un étrange personnage

Question

Pourqoi disons-nous "un étrange personnage", quand "une personne étrange" sonne plus français ?

Accepted Answer

Hi Observablebear,
It is because the word 'personnage' is masculine and the word 'personne' is feminine.

un étrange personnage = an odd character
une étrange personne = an odd person

Both can be applied to talk about men and women.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Cécile - feel free to remove this as unsure how else to raise the suggestion,  but I think the question may be as much or more on positioning of the adjective étrange ?

Answer

Thanks, Maarten, I am still unsure whether Observablebear is questioning the placing of 'étrange' before or after the noun but if this is the case we also accept in that particular text -
un personnage étrange 
as we would accept talking about 'une personne'
une étrange personne
Hope this helps!

Answer

Can we use curieux for strange?

Answer

Hi Shashank,
Yes, you could use 'curieux' , placed before the noun, to say -
C'est un curieux personnage = He is an odd character
Merci de votre contribution !