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Preceding and Plural Adjectives

	Masculine			Feminine
Adjective	Singular	Plural	Pronunciation	Singular	Plural	Pronunciation
beautiful	beau (bel)	beaux	boh (bell)	belle	belles	bell
good	bon	bons	bon	bonne	bonnes	bon
dear	cher	chers	share	chère	chères	share
nice	gentil	gentils	zhawn-tee	gentille	gentilles	zhawn-tee
big	grand	grands	grawn	grande	grandes	grawnd
large	gros	gros	groh	grosse	grosses	grohss
young	jeune	jeunes	zhun	jeune	jeunes	zhun
pretty	joli	jolis	zho-lee	jolie	jolies	zho-lee
long	long	longs	lohn	longue	longues	lohng
bad	mauvais	mauvais	mo-vay	mauvaise	mauvaises	mo-vezz
better, best	meilleur	meilleurs	may-ur	meilleure	meilleures	may-ur
new	nouveau (nouvel)	nouveaux	noo-voh (noo-vell)	nouvelle	nouvelles	noo-vell
little	petit	petits	puh-tee	petite	petites	puh-teet
old	vieux (vieil)	vieux	vyuh (vyay)	vieille	vieilles	vyay

Note: The masculine singular and plural arepronounced the same, as are the feminine singular and plural. These arethe most common adjectives that go before the noun. An acronym toremember which ones go before the noun is BRAGS: Beauty, Resemblance(même and autre), Age/Order (premier and dernier), Goodness, and Size.All other adjectives, except numbers, go after the noun. The three wordsin parentheses (bel, nouvel, and vieil) are used beforemasculine singular words beginning with a vowel or a silent h.

A few adjectives can be used before or after the noun,and the meaning changes accordingly. When used before the noun, theytake a figurative meaning; and when used after, they take a literalmeaning.

Remember that des means some, right?Well, there is an exception to that rule too. Before pluraladjectives preceding plural nouns, you use de instead of des.Ex: Some old monuments. De vieux monuments.

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