Module 3 of the free French course (CEFR A2, first half), lesson 13 of 30: Three adjectives so common they broke the rules: beau/belle (beautiful), nouveau/nouvelle (new), vieux/vieille (old). On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 13.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| beau | beautiful (m) | boh |
| belle | beautiful (f) | bel |
| nouveau | new (m) | noo-VOH |
| nouvelle | new (f) | noo-VEL |
| vieux | old (m) | vyuh |
| vieille | old (f) | vyay |
| un beau jardin | a beautiful garden | uh(n) boh zhahr-DA(n) |
| une vieille horloge | an old clock | ewn vyay or-LUZH |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
Three adjectives so common they broke the rules: beau/belle (beautiful), nouveau/nouvelle (new), vieux/vieille (old) — and like grand and petit, they go BEFORE the noun.
Un beau jardin, une belle maison, un nouveau livre, une vieille horloge.
beau, nouveau and vieux have a third form before a masculine noun that starts with a vowel: un bel arbre, un nouvel ami, un vieil homme.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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