Correctly placed adjectives

DerekA1Kwiziq community member

Correctly placed adjectives

"Un vraiment beau monument" is wrong, should read "un monument vraiment beau", yet I am led to believe that using a different subject "un très beau fille" is acceptable. If my example is correct can someone please explain. Thanks/Merci

Asked 3 years ago
HasanA1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

in french adjectif generally follows the nouns:
for example un livre intéressant

but;
when you want to use those adverbs which indicate beauty,age,goodness,size, use the adjectifs before the nouns
B=beatuy(BEAU,JOLİ,BELLE)  A=age(JEUNE VİEUX NOUVEAU,ANCİEN)  g=goodness(BON,MEİLLEUR MAUVAİS GENTİL   S=SİZE PETİT(E)GRAND(E) GROS(SE)  

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

French adjectives mostly go after the noun. Although some adjectives go before the noun normally (as Hasan has outlined under the BAGS categories as a way to remember them), one exception to this is when the noun is modified by an adverb of 2 or more syllables. Hence «vraiment beau» (beau usually before noun, but here modified by a multisyllabic adverb) is placed after the noun. Par contre, «très beau» retains its position before the noun as «beau» is modified by the single syllable adverb «très». So the point here is that «beau» is  an exception to adjectives going after the noun, but this exception is overridden by the exception (to that exception) that once modified by a multisyllabic adverb (#5 on the list of adjectives that follow the rule of coming after the noun), adjectives maintain the position after the noun. Who said French was simple - no-one ever!

Correctly placed adjectives

"Un vraiment beau monument" is wrong, should read "un monument vraiment beau", yet I am led to believe that using a different subject "un très beau fille" is acceptable. If my example is correct can someone please explain. Thanks/Merci

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Clever stuff happening!