"Prochain étape"

Question

Why do we say "le prochain étape" and not "l'étape prochain"?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Emre can,
'une étape' doesn't imply a duration like days, months or generic duration terms do, as explained in this lesson.
'la prochaine /dernière étape' implies a notion of series / succession. And both adjectives behave like an ordinal number in this case. It is the next / last one in a series of steps.

la première / deuxième / prochaine / dernière étape = the first / second / next / last step
le premier / prochain anniversaire de mariage = the first / next wedding anniversary

I hope this is helfpul.
Bonne journée !

emre can can · Answer

Don't we use adjectives after the thing qualified except for the numeral adjectives and adjectives with proper nouns?Is "prochain" counted as a numeral adjective?

Céline Pickard · Answer

Bonjour Emre can,See updated answer ;-)Bonne journée !