B.A.N.G.S.Adjectives

that PRECEDE

the Noun

they

Describe

The Big

It’s more than just a theory…

It’s the LAW!

Find out how and why

Qui?

• Think about a family member or classmate that you know well.

• How would you describe this person?

• Intelligent, young, kind, handsome or pretty, tall or short???

• Answer the following questions in space provided in your study packet:

une description

• C’est une fille ou un garçon?• Quel âge a-t-il / a-t-elle?• Comment est-il / est-elle?• Donnez 7-10 adjectifs français pour décrire cette

personne:– 1. 6.– 2. 7.– 3. 8.– 4. 9.– 5. 10.*Make sure to use the correct gender of adjectives to avoid insult

and embarrassment*

écrire

• Maintenant, using the adjectives that you have come up with, write several short descriptive phrases about this person.

• Par exemple, prenons: ROY– Ce n’est pas un garçon gentil.– Roy est un élève méchant.– Il est jeune et petit.– Il est brun.

un adjectif normal

• When you wrote these short phrases, where did you put the adjective that described the person?

• Before or after the noun? Where do must adjectives go in French? Circle the correct phrase for each set:– Une fille intelligente / une intelligente fille– Un homme anglais / un anglais homme– La voiture violette / la violette voiture– Le livre intéressant / le intéressant livre– Mes voisines chinoises / mes chinoises voisines

un adjectif normal

• So, where to most adjectives go in terms of the word that they are describing?

• Behind it, of course!• You should have circled the phrase on the left

side of the / mark for each exercise.• Is this adjective placement similar to English?• NOPE!• Sounds simple, enough, right? Nothing you

didn’t already know.

Mais…

• Just when you thought it was safe to nail down a solid grammatical rule in the French language…

• Nine (and sometimes more!) exceptions rear their ugly heads! Oui! There are basically nine adjectives that precede the noun they modify!

Disclaimer: There are other adjectives that precede the noun in addition to the adjectives we are discussing today, but we’ll save that study for French 10/11.

the nature of the beasts

• To make things easier, let’s just focus on the nine little monsters that surfaced last slide.

• Fortunately, these monsters are easily tackled and placed into categories, which makes identification much simpler.

• The grammar police have come up with a special acronym to assist regular civilians.

• This acronym is best known as…

B.A.N.G.S.

• B = beauty (2 adjectives)• A = age (2 adjectives)• N = newness (1 adjective)• G = goodness (2 adjectives)• S = size (2 adjectives)

• NOTE: not all adjectives that are used to describe these features are part of the BANGS adjectives. Rather, it is just a simple way of categorizing the adjectives that DO come before the noun they are describing.

B.A.N.G.S.

• BANGS = adjectives that precede the noun that they are describing.

• Actually, you already know most of them! In your notes, list the adjectives that you think might fit under each category. Remember, there are 9 total.

• To keep it simple, just list the masculine singular forms.

B.A.N.G.S.

B

Beauty

A

Age

N

Newness

G

Goodness

S

Size

B.A.N.G.S.

• So, providing you didn’t already jump ahead to the next few slides, check your guesses with the teacher and see how you did.

B.A.N.G.S. and all their forms

• While classifying these monsters can be fairly simple, getting a grip on them can be a little more challenging because they morph into many forms.

• Each adjective has at least 3 forms– For describing masculine singular nouns (m.s.)– For describing feminine singular nouns (f.s.)– For describing masculine plural nouns (m.pl.)– For describing feminine plural nouns (f.pl.)

Mastering the Forms

• Enclosed in your packet is a chart where you can write in all of the forms for each adjective

• Go ahead and fill in as much as possible. Don’t worry about the prounciations just yet.

• Once you are finished, check with the teacher to see if you have the correct answers.

la prononciation• Once you have verified your adjectives, get the

pronunciations by going to this site and click on the three listening portions marked by a underneath the picture shown below:

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/adj3.html

In your chart, write in any pronunciations you do not already know or that you think you might forget in the future.

