Learn French: Notre ancien directeur regrette cette curieuse relation. - Our former director regrets this strange relation.

Notre ancien directeur regrette cette curieuse relation.

Our former director regrets this strange relation.

Breakdown of Notre ancien directeur regrette cette curieuse relation.

this (before a noun)

notre

our (singular and plural forms: notre, nos)

ancien

old / ancient (former, antique)

directeur

director

Questions & Answers about Notre ancien directeur regrette cette curieuse relation.

Why is ancien placed before directeur instead of after?

Placement changes the meaning of the adjective ancien. When placed before the noun, it means former, which fits our sentence perfectly. If it were placed after the noun, like un directeur ancien, it would mean an ancient or very old director.

Does the position of curieuse also change its meaning?

Yes! Just like ancien, the adjective curieux changes meaning based on its placement. Before the noun, it means strange or odd. After the noun, it means nosy or inquisitive. Here, cette curieuse relation means this strange relation.

Why is the adjective spelled curieuse and not curieux?

It has to match the feminine singular noun relation. Masculine adjectives ending in -eux change to -euse when describing feminine nouns, so curieux becomes curieuse.

Why do we use cette instead of ce here?

Cette is the feminine singular word for this or that, used here because it points to the feminine noun relation. You would use ce for a masculine noun, or cet for a masculine noun starting with a vowel.