| Les Adjectifs III | Adjectives |
Normally adjectives follow the noun they describe. This isn't the case for all adjectives.
| la grande ville | the large city | le petit general | the small/short general | |
| le bon curé | the good priest | une jolie femme | a pretty woman | |
| les hauts murs | the high walls | le mauvais Dr. Moreau | The evil Dr. Moreau | |
| le gros morceau de gâteau | the big/fat piece of cake | |||
Once you hear the language enough you will get a feel for when an adjectives come before or after a noun. Sometimes the meaning of an adjective changes depending on it's placement.
| un ancien élève | a former student | ma propre cuisine | my own kitchen | |
| un village ancien | an old village | ma cuisine propre | my clean kitchen | |
| ma chère mère | my dear mother | le pauvre homme | the unfortunate man | |
| un légume cher | an expensive vegetable | l'homme pauvre | the poor man (money-wise) |
The following are all irregular. The archaic masculine form has fallen into disuse, however it is still used in front of masculine nouns that begin with a vowel or silent h.
| Masculine | un beau livre a beautiful book |
le nouveau conseil the new advise |
un vieux piège an old trap |
| Archaic Masculine | le bel oiseau the beautiful bird |
un nouvel échec a new failure |
le bon vieux temps the good old days |
| Feminine | la belle montagne the beautiful mountain |
la nouvelle année the new year |
une vieille plaie an old wound |
| C'est la première fois que je vis seul. | This is the first time that I'm living alone. |
Now would be a good time to study the Out
of this World Verbs.
or when a verb follows a preposition.
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