The Tricksters – Group 1

• Did you notice that for three of the adjectives, there are TWO masculine singular forms?

• Write the masculine forms of these adjectives in your notes:– a. _________ , _________– b. _________ , _________ – c. _________ , _________

• What do you think the purpose of having two masculine adjectives is?

• What is it? Write the answer in your packet.

The Tricksters – Group 1 (con’t)

• The second m.s. form is for describing masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel sound.

• Can you think of any examples? Write a few down in your packet.• Did you think of:

– homme– ami– ordinateur– élève (m.s.)– étudiant

• All the words above start with a vowel sound. In order to make French sound a little prettier, special adjectives were invented to use in front of these masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel sound.

The Tricksters – Group 1 (con’t)

• Voici des exemples:

Beautiful/handsome

(good-looking)Old New

Un bel homme Un vieil homme Un nouvel homme

Un bel étudiant Un vieil étudiant Un nouvel étudiant

Un bel ami Un vieil ami Un nouvel ami

Un bel ordinateur Un vieil ordianteur Un nouvel ordinateur

[bell] [vee-yay] [nooh-vell]

The Tricksters – Group 2

• Got it? The adjectives of that particular group can sneak up on and get by you pretty easily if you’re not paying attention.

• Now for the second group: masculine singular and plural adjectives.

• Did you notice that some of the adjectives have the exact same form for describing masculine singular (m.s.) and masculine plural (pl.) words?

• What are they? Write them down in your packet.– 1.– 2.

Recap – B.A.N.G.S.

• Please review by writing down the answers to the following questions in your packet:

• What’s special about the BANGS adjectives? (Why have we specially classified them? )

• What are the two groups of tricksters?• What is special about each group of tricksters?

les étapes – the detection process• Now it’s time to apply your new-found knowledge. • In theory, it’s easy to say that you understand BANGS in

these exercises, but will they catch you off guard in day-to-day translation?

• Most likely! Unless, that is, you are prepared.

• On the following slide, you will see a specially designed process for detecting those nasty BANGS adjectives. Internalize this process and it will be sort of like your own grammatical anti-virus system.

les étapes en ordre• Zut! Looks like the steps have been scrambled up!!! Write them

in the logical order in your packet.– 1. THEN ask yourself, « Is the word to be described singular

or plural? » If singular, does is start with a vowel sound?– 2. Decide what characteristic the adjective is expressing

(color, size, shape, etc)– 3. Find the adjective in the sentence and what it is

describing.– 4. Choose the correct for of the adjective based on your

conclusions of number, gender, and beginning sound.– 5. After deciding if singular or plural, ask yourself,  « Is the

word to be described masculine or feminine? »– 6. Ask yourself, « Is the adjective expressing beauty, age,

newness, goodness, or size? » If so, it’s most likely a BANGS adjective.

– 7. Ask yourself,  « Is the adjective that I have found translate to one of the BANGS adjective forms? »

application

• Did you get the steps figured out?

• Using the numbers from the previous slide, here is the correct order : 3,2,6,7,1,5,4)

• Use this process the help you complete the following exercises by answering six important questions for each exercise.

les exercices• The exercises are given in your notes. Arrive at the

correct answer (and write it down of course!) by answering the following questions each time:– 1. What is the adjective?– 2. What is the adjective expressing?– 3. Is it expressing any of the BANGS characteristics?– 4. Is this word actually a BANGS adjective?– 5. Am I describing a singular or plural word? If

singular, does it start with a vowel sound?– 6. Am I describing a masculine or feminine noun?

encore

• Try out these slightly more difficult exercises and record how you did in your activity packet.

• For the adjectives that you are unfamiliar with, be sure to read the topmost portion of the page to help you out.

• http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/adj3.html

• If you don’t know what a French word means, use context clues to help you or go to :

• http://www.freetranslation.com (for simple phrases only, not full sentences)

The Great Conspiracy – Ce sont

• Well, how did you do?

