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موضوع: position of the adjective: الإثنين فبراير 01, 2010 2:58 am
Do I put the adjective before or after the noun?
In English, the adjective normally goes before the noun, and only goes after it when part of a longer adjective phrase. So we wouldn't say a house big, although we would say a house so big you'd be jealous. There are just a handful of cases where we might argue that we have an adjective following the noun1: there were books galore a father with children is a father proud
In French, things are the other way round. The normal place for an adjective is generally after the noun: j'ai une voiture rouge I have a red car
However, things are less clear-cut in French than English. Although it is usual for an adjective to follow the noun, both positions are possible. In general:
* the 'default' place for the adjective is after the noun; * certain 'basic' or 'functional' adjectives go before the noun; * certain adjectives change their meaning or emphasis depending on whether they're before or after the noun.
Adjectives that go before the noun Adjectives with basic meaning
The following adjectives generally go before the noun. Note that they're generally very common adjectives with basic meanings: Adjective Meaning beau (belle) good-looking, beautiful, fine bon (bonne) good bref (brève) brief grand large haut(e) high, tall joli(e) pretty mauvais(e) bad, wronng nouveau (nouvelle) new petit(e) small vieux (vieille) old
If there's no other reason to put them after the noun (see below), then the normal place is before the noun: c'est un très bon prof he's a very good teacher c'est une belle maison it's a nice bouse il y a une haute colline derrière la forêt there's a tall hill behind the forest elle a une grande maison she has a large house Emphatic adjectives
A few adjectives with an 'emphatic' or 'superlative' meaning tend to go before the noun. If we take the view that the default place for an adjective is after the noun but that it can be before the noun for emphasis, then we might argue that these adjectives tend to end up before the noun 'by accident'. Examples include: Adjective Meaning affreux, -euse awful, terrible excellent(e) excellent horrible horrible, terrible vaste huge, vast
This list is not intended to be exhaustive. It should be noted that this category is less clear-cut than the previous one: it is certainly possible and common to put any of these adjectives after the noun. Whereas an adjective like beau only occurs after the noun under special circumstances, often syntactic, there is freer variation between un horrible accident versus un accident horrible. Functional adjectives
The following adjectives have more of a 'functional' than 'descriptive' purpose and also go before the noun: Adjective Meaning autre other même(s) same (de) nombreux ... numerous ... divers(es) ... various ..., miscellaneous ... plusieurs ... several ... premier, second, avant-dernier, dernier, troisième, quatrième etc (Ordinal numbers) double, triple erm... double, triple
In a more formal analysis, at least some of these would be classed as quantifiers rather than adjectives (and this dictates that they come before the noun). We won't worry about that distinction here.
There are cases where these adjectives go after the noun: ce jour même, la semaine dernière... But generally they can be considered exceptions or set expressions. Adjectives with a different meaning before and after the noun
The following adjectives seem clear-cut cases where the meaning is different before and after the noun: Adjective Meaning before the noun Meaning after the noun ancien former, ex- old, ancient brave* fine, amiable brave, courageous certain certain (in sense of 'particular') sure, certain cher dear, true expensive curieux* strange inquisitive gros big fat pauvre poor (in sense of 'wretched') poor (in sense of 'not rich') propre own clean pure pure, simple, plain pure, unaltered seul only, sole lonely
(*) Note that curieux can occasionally be put after the noun with the meaning of 'strange', whilst brave is occasionally used before the noun with the sense of 'brave'. (e.g. une histoire curieuse, ces braves chevaliers).
As mentioned above, most adjectives can come before the noun for emphasis or to give them a more figurative sense. And there are some adjectives that, because of their meaning, are good candidates for using emphatically or figuratively. In some of these cases, the shift in emphasis tends to give a different translation before the noun than after the noun, but it's arguable whether the distinction in meaning is as clear cut as in the adjectives above: Adjective Typical translation before the noun Typical translation after the noun jeune young younger, not old méchant unpleasant, nasty (affair) unpleasant, badly-behaved (child, dog) possible possible, potential possible, feasible rare rare, precious rare, infrequent sale unpleasant, nasty, rotten (e.g. "a nasty affair") dirty (as in clothes) simple simple, pure (e.g. "a simple question of...") simple, not complex véritable real, serious real, genuine vrai real, serious real, true
To get an idea of how these adjectives differ before and after the noun, here are some examples: c'est une sale histoire It's a nasty business tu as du linge sale à laver? do you have any laundry to do? (lit. "dirty clothes to wash") ce jeune homme m'a aidé this young man helped me (e.g. a teenager) c'est toujours un homme jeune he's still a young man (i.e. not necessarily a teeneger, but not an old man yet) le simple fait que tu puisses... the simple fact that you are able to... c'est un système simple it's a simple system c'est un des rares moments où je puisse me détendre it's one of the few precious moments when I can relax c'est un ingrédient rare it's a rare ingredient, it's an unusual ingredient
The following adjectives have developed informal meanings that diverge from their 'basic' meaning. The informal meaning tends to hold only when the adjective comes after the noun: Adjective Basic meaning (before noun) Informal meaning (after noun) fameux famous, infamous top-notch, first-rate terrible terrible, awful great Adjectives that go after the noun
We have said that adjectives that normally follow the noun can go before the noun for emphasis. In fact, there are a few types of adjectives that tend never to be used before the noun. These are: Class of adjective Examples Notable exceptions Colour adjectives rouge, noir, rose ... (Certain colour adjectives used in figurative sense: une rouge colère) "Political" adjectives (nationality, sexuality, political persuasion, religion...) catholique, belge, bisexuel ... -- Participles (derived from verbs, ending in -ant or -é) fatigant, fatigué, âgé, contaminé ... Figurative participles that don't denote an action are good candidates for putting before the noun: une puissante idée, la troublante notion de ... Adjectives denoting shape rectangulaire, rond, circulaire, carré ... --
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موضوع: رد: position of the adjective: الإثنين فبراير 01, 2010 3:34 am
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عارف انت اجمل حاجة تفرح الواحد هى ايه انى النايمه حلمت بيه تلاقيه حبيبك وانا عشت بحلم بلاحظاتى دة اللى بدور عليه انا اسيب حياتى ودنيتى ولا يوم اسيبك عارف بتعمل فيها ايه كلمه حبيبى زى اللى اول مرة بيحس بامان