Adjectives

An adjective is a descriptive word that accompanies a noun. In other words, it tells what the noun is like, for example, a "pretty" day; a "tall "man; a "red" car. In Spanish most adjectives come AFTER the noun, that is to say that when speaking Spanish you say the WHAT (day; man; car) followed by WHAT KIND (pretty, tall, red). Another must know regarding adjectives is that they decline. This means that they change their form to reflect the number and the gender of the noun. If they noun is masculine and singular, so is the adjective. The same goes for feminine singular and the plural forms, as well. When searching for adjectives in a bilingual dictionary often there is the abbreviation "adj" followed by the vocabulary word. Frequently there are two forms of the adjective as well, for example the word "tall" might be listed as "adj, alto/ta". The two forms of the adjective listed are the masculine and the feminine. With a masculine singular noun such as "hombre" you would use a masculine singular adjective to say "hombre alto"--tall man. For a tall woman you would say "mujer alta". Several Spanish adjectives end in the letter O for the masculine singular form and the letter A for the feminine singular. To make these plural, add an S to form OS and AS. Sometimes both genders share endings, as in the word "inteligente". In such cases, the plural form for both genders would be ES. Occasionally you see an adjective that ends in the letter L, as in the word "fácil" or "difícil", or some other consonant. Unless these words refer to nationality, simply pluralize them by adding ES; fáciles and difíciles. In the practice exercise, select the correct adjective to fit the number and gender of the noun listed. You will notice that the article in front of the noun also agrees in number and gender. If you do not know the gender please consult a dictionary.