Belle masculine form

Answer 1

Beau

Addition by Crisdean

The answer above is correct, but incomplete. French is seldom simple.

Two forms : Beau or Bel.

The use between those two depends on the noun, and on its place.

You must use Bel :

If the noun begins with a vowel or with a mute 'h' and if it is after the adjective in the sentence.

ex - un bel homme, un bel arbre. (a beautiful man, a beautiful tree)

- but : "un homme beau" (the noun is before the adjective) -

There is no exception with the words beginning with a vowel.

But .....

French loves to be complex. The "h" is sometimes "aspired". (like the word Hearing in English)

And sometimes, it is hard to get with masculine words.

To recognize those, you must check the elision using the articles (un or le)

ex :

in oral you say "un homme" (pronounced : un nomme) and l'homme, not Le homme

the "h" is muted and the elision is made between the adjective and the noun.

So : un bel homme, un bel hiver, un bel hommage etc....

but words such as "hibou" (owl), "haricot" (bean), "hareng"(herring) have the aspirated "h" that blocks the elision.

In those cases you will use Beau

you say un hibou (a owl) (pronounced "un hibou" and not "un nibou")

So - un beau hibou (a beautiful owl)

or un beau hareng.

There is a great wikipedia on the aspirated h in French with a huge list words

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirated_h