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Le pédiatre examine les jumeaux premiers-nés.

Le pédiatre examine les jumeaux premiers-nés.
The pediatrician examines the firstborn twins.
From Lesson 403:Compound adjective agreement·French

Questions & Answers about Le pédiatre examine les jumeaux premiers-nés.

Why do both parts of premiers-nés have an "s" at the end?
This is a compound adjective made of an adjective (premier) and a past participle acting as an adjective (né). When a compound adjective consists of two adjectives, both parts agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Since jumeaux is masculine plural, both words take an -s.
Wait, doesn't the first part of a compound adjective usually stay singular, like in nouveau-nés?
That depends on whether the first word is acting as an adjective or an adverb! In nouveau-nés, nouveau acts as an adverb meaning "newly" (newly born), and adverbs are invariable (they don't change). But in premiers-nés, premier acts as a true adjective ("first"), so it must agree with the noun alongside nés.
If the pediatrician were examining female twins, how would the sentence change?
It would be: Le pédiatre examine les jumelles premières-nées. Because both parts of the compound adjective act as adjectives, both must agree with the feminine plural noun jumelles.
Is the noun pédiatre always masculine?
No, pédiatre can be masculine or feminine, but its spelling never changes. Words like this are sometimes called "epicene" nouns. You just use the article to show the gender of the specific person: le pédiatre for a male doctor, and la pédiatre for a female one.

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