Un pequeño gran hombre: uses of adjectives in Spanish

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that accompanies a noun and describes, qualifies, or determines it; that is, adjectives add information about the state or characteristics of nouns. So, in el perro grande duerme en la cama cómoda (the big dog sleeps on the comfortable bed), the adjective grande describes the dog and the adjective cómoda describes the bed. In Spanish, adjectives can appear alongside the noun, as in el perro grande (the big dog), or connected to the noun through a verb. In the case of verbs called copulative verbs, which in Spanish are ser, estar, and parecer (to be and to seem), the adjective cannot be omitted from the sentence, because the sentence loses its meaning without it. So, we can say el perro es grande (the dog is big) or la niña parece alegre (the girl seems happy), but not el perro es (the dog is) or la niña parece (the girl seems), because these last two constructions do not convey any meaning. With other types of verbs, such as action verbs, the adjective can be omitted, but the message is logically modified. So, los atletas llegaron (the athletes arrived) simply conveys the message of their arrival, but los atletas llegaron cansados (the athletes arrived tired) adds information to the message. Here you have an article about adjectives in Spanish with more condensed information. In this particular article we will go a little deeper into that information and look at more subjective aspects.

Position of the adjective.

When adjectives appear alongside the noun, their most common position in Spanish is after the noun: una manzana roja (a red apple), una casa grande (a big house). But there are exceptions to this. On one hand, for a more poetic or emotional use, the adjective can be placed before the noun: la blanca nieve (the white snow), el difícil reto (the difficult challenge). This use, as mentioned before, is more literary or can be seen in media outlets, for example, but it is not the most common in spoken language. With exceptions: when using a proper name, the normal thing is to place the adjective before the noun. So, we say el año pasado visité la hermosa Sevilla (last year I visited beautiful Seville) or la valiente María escaló el Everest (brave María climbed Everest). This happens because if we place the adjective after the noun we convey a different message: if we say el año pasado visité la Sevilla hermosa (last year I visited the beautiful Seville) it is subjectively understood that there is a Seville that is not beautiful. And this is used, in fact, to convey different messages: I could, for example, say visité la turística Sevilla (I visited touristic Seville), implying that Seville is a city that attracts tourism, or say visité la Sevilla turística, implying that I visited the touristic parts of the city. That is, by placing the adjective before the proper name we ascribe to that particular noun the characteristic conveyed by the adjective, but if we place it after, we imply that either there are several possible nouns represented by that proper name, or that parts of the noun are described by the adjective, as in la Sevilla turística, where we express that some parts of the city are touristic and others are not. For example, if we say la María valiente escaló el Everest (the brave María climbed Everest) the subjective meaning is that, among several candidates all named María, the one who climbed Everest is the brave one, and it is implied that the others are not.

When adjectives are separated from the noun they describe by a verb, they are normally placed after the verb: la ciudad de Sevilla es hermosa (the city of Seville is beautiful). But, once again, there are exceptions. For emphasis, the adjective can be placed before the verb: hermosa es Sevilla (beautiful is Seville). The order hermosa Sevilla es is also possible, but it is very unusual, literary, or poetic. Adjectives can be used with copulative verbs: ser, estar, or parecer (to be and to seem), and also with other verbs. Regarding their use with ser or estar, ser is used to introduce permanent characteristics of the noun, as in la ciudad es hermosa (the city is beautiful, and always will be), while estar is used to describe states, as in el café está frío (the coffee is cold, but it can be warmed up). With other types of verbs, adjectives are used to add information about the noun during the course of the verbal action, as in los atletas llegaron cansados (the athletes arrived tired) or las niñas juegan felices (the girls play happily). A common mistake in this use of adjectives is to omit gender and number agreement, mainly in cases where the adjective coincides with the adverb. So, we say los trenes son rápidos (the trains are fast), since the adjective rápido qualifies the noun tren (train), but los trenes viajan rápido (the trains travel fast), because the adverb rápido modifies the verb viajar (to travel). If we also use an adverb, it is placed between the verb and the adjective: ¡Sevilla es tan hermosa! (Seville is so beautiful!) or los trenes son muy rápidos (the trains are very fast).

