French grammar - The position of adjectives

The position of adjectives

In French adjectives that directly modify a noun ('the angry dog' rather than 'the dog is angry') mostly come after the noun - not before like in English.

But there is a class of adjectives that precede the noun.

Adjectives that relate to beauty, age, number, goodness and size tend to precede the noun.

• Beauty includes adjectives like beau ('handsome' or 'beautiful') and joli ('pretty').

• Age includes jaune ('young') and vieux ('old') and nouveau ('new'').

• Number includes autre ('other'), chaque ('each' or 'every') and dernier ('last').

• Goodness includes bon ('good'), gentil ('kind'), mauvais ('bad') and meilleur ('better').

• Size includes grand ('large'), petit ('small'), court ('short'), long ('long'), gros ('fat' or 'big'), haut ('high').

This group includes many adjectives that have irregular feminine and plural forms.

Examples:
	Le beau jardin privé The beautiful private garden beau is a 'beauty' adjective so comes before the noun beau (m) means 'beautiful' or 'handsome' privé (m) means 'private'
	La belle femme exotique The beautiful exotic woman belle is a 'beauty' adjective so comes before the noun belle (f) means 'beautiful' exotique (m,f) means 'exotic'
	La jolie fleur rouge The pretty red flower jolie is a 'beauty' adjective so comes before the noun jolie (f) means 'pretty' fleur (f) means 'flower' rouge means 'red'
	La jeune fille blonde The blonde girl jeune is an 'age' adjective so comes before the noun jeune fille means 'girl' (not 'young girl') blonde (f) means 'blonde'
	Le jeune homme brun The young brunette man jeune is a 'age' adjective so comes before the noun jeune homme (m) means 'young man'
	Le vieux monsieur fatigué The old tired gentleman vieux is a 'age' adjective so comes before the noun vieux (m) means 'old' fatigué (m) means 'tired'
	La vieille dame fatiguée The old tired lady vieille is a 'age' adjective so comes before the noun dame (f) means 'lady' or 'women'
	La nouvelle voiture blanche The new white car nouvelle is a 'age' adjective so comes before the noun nouvelle (f) means 'new'
	Le nouveau voisin anglais The new English neighbor nouveau is a 'age' adjective so comes before the noun nouveau (m) means 'new' voisin (m) means 'neighbour' anglais (m) means 'English'
	L'autre chose étrange The other strange thing autre is a 'number' adjective so comes before the noun autre (m,f) means 'other' chose (m) means 'thing' étrange (m) means 'strange'
	Chaque jour chaud et chaque nuit chaude Every hot day and every hot night chaque is a 'number' adjective so comes before the noun jour (m) means 'day' nuit (f) means 'night'
	La première fois The first time première is a 'number' adjective so comes before the noun fois (m) means 'time'
	Le dernier étage The last floor dernier is a 'number' adjective so comes before the noun etage (m) means 'floor' or 'story'
	Le petit jeu amusant The short fun game petit is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun jeux (m) means 'game' amusant means 'fun' or 'amusing'
	Le gentil prof américain The nice American teacher gentil is a 'goodness' adjective so comes before the noun prof (m) means 'teacher' (abbreviation of professor) américain (m) means 'American (male)'
	Le mauvais film allemand The bad German film mauvais is a 'goodness' adjective so comes before the noun mauvais (m) means 'bad' allemand (m) means 'German (male)'
	Le petit problème courant The little common problem petit is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun problème (f) means 'problem' courant (m) means 'common' or 'not rare'
	Le grand homme poilu The big hairy man grand is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun poilu (m) means 'hairy' (f. poilue)
	Le gros chat roux The big ginger cat gros is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun roux (adj) means 'red' or 'ginger' (hair color)
	La grosse poule grise The big grey hen grosse is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun poule (f) means 'hen' grise (f) means 'grey' (m. gris)
	La longue rue droite The long straight street longue is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun droite (f) means 'straight' or 'right'
	Le grand bâtiment étroit The tall narrow building grand is a 'size' adjective so comes before the noun baitement (m) means 'building' étroit (adj) means 'thin' or norrow (for structures)