LESSON II
Demonstrative adjectives. — Position of adjectives. — Feminine of adjectives. — Orthographical peculiarities of -cer, -ger verbs
7. Demonstrative adjectives. — Review the forms of the demonstrative adjectives,1 and notice that :
a. -ci and -là are added to the noun when it is desired to bring out a definite distinction between this and that, these and those: Cette plume-ci et ce livre-là. This pen and that book.
b. A special masculine form, cet, must be used instead of ce, when the following word begins with a vowel, or mute h :
Cet autre garçon-là est mon frère. That other boy is my brother.
8. Position of adjectives. In general, adjectives follow their noun. This is especially true with the following classes of adjectives :
a. Adjectives denoting physical quality (shape, color) ; adjectives denoting nationality ; present or past participles used as adjectives ; long adjectives.
une table ronde a round table
un chapeau rouge a red hat
une porte ouverte an open door
un officier français a French officer
un livre intéressant an interesting book
b. The following common adjectives generally precede their noun:
beau, beautiful, fine joli, pretty
bon, good long, long
court, short mauvais, bad
1 See Section 7 of the Appendix for list of demonstrative adjectives.
grand, large, tall petit, small
gros, big vieux, old
jeune, young nouveau, new
9. Feminine of adjectives. — There are a number of common adjectives which have irregular feminine forms, i.e., those which do not add -e to the masculine form. The following are among the more common of this kind :
actif, active, active gentil, gentille, pretty
ancien, ancienne, former, old gros, grosse, big
beau, belle, beautiful, handsome heureux, heureuse, happy
blanc, blanche, white long, longue, long
cher, chère, dear nouveau, nouvelle, new
cruel, cruelle, cruel sec, sèche, dry
faux, fausse, false vieux, vieille, old
Note. The masculines beau, nouveau, vieux, are replaced by the special forms bel, nouvel, vieil, when the following word begins with a vowel or a mute h :
Les nouvelles sont fausses. The news is false.
La robe est sèche. The dress is dry.
Le vieil arbre est mort. The old tree is dead.
Son nouvel ami a beaucoup voyagé. His new friend has traveled much.
