Sorting game
Before or after the noun? Sort French adjectives (BAGS)
Most French adjectives follow the noun, but beauty, age, goodness and size come first. Sort sixteen adjectives into before or after, then see the ones that change meaning.
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In short
Most adjectives follow the noun: une voiture rouge, un film intéressant. A short list comes before it, remembered as *BAGS: Beauty (beau, joli), Age (jeune, vieux, nouveau), Goodness (bon, mauvais) and Size (grand, petit, gros*).
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Tap a word, then the box it belongs in.
Which French adjectives change meaning before the noun?
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| un grand homme (a great man) | un homme grand (a tall man) |
| mon ancien appartement (my former flat) | un appartement ancien (an old flat) |
| un pauvre garçon (poor thing) | un garçon pauvre (without money) |
| ma propre chambre (my own room) | une chambre propre (a clean room) |
| le dernier jour (the final day) | lundi dernier (last Monday) |
Before a vowel, beau, vieux and nouveau take special forms: un bel appartement, un vieil ami, un nouvel ordinateur. And with a plural adjective before the noun, written French prefers de: de beaux jardins.
Dernier and prochain follow the noun with time words (la semaine dernière, l'an prochain) but precede it in a series (la dernière fois, le prochain train).