Certain adjectives change their meanings depending if they appear before or after the noun.
Here's the case of ancien:
L'ancienne maison où j'habitais
The former house where I lived
La maison ancienne où j'habite
The old house where I live
After the noun it means ancient / old
Remember that generally adjectives appear after the noun, but some very common adjectives go before (See Adjectives usually go AFTER nouns (adjective position) and Short and common adjectives that go BEFORE nouns (adjective position))
See also:
Propre = own / clean (adjectives that change meaning according to position)
Cher= dear / expensive (adjectives that change meaning according to position)
Certain = specific / sure (adjectives that change meaning according to position)
Dernier = final / previous (adjectives that change meaning according to position)
Vrai = real / true (adjectives that change meaning according to position)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Q&A
James
Kwiziq community member
31/08/18
are these two the same meaning?
Chris
Kwiziq community member
1/09/18
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
1/09/18
Hi James ,
'Ancienne' in your example means former/previous so you might say .
"Dans mon ancienne maison j'avais cinq chambres "= In my previous/former house I had five bedrooms.
In my opinion, if you say: "Dans ma dernière maison", it sounds as if you are a serial mover and it is the last one in a long list ...
Hope this helps!
Chris
Kwiziq community member
1/09/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
1/09/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
17/08/18
Well, it could be a lot of things, I guess. The point being to demonstrate the change in meaning ancien has when going before or after the noun.
-- Chris.
David
Kwiziq community member
17/08/18
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
6 January 2017
2 replies
Susan suggested a great mnemonic to remember this lesson !
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
6/01/17
When beFore a word, it means Former.
Not the most graceful mnemonic in the world, but it helped until I had mastered the difference."
Dorell
Kwiziq community member
28/05/17
Ali
Kwiziq community member
28 September 2018
1 reply
Ma voiture ancienne
I wrote: "I believe ma voiture ancienne" means my OLD car and NOT my former car, but was got the answer marked wrong and said it was my "former car". There's a glitch here with the marking of this question surely???
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
29 September 2018
29/09/18
Hi Ali,
This query has been flagged up...