Severn Spanish

Adjectives I

 

Understanding Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to describe, or modify, a noun.

Examples: the red car, the lazy boys, the tired men, the excited child, the ugly jacket

 

Adjectives in Spanish

What if I told you that articles, which you already understand, were a special type of adjective? What could you guess about other adjectives? Well, like articles, adjectives must agree with their nouns in both number and gender. Take a look at the following phrases and see if you can pick out the adjectives and notice anything else about their use:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps you noticed one of the more important differences between the use of adjectives in Spanish and in English: in Spanish, adjectives follow the noun they modify, whereas in English, adjectives precede their nouns.

 

Working with Adjectives

 

Number agreement

All adjectives agree with their nouns in number. Like articles, if the noun is plural, the adjective must be plural, too. To pluralize adjectives, follow the same rules as for pluralizing nouns:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Examples:

las chicas bonitas (the pretty girls)

los perros pequeños (the small dogs)

los libros rojos (the red books)

las mesas altas (the high/tall tables)

las mujeres felices (the happy women)

 

 

Gender agreement

This is where things can get a little bit tricky. Most adjectives have a masculine and feminine form, but some do not.

Adjectives with a masculine and feminine form:

Almost every adjective that ends in -o (masculine) changes to end in -a in the feminine form.

Examples: ordenado, ordenada; bajo, baja; rubio, rubia; pequeño, pequeña

Adjectives that end in -or, -ón, or -ín gain an -a on the end for the feminine form.

Examples: trabajador, trabajadora; doctor, doctora

 

Adjectives that do not reflect gender

Adjectives ending in -e and -ista have only singular and plural forms, not masculine and feminine.

Examples: el chico deportista (the athletic boy); las plumas verdes (the green pens)

Adjectives ending in consonants other than -or, -ón, or -ín do not change to reflect gender and have only singular and plural forms.

Examples: el gato feliz (the happy cat); las vacas jóvenes* (the young cows); la tarea difícil (the difficult task/homework)

*jóvenes is an irregular plural of joven because it gains an accent mark to maintain the stress on the first syllable. 

 

 

Adjective checklist

This is a quick, step-by-step list of things to check to make sure your adjective agrees with your noun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice

Remember what you know about adjective agreement and placement when practicing with these examples.