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As is well known, adjectives in French sometimes go before a noun and sometimes after. But what happens when an adjective is preceded by a quantifier like plus, aussi, or moins? Does it always go after the noun in this case?

"A study found that ... However, a more recent study found that ..."

Une étude a trouvé que ... Cependant, une plus récente étude a trouvé que ...

or

Une étude a trouvé que ... Cependant, une étude plus récente a trouvé que ...

"I hope I won't get such a bad professor again."

J'espère que je n'aurai pas un aussi mauvais professeur de nouveau.

or

J'espère que je n'aurai pas un professeur aussi mauvais de nouveau.

I asked a question with "une plus vieille femme"/"une femme plus vieille", but it's just one specific example. Is there a general rule and a reference on this?

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In doubt, if you use a quantifier, always put the adjective after the noun :

Une étude plus récente

Un professeur aussi mauvais

Orally it's what sounds most natural, and will always be accepted. Sometimes you can put in in front of the noun if you want, but it sounds more formal.

So it's always correct after, and sometimes also correct before. I recommend you use it after unless you know exactly what you're doing.

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  • Thanks! Can you add something about when it is correct before?
    – user11550
    Dec 14, 2016 at 15:16
  • Actually "Un aussi mauvais professeur" is correct, but sounds weird because it's rather formal and it's a sentence usually said by students, and they don't speak formal language. You could say "Je n'avais jamais mangé un aussi bon gâteau !". (I know it's almost the same sentence !). I can also think of very literary phrasings, like "On avait jamais vu un aussi bel ouvrage". Like the others, you can say it before because you can say "bel ouvrage". If you say "bien réalisé" instead, you can't use it before the noun (with or without "aussi")
    – Teleporting Goat
    Dec 14, 2016 at 15:43
  • Thanks. Is it correct to say "Je n'avais jamais mangé un gâteau aussi bon !"?
    – user11550
    Dec 14, 2016 at 17:21
  • Yes, absolutely ! Like I said, it's always correct to put it after the noun.
    – Teleporting Goat
    Dec 14, 2016 at 21:47

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