Adjectives and Grammar in French
ADJECTIVE PLACEMENT
● The vast majority of French adjectives come after the noun. However,
there are exceptions.
Adjectives that Come Before the Noun
● Adjectives that come before the noun fall into one of five categories
○ Beauty
○ Age
○ Evaluation
○ Size
○ Order
● Beauty
○ Eg. Une belle maison- A beautiful house.
○ Adjectives relating to ugliness are not a part of this exception, and
follow the noun like other descriptive adjectives.
○ Vocabulary for beauty: beau/belle (beautiful), joli/jolie (pretty)
● Age
○ Eg. Un jeune garçon et une vielle docteur- A young boy and an
old doctor.
○ The exception is 'agé', which comes after the noun.
○ Some adjectives relating to age can come before or after the
noun, changing the meaning (see below). For example, if using
'ancien' to mean old, it does not come before the noun (and is
thus an exception).
○ Vocabulary for age: jeune (young), vieux/vielle (old),
nouveau/nouvelle (new).
, ● Evaluation
○ Eg. Une bonne idée- A good idea.
○ This is really only the case for 'good' and 'bad' and does not apply
to words which merely imply that something is good or bad.
○ Vocabulary for evaluation: bon/bonne (good), mauvais/mauvaise
(bad).
● Size
○ Eg. Un gros livre- A big book.
○ This includes references to length
○ Vocabulary for size: gros/grosse (big), grand/grande (big or tall),
petit/petite (small or short).
● Order
○ Eg. Le deuxième film- The second film.
○ Vocabulary for order: premier/première (first), deuxième (second),
dernier/dernière (last)
● When an adjective from one of these exceptional categories is used
with a regular adjective, there are two possible ways to write it:
○ Adjective which goes before nouns + Noun + Regular adjective
○ Noun + Adjective which goes before nouns + et + Regular
adjective (the 'et' is essential).
■ Eg. 'Une grande boîte rouge' and 'Une boîte grande et
rouge' both mean 'a big, red box'.
Adjectives Where The Meaning Changes Based on Position
Meaning Before The Meaning After The
Noun Noun
Dernier Final ever Most recent
Ancien Last (most recent) Ancient (old)
ADJECTIVE PLACEMENT
● The vast majority of French adjectives come after the noun. However,
there are exceptions.
Adjectives that Come Before the Noun
● Adjectives that come before the noun fall into one of five categories
○ Beauty
○ Age
○ Evaluation
○ Size
○ Order
● Beauty
○ Eg. Une belle maison- A beautiful house.
○ Adjectives relating to ugliness are not a part of this exception, and
follow the noun like other descriptive adjectives.
○ Vocabulary for beauty: beau/belle (beautiful), joli/jolie (pretty)
● Age
○ Eg. Un jeune garçon et une vielle docteur- A young boy and an
old doctor.
○ The exception is 'agé', which comes after the noun.
○ Some adjectives relating to age can come before or after the
noun, changing the meaning (see below). For example, if using
'ancien' to mean old, it does not come before the noun (and is
thus an exception).
○ Vocabulary for age: jeune (young), vieux/vielle (old),
nouveau/nouvelle (new).
, ● Evaluation
○ Eg. Une bonne idée- A good idea.
○ This is really only the case for 'good' and 'bad' and does not apply
to words which merely imply that something is good or bad.
○ Vocabulary for evaluation: bon/bonne (good), mauvais/mauvaise
(bad).
● Size
○ Eg. Un gros livre- A big book.
○ This includes references to length
○ Vocabulary for size: gros/grosse (big), grand/grande (big or tall),
petit/petite (small or short).
● Order
○ Eg. Le deuxième film- The second film.
○ Vocabulary for order: premier/première (first), deuxième (second),
dernier/dernière (last)
● When an adjective from one of these exceptional categories is used
with a regular adjective, there are two possible ways to write it:
○ Adjective which goes before nouns + Noun + Regular adjective
○ Noun + Adjective which goes before nouns + et + Regular
adjective (the 'et' is essential).
■ Eg. 'Une grande boîte rouge' and 'Une boîte grande et
rouge' both mean 'a big, red box'.
Adjectives Where The Meaning Changes Based on Position
Meaning Before The Meaning After The
Noun Noun
Dernier Final ever Most recent
Ancien Last (most recent) Ancient (old)
