That’s a good idea: descriptive adjectives
escriptive adjectives are words that provide additional information about the noun they refer to, such as its characteristics, state, number, etc. In Spanish, adjectives agree with the noun in grammatical gender and number. While in general, in spoken language, adjectives are placed after the noun, in some linguistic styles, they can be placed before the noun. Additionally, some adjectives have a different meaning when their position changes, as we will see.
Agreement in grammatical gender.
Adjectives must agree with nouns in grammatical gender.
Masculine adjectives ending in -o form the feminine by changing -o to -a.
- Un perro negro. A black dog
- Una gata negra. A black cat (fem)
Masculine adjectives ending in -or, -án, -ón, and -és form the feminine by adding -a to the end. In the case of -án, -ón, and -és, the accent mark is also dropped.
- Mi hermano es muy trabajador. My brother is very hardworking
- Mi hermana es muy trabajadora. My sister is very hardworking
- Ese hombre es un haragán. That man is a lazy person.
- Esa mujer es una haragana. That woman is a lazy person.
- El es muy burlón. He’s a very mocking person.
- Ella es muy burlona. She’s a very mocking person.
- Mi profesor es francés. My teacher is French.
- Mi profesora es francesa. My teacher is French.
Adjectives ending in -a and -e are the same in both masculine and feminine.
- Ese hombre es muy pesimista. That man is very pesimistic.
- Esa mujer es muy pesimista. That woman is very pesimistic.
- El profesor es muy inteligente. The teacher is very smart.
- La profesora es muy inteligente. The teacher is very smart.
Adjectives ending in an accented vowel, which are rare in the language, are the same in both masculine and feminine.
- Tengo un amigo marroquí. I have a Moroccan friend
- Tengo una amiga marroquí. I have a Moroccan friend
Adjectives ending in a consonant, except for those we saw earlier, are the same in both masculine and feminine.
- Ese auto es marrón. That car is brown
- La chaqueta es marrón. The jacket is brown
- El cielo es azul. The sky is blue
- Esa casa azul me gusta. I like that blue house
Adjectives that are compound colors or nouns used as adjectives are the same in both masculine and feminine.
- El cielo es azul claro. The sky is light blue
- Pintamos la casa de azul claro. We painted the house light blue
- Ese pantalón salmón me gusta. I like those salmon-colored pants
- Tengo una chaqueta salmón que me queda muy bien. I have a salmon-colored jacket that fits me very well
Formation of plurals.
Adjectives ending in an unaccented vowel add -s to form the plural, whether masculine or feminine.
- El coche verde, los coches verdes. The green car, the green cars
- La casa amarilla, las casas amarillas. The yellow house, the yellow houses
Adjectives ending in accented vowels add -es to form the plural, remaining the same in both masculine and feminine plural forms.
- El hindú, los hindúes, las hindúes. The Hindu man, the Hindu men, the Hindu women
- La alfombra carmesí, las alfombras carmesíes. El pantalón carmesí, los pantalones carmesíes. The crimson rug, the crimson rugs. The crimson pants, the crimson pants
Adjectives ending in a consonant add -es to form the plural. In the particular case of those ending in -z, the -z changes to -c and -es is added. They are the same in both masculine and feminine plural forms.
- El cielo azul, los cielos azules. The blue sky, the blue skies.
- La nube gris, las nubes grises. The grey cloud, the grey clouds
- El niño feliz, los niños felices, las niñas felices. The happy child, the happy children
Masculine adjectives ending in -ón, -án, and -és add -es to form the plural and lose the accent mark, as they become llanas or graves words.
- El hombre burlón, los hombres burlones. The mocking man, the mocking men
- El hombre haragán, los hombres haraganes. The lazy man, the lazy men
- El hombre inglés, los hombres ingleses. The British man, the British men
Adjectives that are compound colors or nouns used as adjectives are the same in both singular and plural.
- Todas las casas son azul claro. All the houses are light blue
- Esas chaquetas salmón me gustan. I like those salmon-coloured jackets
Adjectives borrowed from other languages are the same in both singular and plural.
- Me gusta el estilo retro. Me gustan esas pinturas retro. I like the retro style. I like those retro paintings
- Me gusta la música pop. Me gustan las canciones pop. I like pop music. I like pop songs
Attention: especially when adjectives add -es to form the plural, they may change their accentuation, losing or adding an accent mark. Examples: joven, jóvenes; marrón, marrones. Here you can read more about the accentuation rules of the Spanish language.
Position of the adjective in the sentence.
There are two basic constructions for placing the adjective in a sentence in Spanish:
Noun + verb ser conjugted + adjectiv.
- Las nubes son blancas. Clouds are white
- Los lobos son grandes. Wolves are big
- Mi hermana es inteligente. My sister is smart
- Yo soy alto. I’m tall
- Tu perro es hermoso. Your dog is beautiful
- El agua está fría. The water is cold
Noun + adjectiv.
- La casa grande. The big house
- El callejón oscuro. The dark alley
- Los autos verdes. The green cars
- Las flores coloridas. The colorful flowers
Of course, these last phrases are generally included in larger grammatical constructions:
- Me gusta la casa grande que hay en la esquina. I like the big house that is on the corner
- Ese callejón oscuro me da un poco de miedo. That dark alley scares me a bit
- Yo pienso que los autos verdes son horribles. I think that green cars are horrible
- El jardín se llenó de flores coloridas cuando llegó la primavera. The garden filled with colorful flowers when spring arrived
Regarding this last construction, that is, noun + adjective, the adjective can be placed before the noun. This is not commonly seen in spoken language but can be found in literary language and even in the press.
- Tus grandes ojos me iluminan. Your big eyes light up my life
- Las negras nubes que cubren, amenazantes, el cielo, hacen que el día parezca la noche. The black clouds that cover the sky, threatening, make the day look like night
- Hubo un terrible incendio en un local comercial en el centro de la ciudad. There was a terrible fire in a commercial establishment in the city center
There are adjectives that change their form when used before the noun: the apocope is used. Examples: un buen amigo (a good friend), un amigo bueno (a good friend); una mujer grande (a big woman), una gran mujer (a great woman); un mal día (a bad day), un día malo (a bad day). Unfortunately, these must be learned by heart.
Additionally, in some cases, the position of the adjective changes its meaning. In some cases, the difference in meaning is noticeable, while in others it is very subjective.
- Un pobre hombre (he is an unfortunate man, a miserable person), un hombre pobre (a man who cannot meet his basic needs).
- Una gran mujer (she has great qualities, she is an important person), una mujer grande (a woman who is large in size).
- Una persona buena (she is good because, for example, she is always willing, in a good mood, and helps with anything you ask), una buena persona (a person with human values, who respects norms, etc.).
- Un viejo amigo (he is my friend from a long time ago), un amigo viejo (a friend who is old in age).
Of course, in this short article, I haven’t covered everything there is to say about adjectives in Spanish. And the topic could easily fill two or three more articles. I thank you once again for your reading. Later, we will go deeper into the subject. Here, I leave you exercises to practice the use of adjectives.
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