According to Grammarly.com, Adjectives are words that describe/ modify the qualities or states of being of nouns, egs. enormous, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven. In English the adjectives are usually easy to spot because they come immediately before the nouns they modify.
Examples:
The enormous structure was erected in 2001.
The silly clown tripped over the banana peel.
In Spanish, however, the rules are very different. Adjetivos are also used to describe nouns in Spanish BUT they are usually placed after the noun and must agree in number and gender.
If you need a recap on how nouns in Spanish carry a gender, check out Lesson 13.
Gender Agreement
Adjectives often end in an ‘o’ when agreeing with a masculine noun and end in an ‘a’ when agreeing with a feminine noun. Look at the below examples:
Pedro es alto
Pedro is tall
Marco es bajo
Marco is short
Nicola es alta
Nicola is tall
Maria es baja
Maria is short
Adjectives that end in an ‘e’ or a consonant remain the same whether referring to a masculine or feminine noun. Look at the below examples.
La casa grande
The big house
El armario grande
The big cupboard
Es un examen fácil
It is an easy test

Es una caminata fácil
It is an easy hike
Number Agreement
If a noun is singular then the adjective describing it must be singular. If the noun is plural then the adjective describing it must be plural too.
If the adjective ends in a vowel, add an ‘s’ to make it plural.
e.g. bajo becomes bajos
If the adjective ends in a consonant, add ‘es’ to make it plural.
e.g. fácil becomes fáciles
4 Words to say the same thing!
In English we have one word to say pretty but in Spanish, there are four different words that can be used!
Pretty | Singular | Plural |
Masculine | bonito | bonitos |
Feminine | bonita | bonitas |
You have to follow the agreement rules to decide which one best suits the noun you are describing.
The pretty hat | El sombrero bonito |
The pretty hats | Los sombreros bonitos |
The pretty flower | La flor bonita |
The pretty flowers | Las flores bonitas |
Te Toca: Your Turn
Using this list of adjectives, decide which version of the adjective best matches the sentences below:
Nice | Simpático |
Ugly | Feo |
Unkind | Antipático |
Excellent | Excelente |
Innocent | Inocente |
Difficult | Difícil |
Don’t forget: adjectives are placed AFTER the noun.
The nice men | Los hombres __________________________. |
The ugly mask | La mascara ___________________________ . |
She is an unkind teacher | Ella es una profesora ___________________ . |
Pablo is an excellent singer | Pablo es un cantante ___________________ . |
The babies are innocent | Los bebés son __________________________ . |
The recipes are difficult | Las recetas son _________________________ . |
*********Las respuestas: simpáticos, fea, antipática, excelente, inocentes, difíciles***********
I hope this lesson helped you to understand how to use adjectives (adjetivos) in Spanish! In an upcoming lesson we’ll look at how to use adjectives to describe personalities and physical appearances.
**This post contains affiliate links to Grammarly.com**
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Another lesson that I’ll be printing soon! ðŸ‘
Yaay! Lol. Thanks!
😄💙
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