Nouveau: nouvelle, nouvel
Nouveau basically means very new to the owner. It’s a change or improvement; something that is new because it is completely different than it was before, regardless of whether it is brand new from the store or no. However, the opposite of nouveau is ancien (former).
Examples:
As-tu vu ma nouvelle voiture?
(The car is not necessarily new. However, the new here means new to the speaker.)
Elle a mis une nouvelle robe.
(She took off the dress she wore before and put a different one. The "new" dress may or may not be new from the store; the important thing here is that it is different).
C'est nouveau.
(I have just bought/found/made it.)
Vous savez des nouvelles voitures.
Rule:
Nouveau precedes the noun it modifies, and changes to agree in gender and number with it.
Nouveau, nouvelle, nouveaux et nouvelles
Nouveau has a special form for masculine nouns that begin with a vowel. For example: nouvel an.
Note that une nouvelle is a part of news and les nouvelles means news in general.
Neuf et neuve
Neuf means something that is brand new, which is out of the factory, first of its kind. The opposite of neuf is vieux (old).
Examples:
Je n'ai jamais acheté une voiture toute neuve.
Il a acheté une robe toute neuve.
Mon amie a acheté un appartement neuf.
Rule:
Neuf follows the noun it modifies and agrees in gender and number. Neuf, neuve, neufs et neuves
Don't confuse with that neuf which is also the number nine:
J'ai neuf cousins
Elle a neuf chiens
Nous avons neuf chemises.
Vieux et ancien différences:
Vieux, vieille, vieil (arbre, homme and h muet).
Vieux basically means “old”, like an old paper (un vieux papier), an old house (une vieille maison), an old story (une vieille histoire), an old movie (un vieux film).
Examples:
Une vieille maison
(an old house, this could be 15 years old and contemporary of your time) or 70 years old (contemporary of your grandparents’ time). But anyhow, there is a sort of rational link with present.
Ancien:
However, it's not related with the present. Ancien indicates something that has lost relation with immediate past.
For example, "un papier ancien"
(an antique paper) a paper that has a historical value: it could be a letter from Napoleon; a telegram with a war decision on it; or a paper which age is beyond important XD; a paper from ancient Egypt (2000 to 4000 years old).
Important note:
One important thing, “ancien” is used to speak about old important people (les anciens, il faut toujours faire confiance aux anciens) or former people in a certain position (l'ancienne directrice, l'ancien infirmier) , and not “vieux”.
Vieux is considered far from being polite even though it makes sense. For respect, it's better to say "les personnes âgées"
Écrivez-votre comment sous cette post.
