This document provides information about adjectives that precede nouns in French. It introduces the B.A.N.G.S. acronym to help remember the 9 categories of adjectives that come before nouns: Beauty, Age, Newness, Goodness, and Size. Examples of adjectives in each category are given. The forms of these adjectives change based on the gender and number of the nouns they modify. Steps are outlined to detect these "preceding adjectives" in sentences. Practice exercises are provided to help learn their usage.

1. The Big
B.A.N.G.S.
Adjectives
that
PRECEDE
the
Noun
they
Describe / Modify

2. It’s more than just a theory…
It’s the LAW!
Find out how and why

3. Qui?
• Think about a family member or classmate
that you know well.
• How would you describe this person?
• Intelligent, young, kind, handsome or
pretty, tall or short???

4. une description
• C’est une fille ou un garçon?
• Il / Elle a quel âge?
• Comment est-il / est-elle?
• Donnez 7-10 adjectifs français pour décrire cette
personne:
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
*Make sure to use the correct gender of adjectives to avoid insult
and embarrassment*

5. écrire
• Maintenant, using the adjectives that you have
come up with, write several short descriptive
phrases about this person.
• Par exemple:
– Marc n’est pas un garçon gentil.
– Marc est un élève méchant.
– Il est jeune et petit.
– Il est brun.

6. un adjectif normal
• When you wrote these short phrases, where did
you put the adjective that described the person?
• Before or after the noun? Where do most
adjectives go in French? Circle the correct
phrase for each set:
une fille intelligente / une intelligente fille
un homme anglais / un anglais homme
la voiture violette / la violette voiture
le livre intéressant / le intéressant livre
mes voisines chinoises / mes chinoises voisines

7. un adjectif normal
• So, where to most adjectives go in terms
of the word that they are describing?
• Behind it, of course!
• You should have circled the phrase on the
left side of the / mark for each exercise.
• Is this adjective placement similar to
English?
• NOPE!
• Sounds simple, enough, right? Nothing
you didn’t already know.

8. Mais…
• Just when you thought it was safe to nail down a
solid grammatical rule in the French language…
• Nine (and sometimes more!) exceptions rear
their ugly heads! Oui! There are basically nine
adjectives that precede the noun they modify!
Disclaimer: There are other adjectives that precede the noun in addition to the
adjectives we are discussing today, but we’ll save that study for French III – IV.

9. the nature of the beasts
• To make things easier, let’s just focus on the nine
little monsters that surfaced on the last slide.
• Fortunately, these monsters are easily tackled
and placed into categories, which makes
identification much simpler.
• The grammar police have come up with a special
acronym to assist regular civilians.
• This acronym is best known as…

10. B.A.N.G.S.
• B = beauty (2 adjectives)
• A = age (2 adjectives)
• N = newness (1 adjective) and ordinal numbers (infinite)
• G = goodness (2 adjectives)
• S = size (2 adjectives)
• These adjectives all
precede the nouns they
modify in French!

11. B.A.N.G.S.
• BANGS = adjectives that precede the noun that
they are describing.
• Actually, you already know most of them! In
your study packet, list the adjectives that you
think might fit under each category. Remember,
there are 9 total.
• To keep it simple, just list the masculine singular
forms.

12. B.A.N.G.S.
B A N G S
Beauty Age Newness Goodness Size
Number
(Ordinal)

13. B.A.N.G.S.
B A N G S
Beauty Age Newness Goodness Size
-beau -jeune -nouveau -bon -petit
-joli -vieux -mauvais -grand

14. B.A.N.G.S. and all their forms
• While classifying these monsters can be fairly
simple, getting a grip on them can be a little
more challenging because they morph into many
forms.
• Each adjective has 4 forms
– For describing masculine singular nouns (m.s.)
– For describing feminine singular nouns (f.s.)
– For describing masculine plural nouns (m.pl.)
– For describing feminine plural nouns (f.pl.)

15. Mastering the Forms
• In your packet we have many adjectives that
follow different rules for agreement with their
nouns.
• We will complete the first one of each category
together and you will complete the rest of the
packet.

16. The Tricksters
• There is a second m.s. form for the adjectives beau, vieux and
nouveau – they are used to describe masculine singular nouns that
start with a vowel or a vowel sound (h).
• Such as:
– homme
– ami
– ordinateur
– élève (m.s.)
– étudiant
• All the words above start with a vowel sound. In order to make
French sound a little prettier, special adjectives were invented to
use in front of these masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel
sound.

17. The Tricksters
• Voici des exemples:
[bell] [vee-yay] [nooh-vell]
Beautiful/handsome
Old New
(good-looking)
Un bel homme Un vieil homme Un nouvel homme
Un bel étudiant Un vieil étudiant Un nouvel étudiant
Un bel ami Un vieil ami Un nouvel ami
Un bel ordinateur Un vieil ordianteur Un nouvel ordinateur

18. les étapes – the detection process
• Now it’s time to apply your new-found knowledge.
• In theory, it’s easy to say that you understand BANGS in
these exercises, but will they catch you off guard in day-
to-day translation?
• Most likely! Unless, that is, you are prepared.
• On the following slide, you will see a specially designed
process for detecting those nasty BANGS adjectives.
Internalize this process and it will be sort of like your own
grammatical anti-virus system.

19. les étapes en ordre
• Zut! Looks like the steps have been scrambled up!!! Write the
numbers in the logical order: ___, ___, ___, ___, ___, ___, ___
– 1. THEN ask yourself, « Is the word to be described singular
or plural? » If singular, does is start with a vowel sound?
– 2. Decide what characteristic the adjective is expressing
(color, size, shape, etc)
– 3. Find the adjective in the sentence and what it is
describing.
– 4. Choose the correct form of the adjective based on your
conclusions of number, gender, and beginning sound.
– 5. After deciding if singular or plural, ask yourself, « Is the
word to be described masculine or feminine? »
– 6. Ask yourself, « Is the adjective expressing beauty, age,
newness, goodness, or size? » If so, it’s most likely a
BANGS adjective.
– 7. Ask yourself, « Is the adjective that I have found translate
to one of the BANGS adjective forms? »

20. APPLICATION
• Did you figured out the correct order?
• Using the numbers from the previous
slide, here is the correct order:
3, 2, 6, 7, 1, 5, 4

21. RECAP
• The exercises are given in your packet. Arrive at the
correct answer (and write it down of course!) by
answering the following questions each time:
– 1. What is the adjective?
– 2. What is the adjective expressing?
– 3. Is it expressing any of the BANGS characteristics?
– 4. Is this word actually a BANGS adjective?
– 5. Am I describing a singular or plural word? If
singular, does it start with a vowel sound?
– 6. Am I describing a masculine or feminine noun?

22. PRATIQUEZ!
• Try these exercises (for the adjectives that you are
unfamiliar with, be sure to read the topmost portion
of the page to help you out.)
• http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/adj3.html
• If you don’t know what a French word means, use
context clues to help you or use a French / English
dictionary.

23. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
In the World of French Adjectives!
~ fin ~