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Irregular Adjectives: beau, nouveau, bon

FoundationHigherAQA

Practise Irregular Adjectives: beau, nouveau, bon for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Common irregular adjectives such as beau, nouveau and bon have their own feminine and plural forms.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

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Higher

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Topic overview

Beau, nouveau and vieux are irregular, and each has a special form used before a masculine noun beginning with a vowel.

Beau becomes bel: un bel homme, not un beau homme. Nouveau becomes nouvel: un nouvel ami. Vieux becomes vieil: un vieil arbre. This extra form exists purely for pronunciation, exactly like cet and mon before a vowel.

Their feminine forms are also irregular: belle, nouvelle, vieille. Bon is more straightforward but doubles its consonant: bonne. All four are BAGS adjectives, so they go before the noun — which is precisely why the vowel problem arises in the first place.

Revision notes

The special vowel forms

Beau becomes bel, nouveau becomes nouvel, vieux becomes vieil.

Used before a masculine noun starting with a vowel or silent h: un bel homme, un nouvel ami, un vieil arbre. The reason is pronunciation, as with cet and mon.

The feminine forms

Belle, nouvelle, vieille.

All three are irregular and must be learned. Note they resemble the special vowel forms with an added -le, which is a useful memory link.

Why the problem arises

All four are BAGS adjectives, so they go BEFORE the noun.

That is exactly what creates the vowel collision. An adjective that followed its noun would never need a special form, which is why only this group has one.

Key points

  • Beau becomes bel before a vowel.
  • Nouveau becomes nouvel before a vowel.
  • Vieux becomes vieil before a vowel.
  • The special forms are for pronunciation.
  • The feminine forms are belle, nouvelle, vieille.
  • All four go before the noun.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the correct form: un ___ homme, using beau. [2 marks]

Working

un bel hommeuse the special form before the vowel
Bel is used because homme begins with a silent hexplain the choice

Example 2

Give the feminine form of vieux. [2 marks]

Working

vieilleuse the irregular feminine form
Vieux is irregular and its feminine form must be learnedexplain the irregularity

Example 3

Explain why bel, nouvel and vieil exist. [2 marks]

Working

These adjectives go before the noun, so they can collide with a following vowelstate the situation
The special forms provide a consonant sound to link smoothly into the vowelexplain the purpose

Common mistakes

  • Writing un beau homme.

    It must be un bel homme.

  • Using the special form before a consonant.

    Un beau livre, not un bel livre.

  • Using the special form for feminine nouns.

    Une belle maison, not une bel maison.

  • Forgetting bonne doubles the n.

    Bon becomes bonne.

Exam tips

  • Use bel, nouvel and vieil only before masculine vowels.
  • Learn belle, nouvelle and vieille separately.
  • Check the noun's gender before choosing.
  • Remember all four go before the noun.

Key terms

Bel
The form of beau used before a masculine vowel.
Nouvel
The form of nouveau used before a masculine vowel.
Vieil
The form of vieux used before a masculine vowel.
Irregular adjective
An adjective not following the standard patterns.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.