Position of French Adjectives - More adjectives that go BEFORE nouns

Hopefully you already know that adjectives, or "describing words", usually come AFTER the noun [see Adjectives usually go AFTER nouns in French (Position of Adjectives)], and you also know these exceptions: Position of French Adjectives - Short and common adjectives that go BEFORE nouns.

Here are other types of adjectives that are also placed BEFORE the noun.

Learn when French adjectives are placed before the noun

1. Adjectives qualifying a proper noun (starting with a capital letter):

l'extraordinaire Marie Curiethe extraordinary Marie Curie

la coquette Jacquelinethe stylish Jacqueline

l'impérial Zeusthe imperial Zeus

 

2. Numerical adjectives

un triple sauta triple jump

les trois amisthe three friends

un double mentona double chin

mon premier amourmy first love

la troisième coursethe third race

ses dix chienshis ten dogs

Note that cardinal numbers (un, cinq, dix, cent...) never change.

ATTENTION:

When using both "first" and a cardinal number together (e.g., the first ten years), note that in French, the cardinal number comes first.

les dix premières annéesthe first ten years

mes trois premiers exemplesmy first three examples

Note that premier agrees in gender and number.

 

Here's a famous mnemonic tip to help you remember these adjectives that come before the noun: you can call them the BRAGS or BANGS adjectives, which stand for

Beauty (coquet/coquette)

Rank (premier/deuxième)

Age (ancien)

Number (trois/dix/triple)

Goodness (extraordinaire/mauvais)

Size (haut/vaste)

 

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Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Examples and resources

l'extraordinaire Marie Curiethe extraordinary Marie Curie
ses dix chienshis ten dogs
la troisième coursethe third race
mon premier amourmy first love
les trois amisthe three friends
les dix premières annéesthe first ten years
mes trois premiers exemplesmy first three examples
un double mentona double chin
un triple sauta triple jump
l'impérial Zeusthe imperial Zeus
la coquette Jacquelinethe stylish Jacqueline
le gentil Hugothe nice Hugo
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