Learn French: L'accueil dans ce nouvel hôtel est incomparable. - The welcome in this new hotel is incomparable.

L'accueil dans ce nouvel hôtel est incomparable.

The welcome in this new hotel is incomparable.

Breakdown of L'accueil dans ce nouvel hôtel est incomparable.

Questions & Answers about L'accueil dans ce nouvel hôtel est incomparable.

Why is it nouvel hôtel and not nouveau hôtel?

In French, certain masculine singular adjectives change their form when they come before a word starting with a vowel sound or a mute H to make pronunciation smoother. Because hôtel starts with a mute H, the masculine adjective nouveau changes to nouvel.

If hôtel starts with a mute H, why do we use ce instead of cet?

The demonstrative adjective ce only changes to cet when the immediately following word starts with a vowel or mute H. Here, the word right after it is nouvel, which starts with a consonant (n), so ce stays as ce. The mutation of nouveau to nouvel already handles the vowel clash with hôtel.

Could I say cet hôtel neuf instead to mean the same thing?

Not exactly. Neuf means brand new, like freshly built from the ground up, and is generally placed after the noun. Nouveau (and its before-vowel form nouvel) is placed before the noun and means new to the speaker, newly opened, or a replacement for an old one. Nouvel hôtel is much more natural here when talking about a newly opened business or one you are staying at for the first time.

Why is there a U in the word accueil?