{"id":27121,"date":"2017-06-20T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T03:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=27121"},"modified":"2017-11-06T14:40:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T13:40:49","slug":"in-the-eye-of-the-beholder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder\/","title":{"rendered":"In the eye of the beholder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belle isn’t just the name of the main character in Disney’s latest film. Belle <\/strong>is also a French adjective that means beautiful, lovely, pleasant, or agreable<\/em> (unlike joli\/jolie –<\/strong> pretty, belle<\/em> doesn’t only pertain to appearances).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ok, so that’s not entirely true. In another oddity of the French language, belle <\/strong>is technically not its own word. It is the feminine singular version of the adjective beau<\/strong> (which you can think of as handsome<\/em>, but that’s a bit of an oversimplification). Beau<\/strong> and belle<\/strong> (and bel<\/strong> and beaux<\/strong>) all mean ‘attractive, aesthetically pleasing, visually pleasing’ <\/em>and like all French adjectives, they agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Two other words follow a similar pattern, so I’m going to outline them here as well. See below the table for example sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/td>\nPlural<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nMasc.<\/td>\nFem.<\/td>\nMasc.<\/td>\nFem.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
attractive<\/em><\/td>\nbeau, bel*<\/strong><\/td>\nbelle<\/strong><\/td>\nbeaux<\/strong><\/td>\nbelles<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
old<\/em><\/td>\nvieux**, vieil*<\/strong><\/td>\nvieille<\/strong><\/td>\nvieux<\/strong><\/td>\nvieilles<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
new<\/em><\/td>\nnouveau, nouvel*<\/strong><\/td>\nnouvelle<\/strong><\/td>\nnouveaux<\/strong><\/td>\nnouvelles<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* bel, vieil, <\/em>and nouvel<\/em> are variations on the masc. singular forms that you use in front of words that start with a vowel or silent h.
\n** vieux<\/em> always ends with an ‘x’ whether in the singular or plural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pierre est beau. Il est un bel homme.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
Peter is handsome. He is a handsome man.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monique est tr\u00e8s belle. Elle est une belle femme. <\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n
Monica is very pretty. She is a beautiful woman.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Elle a de beaux*** yeux bleus.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
She has beautiful blue eyes.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
J\u2019aime les belles voitures.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
I love beautiful cars.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Je me sers souvent de mon vieux livre de fran\u00e7ais.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
I use my old French book often.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nous avons des nouveaux voisins.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
We have some new neighbors.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Charles-Henri est un vieil ami de mon p\u00e8re.<\/strong>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
Charles-Henry is an old friend of my father\u2019s.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

*** Remember that certain consonants which are not normally pronounced at the end of words (like beaux)<\/em> are<\/em> pronounced <\/a>when they are followed by another word that begins with a vowel. You can click the play button after any of the examples above to hear the sample sentences pronounced.<\/p>\n

Here’s another fun song from Claude Fran\u00e7ois<\/a> that is relevant to this week’s lesson. Pay particular attention to the way he pronounces<\/a> comme<\/strong> (like, as<\/em>) in the chorus (‘belle commE l’amour’\/’belle commE le jour’)<\/em>.<\/p>\n