Adjective Placement (before or after the noun — BANGS rule)

In English, adjectives almost always come before the noun: "a big house," "a red car," "a beautiful woman." In French, adjective placement is more complex. Most adjectives come after the noun, but a small group of common adjectives come before it. Learning which go where is essential for sounding natural in French.

---

The Default Rule: Adjectives Come After the Noun

The vast majority of French adjectives are placed after the noun they describe:

French	English
une maison blanche	a white house
un livre intéressant	an interesting book
une femme intelligente	an intelligent woman
un film français	a French film
un repas délicieux	a delicious meal
une robe rouge	a red dress
un problème difficile	a difficult problem
un homme courageux	a courageous man

Categories of adjectives that always come after the noun:

Category	Examples
Colours	rouge, bleu, vert, noir, blanc, jaune
Nationalities	français, anglais, américain, espagnol, chinois
Shapes	rond, carré, rectangulaire, triangulaire
Religions	catholique, musulman, protestant, juif
Technical/descriptive	scientifique, politique, économique, médical
Past participles used as adjectives	fatigué, cassé, fermé, ouvert

---

The BANGS Rule: Adjectives That Come Before the Noun

A small group of very common adjectives are placed before the noun. The mnemonic BANGS helps you remember them:

Letter	Category	Adjectives
B	Beauty	beau (beautiful), joli (pretty), laid (ugly), vilain (ugly/naughty)
A	Age	jeune (young), vieux (old), nouveau (new), ancien (old/former)
N	Number	premier (first), dernier (last), deuxième (second), prochain (next)
G	Goodness (quality)	bon (good), mauvais (bad), meilleur (better/best), pire (worse/worst), gentil (kind), méchant (mean)
S	Size	grand (big/tall), petit (small), gros (fat/big), long (long), court (short), large (wide), haut (high/tall), énorme (enormous)

Examples

French	English
un beau jardin	a beautiful garden
une jolie fleur	a pretty flower
un jeune homme	a young man
une vieille dame	an old lady
un nouveau professeur	a new teacher
le premier jour	the first day
la dernière fois	the last time
un bon repas	a good meal
une mauvaise idée	a bad idea
un grand arbre	a big tree
une petite maison	a small house
un gros chat	a fat cat
un long voyage	a long journey

---

Multiple Adjectives

When a noun has multiple adjectives, each goes in its normal position:

• une petite maison blanche — a small white house (size before, colour after)
• un grand homme courageux — a tall, courageous man (size before, quality after)
• une jolie robe rouge — a pretty red dress (beauty before, colour after)
• un bon restaurant italien — a good Italian restaurant (quality before, nationality after)
• un vieux livre intéressant — an old interesting book (age before, description after)

When two adjectives both go after the noun, they are usually connected with et (and):

• un homme grand et fort — a tall and strong man
• une femme intelligente et courageuse — an intelligent and courageous woman

---

Adjectives That Change Meaning Based on Position