothing serious n'importe quiA2 anyone n'importe qui de sérieux = anyone serious
How it works

The construction is always the same: pronoun + de + adjective. Before a vowel or a silent h, de becomes d', as in quelque chose d'incroyable. The adjective stays in its basic masculine singular form. You don't add -e or -s, even though chose on its own is a feminine noun.

A handy way to think of it is something of the good kind. English doesn't say it that way, but French does. The same de appears with autre, as in rien d'autre (nothing else), and in the fixed greeting quoi de neuf. The word autre chose (something else) is the exception: it takes no de.

J'ai vu quelque chose d'incroyable.
(I saw something incredible.)
Tu veux boire quelque chose de chaud ?
(Do you want to drink something hot?)
The words

quelque chose and rien are the most common pair. They are opposites, so rien de comes with ne in the sentence, just as rien does on its own.

Ce n'est rien de grave.
(It's nothing serious.)
Il n'y a rien de nouveau dans le journal.
(There's nothing new in the paper.)

quelqu'un and personne are the same pair for people. Use them to describe the kind of person you mean. Like rien, personne needs ne.

Je cherche quelqu'un de sérieux pour garder mon chat.
(I'm looking for someone reliable to look after my cat.)
Ton voisin, c'est quelqu'un de très gentil.
(Your neighbour is a very nice person.)
Je ne connais personne d'intéressant ici.
(I don't know anyone interesting here.)

The question word quoi uses the same pattern in a few very frequent expressions. The best known is the everyday greeting.

Quoi de neuf ?
(What's new?)
Quoi de plus simple ?
(What could be simpler?)
Watch out

The most typical mistake is dropping de. Sentences like quelque chose bon or rien grave sound broken to French ears. The second most typical mistake is making the adjective feminine because of chose: say quelque chose de bon, not quelque chose de bonne. With quelque chose, rien and quoi, the adjective is always masculine singular.

People are a little more flexible. The masculine form is the standard, safe choice with quelqu'un and personne, even when you talk about a woman. When the person is clearly a specific woman, you will sometimes hear a feminine adjective, as in ma sœur est quelqu'un de très patiente. That is accepted, but the masculine is never wrong.

Ma sœur est quelqu'un de très patient.
(My sister is a very patient person.)

Finally, don't confuse this with plural expressions such as quelques-uns. Those follow their own rules and are not part of this pattern.

Summary

To describe quelque chose, rien, quelqu'un, personne or quoi, put de (or d') before the adjective and use its basic masculine singular form: quelque chose de bon, rien de grave, quelqu'un de gentil, quoi de neuf. When in doubt, think of it as "something of the good kind" and never leave out the de.