chapelle ancienne?

Ancien (-ne) is one of those adjectives that can go before or after the noun, and thereby have a different meaning.

Normally if it precedes the noun its meaning is "former", otherwise it is "ancient/old".

I have seen numerous instances where "l'ancienne chapelle" appears to be referring to "the ancient chapelle". Even a French person I asked seemed to agree that this was OK - in the sense of "ancient".

Is this an exception to the rule?

The chances are that both may apply ie. it is both "former" (no longer used as a chapel) AND it is "ancient".

So, how should I say "the ancient chapel"?

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on September 25, 2019 at 11:57pm

I am not familiar with how "ancient" is used.

Is there perhaps something about "chapelles" that predisposes them to us as seeming inhererently ancient?

Perhaps someone else can tell us ,preferably a native speaker or maybe just someone with greater familiarity than myself with the language.

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Savignat on October 7, 2019 at 8:22pm

Hello,

It's not usual to say "l'ancienne chapelle" with "ancienne" = old.

When I hear "l'ancienne chapelle" i understand "ancienne" as "former" = this chapel was a chapel some years or centuries ago and now it's not a chapel or it's always the same building that is not use as a chapel. But this chapel may be very old or not. But usually this chapel is old because now we don't build chapels since a long time.