Descriptive Adjectives
Spanish: AQA A Level, topic 15.4.3
Los adjetivos descriptivos - Descriptive adjectives
Vocabulario clave
- alto / alta - tall.
- bajo / baja - short.
- grande - big.
- pequeño / pequeña - small.
- simpático / simpática - nice.
- inteligente - intelligent.
- trabajador / trabajadora - hardworking.
- aburrido / aburrida - boring.
La concordancia de género
- Spanish adjectives agree with the gender of the noun they describe.
- Many adjectives end in -o for masculine and -a for feminine.
- El chico es alto.
- The boy is tall.
- La chica es alta.
- The girl is tall.
- Adjectives ending in -e stay the same for both genders.
La concordancia de número
- Spanish adjectives agree with the number of the noun they describe.
- Add -s after a vowel, or -es after a consonant, for the plural.
- El chico es alto.
- The boy is tall.
- Los chicos son altos.
- The boys are tall.
- trabajador becomes trabajadores in the plural.
La posición de los adjetivos
- In Spanish, a descriptive adjective usually goes after the noun it describes.
- Tengo un coche rojo.
- I have a red car.
- English puts the adjective before the noun.
- Spanish puts the adjective after the noun.
- Vivo en una casa pequeña.
- I live in a small house.
Adjetivos que se acortan
- Some adjectives shorten before a masculine singular noun.
- bueno becomes buen.
- malo becomes mal.
- Es un buen libro.
- The book is good.
- grande becomes gran before any singular noun.
- Es una gran ciudad.
- The city is great.
Cambio de significado
- Some adjectives change their meaning depending on their position.
- Un gran hombre means a great man.
- Un hombre grande means a big man.
- Un pobre niño means an unfortunate child.
- Un niño pobre means a poor (with no money) child.
Test yourself on Descriptive Adjectives
Decide which statement about Spanish descriptive adjectives is true.
Where does a descriptive adjective usually go in a Spanish sentence?
Which Spanish sentence places the adjective in the correct position after the noun?