Learn French: Il y a un silence effrayant dans ce village. - There is a scary silence in this village.

You might expect that, because most French nouns ending in -ence (like la différence or la présence) are feminine. However, le silence is an exception, which is why we use the masculine article un here.

Why does effrayant come after silence instead of before it?

In French, most adjectives go after the noun they describe. Only a specific group of short, common adjectives (often remembered with the acronym BANGS for Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, and Size) go before the noun. Since effrayant (scary) doesn't fit into that group, it follows the normal rule and goes after the noun.

Is effrayant related to a verb?

Yes! It comes from the verb effrayer (to frighten or scare). Just like in English where we turn verbs into adjectives by adding '-ing' (like 'terrifying'), French often does this by adding -ant to the stem of a verb.

Why is it ce village and not cet village?

Ce is the word for 'this' or 'that' when used with masculine singular nouns. You only use cet before a masculine singular noun if it starts with a vowel or a silent 'h' (like cet arbre for 'this tree'). Because village starts with a consonant, we stick with ce.