French grammar trick #4: Which adjectives are placed before their noun in French?

The French language is full of exceptions and nasty rules when it comes to its grammar and orthography. This series of posts will give you some tricks to remember them quite easily.

In this post, we are going to learn a French grammar trick to know which adjectives need to be placed before the word they refer to.

French adjectives are usually placed after the word to which they are applied to: un chien méchant (a naughty dog), une fleur bleue (a blue flower)…

However, some of them are placed before the word they refer to. You can use the acronym BANGS to remember them.
B for beauty: joli (pretty), beau (beautiful)
A for age: jeune (young), vieux (old), nouveau (new)
N for number: premier (first), deuxième (second)…
G for goodness: gentil (nice), autre (other)
S for size: grand (tall), gros (big), petit (small)

French grammar trick #1: a or à?
French grammar trick #2: One or two Rs?
French grammar trick #3: Où or ou?

Don’t forget to upvote this post if you would like me to present other French grammar tricks, and leave a comment if you want me to deal with a specific grammatic point.

If you want to use my French translation or French proofreading services, you can visit me at mancko.com