Before or after the noun: BAGS and bel, nouvel, vieil

Position: after the noun, BAGS before it

Most adjectives go after the noun. A short list of common ones goes before it, remembered as BAGS:

• une belle voiture rouge - a beautiful red car
• un petit chat noir - a small black cat
• un livre intéressant - an interesting book

123

1. 1un petit chien
2. 2un chien
3. 3un grand chien

Size adjectives go before the noun: un petit chien, un grand chien.

In careful written French, des becomes de before a plural adjective placed ahead of the noun: de bons amis (good friends). A few adjectives change meaning with position (un ancien élève is a former pupil); they are on the adjective position page.

beau, bel, belle: the five-form adjectives

Beau, nouveau and vieux have a third masculine singular form, used only straight before a masculine singular noun that starts with a vowel or silent h. Un beau homme would jam two vowels together, so French says un bel homme, the l running into the noun.

The feminine plurals are belles, nouvelles, vieilles.

Bel, nouvel and vieil sound exactly like the feminine belle, nouvelle and vieille; only the spelling differs. The same trick turns ce into cet before a vowel: cet homme (this man), on the demonstratives page.

When the special form does NOT apply

All three conditions must hold: masculine, singular, and directly before a vowel sound. Everywhere else, the ordinary form:

Which form? Worked through