fantastique before or after the noun

[thatcomedian]

Does fantastique go before or after the noun or does it depend? If so what does it depend on?

Thank You

David

[Neil Coffey]

In general:
- adjectives tend to always FOLLOW the noun when they imply a CATEGORISATION, so e.g. le cinéma fantastique refers to a genre of film, and as far as I'm aware, speakers wouldn't say le fantastique cinéma (it's always dangerous to say "never" with languages, but as far as I'm aware...) [1]
- in other cases, EITHER position is generally possible, but putting the adjective before the noun implies more of an emotional reaction (so ce fantastique spectacle or ce spectacle fantastique are in principle possible); with longer adjectives, putting the adjective after the noun is generally more neutral-sounding.

[1] As you probably know, there are some short adjectives such as grand that strongly tend to go before the noun, even in cases when you could argue that categorisation is involved (e.g. in (trains) grandes lignes = main lines).

[thatcomedian]

Thanks for replying Neil but I'm not sure I understand. If I own a nightclub and a lot of people are coming to the club, do I say fréquentation fantastique or fantastique fréquentation?

Thanks

David

[Frank]

Hi David,

Both would be okay, but "fantastique" isn't an adjective we'd use about "fréquentation".

What do you mean? Is your club very VIP-oriented? Or is it overcrowded?

If you want to say that there's a lot of people coming, "énorme" would be better than"fantastique" : une fréquentation énorme or une énorme fréquentation. Both are perfectly correct.