Gender and number agreement.

Many adjectives in Spanish have 4 forms. This is the case for those ending in -o and for nationalities. So, we say el hombre alto (the tall man), la mujer alta (the tall woman), los hombres altos (the tall men), las mujeres altas (the tall women). This is always the case, regardless of the function of the adjective: las manzanas rojas son dulces (the red apples are sweet), esas manzanas están rojas (those apples are red). In the case of demonyms, most have 4 forms: we say el alemán (the German man), la alemana (the German woman), los alemanes (the German men), las alemanas (the German women), el argentino (the Argentine man), la argentina (the Argentine woman), los argentinos (the Argentine men), las argentinas (the Argentine women). That is, as a general rule, if the singular forms end in -o and -a we simply add -s to form the plural, and if the masculine singular form ends in a consonant we add -es to form the masculine plural.

Some adjectives are invariable in grammatical gender, such as those ending in -e, in a consonant, or with the suffix -ista. So, we say el libro interesante (the interesting book) and la película interesante (the interesting film), el gorro azul (the blue hat) and la camisa azul (the blue shirt), and la mujer realista (the realistic woman) and el hombre realista (the realistic man). This also applies to demonyms ending in -e: el canadiense (the Canadian man), la canadiense (the Canadian woman). To form the plurals we add -s to those ending in a vowel and -es to those ending in a consonant: las mujeres realistas (the realistic women) y los hombres realistas (the realistic men), los gorros azules (the blue hats) y las camisas azules (the blue shirts).

When a noun is used as an adjective there is no gender or number agreement. So, we say la camisa esmeralda (the emerald shirt), el gorro esmeralda (the emerald hat), las camisas esmeralda (the emerald shirts) and los gorros esmeralda (the emerald hats). If a noun is used to qualify nouns of different grammatical genders together, the masculine plural form is used: la manzana y el pimiento están maduros (the apple and the pepper are ripe).

Some adjectives are apocopated when placed before singular masculine nouns. That is, they lose their final -o:

Uno → Un: Un libro (a book) (never uno libro).

Bueno → Buen: Un buen día (a good day).

Malo → Mal: Un mal momento (a bad moment).

Primero → Primer: Mi primer amor (my first love).

Tercero → Tercer: El tercer piso (the third floor).

Alguno → Algún: Algún amigo (some friend). (Note: it carries an accent mark due to the rules of accentuation).

Ninguno → Ningún: Ningún problema (no problem).

The adjective grande in particular changes both before singular masculine nouns and before singular feminine nouns: un gran auto (a great car) (but un auto grande, a big car), una gran casa (a great house) (but una casa grande, a big house).

Some adjectives change their meaning depending on their position; that is, from a semantic point of view they convey a different message depending on their position. We will look at some common examples, but as a general rule when using adjectives, what is objectifiable, physical, or observable is described by placing the adjective after the noun (for example color, size, nationality, etc.) and what is more subjective, closer to a personal assessment, is usually expressed by placing the adjective before the noun.

Grande: Un hombre grande (a large man) refers to body size or age. Un gran hombre (a great man) refers to merits or values.

Pobre: Un hombre pobre (a poor man) refers to a man who has no money. Un pobre hombre (a poor fellow) refers to an unfortunate person.

Viejo: Un amigo viejo (an old friend) is a friend who is advanced in age, even if they have only been our friend for a short time. Un viejo amigo is a friend who has been one for a long time.

Nuevo: Un coche nuevo (a new car) is a newly manufactured car. Un nuevo coche refers to a recently acquired car, regardless of its year of manufacture.

Simple: Una persona simple (a simple person) refers to a straightforward, uncomplicated person. Una simple persona (a mere person): if someone says soy una simple persona they are saying that they are just a person and nothing more, for example, to downplay their credit for an achievement or to imply that a task they have to carry out is too much for one person alone.

Curioso: Un niño curioso (a curious child) is a child who is curious, who wants to discover things. Un curioso niño (a peculiar child) is a strange child, one of a kind.

We have reached the end of these lines. I hope they have been useful to you. Here I leave you with exercises to practice this topic and, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments. Thank you for reading!