Lesson 11 - Grammar 4 - Expanded Noun Phrases
When more than one determiner or pre-nominal adjective occurs in a noun phrase, the order is as follows:
Order of expanded noun phrases | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
tout |
le, la | (cardinal number)
|
même
|
autre
(ordinal number) |
beau | + Noun |
ce | bon | |||||
mon | faux | |||||
quel | grand | |||||
un | gros | |||||
chaque, quelques, plusieurs |
jeune | |||||
joli | ||||||
mauvais | ||||||
nouveau | ||||||
petit | ||||||
vieux | ||||||
vrai |
Although the table shows many possibilities, French speakers do not usually cluster more than two of these forms before a noun. When they do, the order is fixed, which is not the case in English:
French
/ Français |
English / Anglais |
---|---|
Les premiers beaux jours du printemps. | ‘The first beautiful days of spring.’ or ‘The beautiful first days of spring.’ |
Les deux autres bureaux. | ‘The two other offices.’ or ‘The other two offices.’ |