• Before stepping out into the world of grammatical uncertainity, you must be alerted to one other potential problem… perhaps the most threatening yet!

• The BANGS adjectives have devised a plan to confuse you when it comes to plurals and indefinite articles.

Ce sont

• As you might have guessed, it has to do with the phrase: Ce sont

• What is « Ce sont »?• It is the plural form of « C’est »• C’est can mean: (write them in your notes)

– He is (he is)– She is (she is)– It is (It’s)

C’est Ce sont

• If « c’est » can mean:– He is (he’s )– She is (she’s)– It is (it’s)

• And « Ce sont » is the plural of « c’est » then…

• « Ce sont » most likely means the plural forms of he’s, she’s, and it’s.

• And that makes…

C’est Ce sont (con’t )

• Ce sont– they are (they’re)– These are– Those are

• Ok, so not quite as simple, but definitely not impossible.

• Be sure to write down the meanings of « ce sont » in your notes.

Ce sont and articles

• If you can think back to the rules we learned about definite and indefinite articles, you will remember that:

• C’est and Ce sont can be followed by indefinite and definite articles.

• « Il/elle est » and « Ils/elles sont » CANNOT be followed by indefinite or definite articles.

• You might want to write that down again, just so you don’t forget.

Ce sont and articles (con’t)

• C’est and Ce sont can be followed by indefinite and definite articles.

• « Il/elle est » and « Ils/elles sont » CANNOT be followed by indefinite or definite articles.

• So, if singular articles come after « c’est » (singular), then what kind of articles come after « ce sont »? Write your answer in your notes.

• Why, it’s plural articles of course! And what are the plural articles?– 1. les (definite)– 2. des (indefinite)

• Use the chart on the following slide to help you fill in the table in your study packet.

C’est Ce sont / s. pl.

• Voici une carte to remind you of article usage.

Type article C’est uses… Ce sont uses…

Definite le, la, l’ les

Indefinite un, une des

application

• Go to this link and practice what you know by complete the exercises at the bottom of the page. Be sure to follow any additional instructions in the packet when doing so.

• http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/pro3.html

• REMEMBER:

• C’est and Ce sont can be followed by definite and definite articles.

• « Il/elle est » and « Ils/elles sont » CANNOT be followed by indefinite or definite articles.

The kick in the head

• Got it? • So what does this have to do with

BANGS? Good thing you asked!• Ce sont is always followed by ______

articles.• What are these two articles? (check the

previous chart if you forgot)– 1.– 2.

Des (de) in front of BANGS

• « Des » is the article for which BANGS causes trouble. You don’t have to worry about « les ».

• By some miracle, they have suspended the laws of the grammatical universe so that when a sentence using: (write these down)– 1. Ce sont AND– 2. A plural BANGS adjective,

• « des » becomes DE in most cases (for French I). Instead of using « des », you use « de. »

• Don’t ask why! That’s just the way it is with « ce sont » and those sneaky BANGS adjectives!!

application

• Try our these exercises to reinforce this new concept. Use the indefinite article.

1. C’est __ belle fille.

2. Ce sont __ vieilles chaises.

3. Ce sont __ dames intelligentes.

4. C’est ___ bel homme.

5. Ce sont ___ beaux ordinateurs.

6. C’est ___ nouvelle calculatrice.

7. C’est ___ livre intéressant.

8. Ce sont ___ plantes vertes.

1. Ce sont ___ mauvaises élèves.

2. Ce sont ___ voisines gentilles.

3. C’est ___ chien marron.4. Ce sont ___jolies filles.5. C’est ____ chat mignon.6. Ce sont ____ bons

ordinateurs.7. Ce sont ____ profs anglais.8. Ce sont ____ mauvais profs.

La fin

• How did you do?• Thanks for participating in basic training for the

big BANGS. If you are unclear on any concepts, please go back and review or seek out assistance from friends or the teacher. You will use this material for the rest of your French career at OKM!

• And remember…

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE