Describing People and Things: Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns: the white dog, the red house, etc.

In English, the adjectives have only one form and normally go before the word (noun) they are describing.

In Spanish, the adjectives usually go after the noun: el perro blanco, la casa roja.

In addition, the form of the adjectives may change depending on whether the noun being described is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.

Most adjectives end in -o in the masculine form. This final -o changes to -a if the noun is feminine. An -s is added to the -o or -a if the noun is plural.

Here are some examples:

the red house	la casa roja	the red houses	las casas rojas
the white dog	el perro blanco	the white dogs	los perros blancos

Some adjectives do not end in -o:

Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms, singular and plural, regardless of gender:

one important person	una persona importante
two important people	dos personas importantes
one big dog	un perro grande
two big dogs	dos perros grandes

Most adjectives ending in a consonant work in the same way:

a normal day	un día normal
some normal days	unos días normales

Other adjectives ending in a consonant, especially those describing nationality, have four forms:

a Spanish wine	un vino español
some Spanish wines	unos vinos españoles
a Spanish song	una canción española
some Spanish songs	unas canciones españolas

Following are some "exceptions" to the above rules.

Adjectives precede the noun when describing quantities:

poco dinero	little money
muchas amigas	many (female) friends

Some adjectives change meaning if they appear before instead of after the noun they describe:

a big man	un hombre grande
a great man	un gran hombre
a poor woman	una mujer pobre
a poor (pitiful) woman	una pobre mujer

Here's a list of more adjectives that change meaning depending on their location relative to the noun being described:

antigua	la antigua mesa	the old table
	la mesa antigua	the antique table
mismo	el mismo hombre	the same man
	el hombre mismo	the man himself
nuevo	el nuevo coche	the newly-acquired car
	el coche nuevo	the newly-manufactured car
propio	mis propios métodos	my own methods
	mis métodos propios	my appropriate methods
solo	un solo hombre	only one man
	un hombre solo	a lonely man
triste	una triste historia	a dreadful story
	una historia triste	a sad story
único	la única casa	the only house
	una casa única	a unique house
viejo	el viejo novio	the ex-boyfriend
	el novio viejo	the elderly boyfriend

One final note: in Spanish the adjectives are very often used as nouns:

el herido	the injured man
la herida	the injured woman
los heridos	the injured people
el prometido	the fiance
la prometida	the fiancee
los prometidos	the engaged couple

Remember: Most adjectives go after the noun, and their form depends on the gender and number of the noun they are describing.