Preceding and Plural Adjectives
| Masculine | Feminine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjective | Singular | Plural | Pronunciation | Singular | Plural | Pronunciation |
| beautiful | beau (bel) | beaux | boh (bell) | belle | belles | bell |
| good | bon | bons | bon | bonne | bonnes | bon |
| dear | cher | chers | share | chère | chères | share |
| nice | gentil | gentils | zhawn-tee | gentille | gentilles | zhawn-tee |
| big | grand | grands | grawn | grande | grandes | grawnd |
| large | gros | gros | groh | grosse | grosses | grohss |
| young | jeune | jeunes | zhun | jeune | jeunes | zhun |
| pretty | joli | jolis | zho-lee | jolie | jolies | zho-lee |
| long | long | longs | lohn | longue | longues | lohng |
| bad | mauvais | mauvais | mo-vay | mauvaise | mauvaises | mo-vezz |
| better, best | meilleur | meilleurs | may-ur | meilleure | meilleures | may-ur |
| new | nouveau (nouvel) | nouveaux | noo-voh (noo-vell) | nouvelle | nouvelles | noo-vell |
| little | petit | petits | puh-tee | petite | petites | puh-teet |
| old | vieux (vieil) | vieux | vyuh (vyay) | vieille | vieilles | vyay |
Note: The masculine singular and plural are pronounced the same,
as are the feminine singular and plural. These are the most common
adjectives that go before the noun. An acronym to remember which
ones go before the noun is BRAGS: Beauty, Resemblance (même and
autre), Age/Order (premier and dernier), Goodness, and Size. All other
adjectives, except numbers, go after the noun. The three words in
parentheses (bel, nouvel, and vieil) are used before masculine
singular words beginning with a vowel or a silent h.
A few adjectives can be used before or after the noun, and the meaning changes
accordingly. When used before the noun, they take a figurative meaning;
and when used after, they take a literal meaning.
Remember that des means some, right? Well, there is an
exception to that rule too. Before plural adjectives preceding plural
nouns, you use de instead of des. Ex: Some
old monuments. De vieux monuments.
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages
