placement of adjectives

Blaise P.C1Kwiziq community member

placement of adjectives

1. la pêche industrielle cause de graves dégâts aux écosystèmes marins.

2. les générations futures ne connaîtront jamais la riche biodiversité de nos océans.

In the above two sentences, is there any reason why riche and graves go before the nouns they qualify?  

Asked 3 weeks ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Blaise,

Both these adjectives can be placed before or after the noun, but here I think the reason is purely stylistic to emphasize the severity in the case of 'grave'.

un problème grave = a serious problem

une grave erreur a grave/serious error

In the case of 'riche', if placed after the noun, it means 'wealthy' - 

un homme riche = a wealthy man 

and before it can mean 'valuable' or 'abundant' as in this case -

un riche patrimoine = a rich heritage

une riche biodiversité = a rich biodiversity

Bonne Continuation !

 

 

Blaise P. asked:

placement of adjectives

1. la pêche industrielle cause de graves dégâts aux écosystèmes marins.

2. les générations futures ne connaîtront jamais la riche biodiversité de nos océans.

In the above two sentences, is there any reason why riche and graves go before the nouns they qualify?  

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