Spanish I: Adjective Use

An adjective is a word that modifies (describes) a noun. There are different types of adjectives that indicate possession, demonstrate distance, and make comparisons. A Spanish adjective will change its ending to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. When you look up an adjective in the dictionary, it is always listed in its singular masculine form. It is up to you to know the rules to change an adjective to its feminine and/or plural form. If you want to use an adjective correctly in a complete sentence, you must consider the gender of the noun you want the adjective to describe in the sentence. Then you must use the correct form of the adjective and place it either in front of that noun or behind that noun based on the rules of Spanish grammar.

Adjectives and gender

It's important to understand that an adjective will always be listed in dictionaries and vocabulary lists in the singular masculine form. In this form, most adjectives end in - o but there are a few that end - e or a consonant. Included in the lists in this section are some extremely common adjectives that you must learn. Since colors are description words, they are adjectives and some have been included in the following lists according to their endings. Remember that the article in front of the noun will indicate the gender of the noun and the adjectives that follow the noun will match that gender.

Some useful adjectives that end in - o:

alto	tall
amarillo	yellow
anaranjado	orange
barato	cheap
blanco	white
bonito	pretty
caro	expensive
cómico	funny
cómodo	comfortable
corto	short
divertido	amusing
delgado	thin
delicioso	delicious
duro	hard
extranjero	foreign
feo	ugly
generoso	generous
gordo	fat
guapo	attractive (handsome)
hermoso	beautiful
largo	long
limpio	clean
loco	crazy
negro	black
pardo	brown
rico	rich
rojo	red
sucio	dirty

If an adjective ends in - o in its singular masculine form, the final - o will change to - a when the adjective is used to describe a feminine noun. The definite article is included here to remind you of the gender of the noun, so you can review the gender rules as you read these examples. In order to use an adjective correctly, you will have to know the gender of the noun it modifies.

el chico guapo	the attractive boy
la chica guapa	the attractive girl
el coche blanco	the white car
la montaña blanca	the white mountain
el libro divertido	the amusing book
la situación divertida	the amusing situation

Some commonly used adjectives that end in - e:

agradable	pleasant
alegre	happy
elegante	elegant
enorme	enormous
excelente	excellent
fuerte	strong
importante	important
impresionante	impressive
independiente	independent
inteligente	intelligent
interesante	interesting
pobre	poor
responsable	responsible
simple	simple
triste	sad
verde	green

Adjectives that end in - e do not change endings for feminine nouns. In their singular forms they are used exactly the same to modify both masculine and feminine nouns. Consider the following examples:

el abuelo inteligente	the intelligent grandfather
la abuela inteligente	the intelligent grandmother
el parque enorme	the enormous park
la ciudad enorme	the enormous city
la muchedumbre triste	the sad crowd
la muchedumbre interesante	the interesting crowd

A few adjectives end in consonants. For example:

azul	blue
difícil	difficult
fácil	easy
gris	gray
feliz	happy
popular	popular

Adjectives that end in a consonant will not change endings to indicate gender except for adjectives indicating nationality.

el hermano popular	the popular brother
la hermana popular	the popular sister
el problema difícil	the difficult problem
la situación difícil	the difficult situation
el mapa azul	the blue map
la pluma azul	the blue pen

The adjectives of nationality that end in a consonant are special and follow their own rules. Unlike other adjectives ending in a consonant, you actually add the letter - a after the consonant at the end of an adjective of nationality to use it with a feminine noun.

el señor español	the Spanish gentleman
la señora española	the Spanish lady

In the following examples, note that adding a syllable to the end of a word usually changes where the stress of the word will naturally fall. If an adjective of nationality has an accent mark on the last syllable, it will disappear when you add - a to the end. This occurs quite often with adjectives of nationality.

el negociante inglés	the English businessman
la actriz inglesa	the English actress
el cine japonés	the Japanese cinema
la ciudad japonesa	the Japanese city
el libro francés	the French book
la novela francesa	the French novel

Some adjectives that indicate nationality end in - o and are used like any other adjectives. Simply change the - o ending to - a if the adjective is describing a feminine noun. You will notice in all the following examples that Spanish does not require the capitalization of adjectives of nationality but English does.

el hombre colombiano	the Colombian man
la mujer colombiana	the Colombian woman
el muchacho mexicano	the Mexican boy
la muchacha mexicana	the Mexican girl

Adjectives of nationality that end in - e are also like other adjectives. The same form is used for both genders.

el padre nicaragüense	the Nicaraguan father
la madre nicaragüense	the Nicaraguan mother
el amigo canadiense	the Canadian friend (male)
la amiga canadiense	the Canadian friend (female)

Adjectives and number

You may have noticed that all of the examples so far have been singular nouns. Once you understand the rules for creating the different gender forms of adjectives, you are ready to tackle plurals. An adjective will actually become plural if the noun it modifies is plural. In English, when a noun becomes plural, the definite article and adjectives do not change. “The red pen” becomes “The red pens.” Only the noun “pens” is pluralized.

In the Spanish equivalent, when the noun “pens” becomes plural, so does the article “the” and the noun “red.” The definite article el becomes los and la becomes las when the noun is plural, and the adjective that follows the noun will be in its plural form also.

La s pluma s roja s

the red pen s

The plural forms of adjectives are created the same way as the plural forms of nouns. If a word ends in any vowel, add - s to make it plural.

los muchachos mexicanos	the Mexican boys
las muchachas mexicanas	the Mexican girls
los coches blancos	the white cars
las montañas blancas	the white mountains

If a word ends in any consonant, add - es to make it plural.

los problemas difíciles	the difficult problems
las situaciones difíciles	the difficult situations
los hermanos populares	the popular brothers
las hermanas populares	the popular sisters

When you create the plural form of an adjective that ends in - z, don't forget the rule that “ z changes to c when followed by e.”

la solución eficaz	the effective solution
las soluciones eficaces	the effective solutions
el hombre sagaz	the wise man
los hombres sagaces	the wise men

Adjective placement

Generally, an adjective is placed after the noun it modifies in a Spanish sentence, as shown in the examples in the preceding section. However, there are a few simple rules to learn about the types of adjectives that must be placed in front of a noun.

Adjectives of quantity are placed in front of the noun they quantify. This includes all numbers and any adjectives that indicate amount. The following are some common adjectives of quantity:

mucho, mucha	much
muchos, muchas	many
poco, poca	little, few
bastante	enough (does not change forms)
suficiente	enough (does not change forms)
alguno, alguna, algunos, algunas	some

The word apocope means “cut short.” Some adjectives are called apocopated because their ending will be cut short in specific circumstances.

The apocopated adjectives listed below are usually placed in front of a noun, and if that noun is singular and masculine, you should drop the final - o of the adjective.

bueno

Adjective Use

Related Topics:

Adjective Use

Adjectives and gender

Adjectives and number

Adjective placement