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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

figurative adjectives with “il est [adjective]”?

This rule only applies to attributive adjectives (adjectifs épithètes), i.e. when they are directly attached to the noun they modify.
It does not apply to predicative adjectives (adjectifs attributs du sujet) like your example ("Il" is separated of [adjective] by "est").
In this case, you extract the sense of an adjective with the use of context.

Example with "important": before = large, after = it matters

Un document important (an important document)

Un important document (a large document)

La colonie de fourmis est importante pour la santé de cet écosystème (The ant colony is important for this ecosystem)

La colonie de fourmis est importante et ne cesse de croître (The ant colony is large and keep increasing in size)

This page (in French) will provide numerous examples and some rules.

Your understanding of the grammatical rule is correct, but in a practical context, it doesn’t necessarily apply. Many adjectives nowadays (due to the constant evolution of the French language) can have either meaning when placed after the noun. “Une colonie de fourmis importante” could be important or large depending on context, but “une importante colonie de fourmis” will always mean large. However, if you say “une colonie importante de fourmis” you necessarily mean large, and if you say “une colonie de fourmis importantes” you mean important.

In other words, while the grammatical rule should be applied in writing, it won’t necessarily hold true when you’re speaking to someone, so you shouldn’t blindly follow the rule if the context of the conversation doesn’t support it.

Additionally, it’s not uncommon in literature and poetry to see adjectives that would normally have a fixed position placed elsewhere, even when they have a single meaning. For instance, “belle” should always be placed before the noun (“une belle langue”), but Yves Duteuil sang “c’est une langue belle”.

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?