Special forms of common adjectives

Kurz erklärt

Some very common French adjectives have forms that do not follow the usual pattern. Beau (beautiful), nouveau (new), and vieux (old) each have a special masculine singular form before a vowel sound or a silent h: bel, nouvel, and vieil. Learning these forms as complete families makes them easier to use correctly.

Bildung

beau → bel → belle → beaux/belles; nouveau → nouvel → nouvelle → nouveaux/nouvelles; vieux → vieil → vieille → vieux/vieilles

Verwendung

• Use beau, nouveau, or vieux with a masculine singular noun beginning with a consonant sound.
• Use bel, nouvel, or vieil with a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel sound or silent h.
• The special forms bel, nouvel, and vieil are only masculine singular forms; feminine nouns use belle, nouvelle, and vieille.

Beispiele

• C’est un bel appartement. — It’s a beautiful apartment.
• J’ai un nouveau téléphone. — I have a new phone.
• Voici mon nouvel ordinateur. — Here is my new computer.
• Ils habitent dans une vieille maison. — They live in an old house.

Typischer Fehler

❌ C’est un beau appartement.

✅ C’est un bel appartement.

Before the vowel sound at the start of a masculine singular noun, beau changes to bel.

Merke

Before a vowel sound, think bel, nouvel, vieil. These forms make pronunciation flow smoothly.