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Spanish Adjective Rules

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Remember that Spanish adjectives MUST agree in number and gender.

Example: Juan es simpático, y Juanita es simpática, también.

Example: Juan y Juanita son simpáticos.
Example: El hombre is feo, pero las chicas son bonitas.

If the adjective ends in -e or a consonant, it will not change spelling according to gender, but the rules for making it plural are the same as they are with nouns.

Example: el chico intelligente vs. la chica intelligente

Example: la chica popular vs. las chicas populares

Spanish adjectives usually follow the noun they modify.
Example: el coche azul not el azul coche

Adjectives like “lots”, “many”, and “a few” come before the noun.

Adjectives “bueno” and “malo” can come before or after the noun. Drop the o if placed before a masculine noun, e.g., “Juan is buen amigo.”

The adjective “grande” before the noun changes to “gran” and means “great” instead of “large” or “big.”
Example: Carlos is un gran hombre, y tiene una familia grande
Carlos is a great guy, and he has a large family.

Review the common adjectives below:

  • trabajador/ trabajadora
    hard-working
  • mismo/a
    same
  • delgado/a
    thin
  • pelirrojo/a
    red-haired
  • inteligente
    intellgent
  • joven/ jovenes
    young
  • bonito/a
    pretty
  • guapo/a
    handsome
  • difícil
    difficult
  • fácil
    easy
  • bajo/a
    short
  • importante
    important
  • alto/a
    tall
  • gordo/a
    fat
  • feo/a
    ugly
  • pequeño/a
    small
  • antipático/a
    unpleasant, disagreeable
  • moreno/a
    dark, tanned, brown
  • viejo/a
    old
  • simpático/a
    nice
  • mal, malo/a
    bad
  • rubio/a
    blond
  • interesante
    interesting
  • mucho/a
    much, lots
  • gran, grande
    great, big
  • tonto/a
    silly, stupid
  • buen, bueno/a
    good