Why does an adjective sometimes come before the noun it modifies, and other times it comes after?
ex. "un grand bol..." (adjective coming before)
"une voiture verte..." (adjective coming after)
That's one of the main differences between English and French: in French, adjectives (small, nice, cheap...) agree in gender and number with the thing or person they refer to. Therefore, they will be either masculine or feminine, and either singular or plural, just like nouns.
Let's see how you pluralise simple adjectives:
un grand bol mais trois grands bols
a big bowl but three big bowls
une voiture verte et deux voitures vertes
a green car and two green cars
la femme française mais les femmes françaises
the French woman but the French women
un homme fort et des hommes forts.
a strong man and strong men
Note that regular adjectives take an -s in the plural form.
Case of mixed gender:
Paul est petit, Sylvia est petite : ils sont petits.
Paul is short, Sylvia is short : they are short.
Ma mère et mon père sont intéressants.
My mum and dad are interesting.
In such cases, you will use the masculine plural form of the adjective.
See also:Make most adjectives feminine by adding -e
and the more advanced: Adjectives ending in -s or -x change in the plural forms only when feminine
Examples and resources
un grand bol mais trois grands bols
a big bowl but three big bowls
un homme fort et des hommes forts.
a strong man and strong men
"Plurals in French" by www.frenchspanishonline.com
la femme française mais les femmes françaises
the French woman but the French women
Ma mère et mon père sont intéressants.
My mum and dad are interesting.
une voiture verte et deux voitures vertes
a green car and two green cars
Paul est petit, Sylvia est petite : ils sont petits.
Paul is short, Sylvia is short : they are short.
for an all female class
Ma sœur est intelligente. - Mes copines sont intelligentes aussi.
My sister is clever. - My girlfriends are clever too.
for boys or a mixed group
Mon élève est intelligent. - Mes élèves sont intelligents aussi.
My student is clever. - My students are clever too.
Q&A Forum 2 questions, 3 answers
Chris Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Hi Autumn,
as with many topics in language learning, there is no explication except: that's the way it is.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Autumn asked:View original
Adjective before and/or after its noun
Why does an adjective sometimes come before the noun it modifies, and other times it comes after?
ex. "un grand bol..." (adjective coming before)
"une voiture verte..." (adjective coming after)
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Bonjour Anish !
You can also simply use "les Français" as a noun to say "the French (men)", and "les Françaises" for "the French (women)".
See our related lesson:
Nationalities differ depending on whether you're a man or a woman (adjectives)
Bonne journée !
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