A1
Adjectives — agreement and position
How French adjectives agree in gender and number, which ones precede the noun, and the agreements you cannot hear.
A French adjective changes to match the noun it describes — feminine adds -e, plural adds -s, and both add -es.
| un livre vert | a green book |
| une table verte | a green table |
| des livres verts | green books |
| des tables vertes | green tables |
The agreement is often silent
Vert and verts sound identical. Verte and vertes also sound identical to each other — but different from vert, because the -e makes the final consonant audible.
un petit livre / une petite table
a small (m.) book / a small (f.) table
a small book / a small table
Petit is said puh-tee; petite is said puh-teet. The feminine ending is what lets you hear the t.
Most come after the noun
This is the opposite of English and needs deliberate practice.
une voiture rouge
a car red
a red car
un film intéressant
a film interesting
an interesting film
A short list comes before
Broadly: age, goodness, size and beauty. Beau, joli, jeune, vieux, bon, mauvais, grand, petit, gros, nouveau.
une belle maison
a beautiful house
a beautiful house
une maison belle
une belle maison
Belle belongs to the group that precedes. Putting it after is not ungrammatical so much as poetic, which is rarely the intended effect.
A few change meaning by position
Un ancien professeur is a former teacher; un professeur ancien is an elderly one. Ma propre chambre is my own room; ma chambre propre is my clean one. The rule of thumb is that the figurative sense goes in front and the literal sense after.