This deep dive covers La position des adjectifs — Where to place adjectives within Adjective agreement and position for GCSE French. Revise Adjective agreement and position in Core Grammar Toolkit for GCSE French with 15 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 5 of 7 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📋 La position des adjectifs — Where to place adjectives
Unlike English, most French adjectives come after the noun. A small but very frequent group comes before. The mnemonic BAGS covers the main pre-noun adjectives.
| BAGS category | Adjectives |
|---|---|
| Beauty | beau/belle, joli(e) |
| Age | jeune, vieux/vieille, nouveau/nouvelle, ancien(ne) |
| Goodness | bon(ne), mauvais(e), meilleur(e) |
| Size | grand(e), petit(e), gros(se), long(ue), court(e), haut(e) |
All other adjectives (colours, nationalities, shapes, personality traits not in BAGS) go after the noun.
J'habite dans une grande maison moderne.
I live in a big, modern house.
- grande (size = BAGS) goes BEFORE the noun — feminine to agree with maison.
- moderne (not BAGS) goes AFTER the noun — same form for masculine and feminine (ends in -e already).
⭐ Colours: always after the noun, compound colours invariable
All colour adjectives follow the noun: une veste bleue, des chaussures noires. Compound colours (two words or colour + shade modifier) are invariable — they never change form: des yeux bleu marine, une chemise vert foncé, des chaussures bleu clair.
C'est un grand homme. / C'est un homme grand.
He is a great man. / He is a tall man.
- Some adjectives change meaning depending on whether they are placed before or after the noun.
- un grand homme (before) = a great / important man (figurative).
- un homme grand (after) = a tall man (literal, physical height).
- Other examples: un ancien ami (a former friend) vs un ami ancien (an old/long-standing friend); un pauvre enfant (a poor unfortunate child) vs un enfant pauvre (a child who is poor).
Practice questions for Adjective agreement and position
Which ending do you add to most adjectives to make them feminine?
Where do most French adjectives go relative to the noun?