Adjective and Noun Agreement in Spanish
The “normal” form of adjectives, the form found in dictionaries, is singular and masculine. To make the adjective plural, follow one of these steps, which are similar to pluralizing nouns: Most adjectives that end in a consonant do not change based on gender, but change for the number, just like adjectives that end in -e. Adjectives in Spanish correspond to the noun in both gender and number. Noun-adjective correspondence is one of the most fundamental aspects of Spanish grammar: adjectives must correspond to the nouns to which they refer both in number and gender. Some examples of common Spanish masculine adjectives include: Afortunado (happy), Alto (large), Bajo (short), Bueno (good), Estupendo (large), Famoso (famous), Malo (bad), and Pequeño (small) The same rule applies to certain articles (the equivalent of “the”) and to indefinite articles (a class of words that include “a”, “on” and “any” in English), which are sometimes considered types of adjectiveswww.thoughtco.com/noun-adjective-agreement-3078114. Un taco es una preparación mexicana que en su forma estándar consiste en una tortilla que contiene algún alimento dentro. (A taco is a Mexican preparation that, in its standard form, consists of a tortilla that contains food. Su is a possessive determinant or dojective that changes with number but not sex. Estándar is an immutable adjective – the same word would have been used with plural or masculine nouns.) For example, the noun las faldas (skirts) is plural and feminine, so all adjectives used to describe it are equally plural and feminine. For example: As mentioned earlier, Spanish adjectives usually have a singular form and a plural form. The rules are exactly the same as those used to form the plural of nouns. To illustrate this, for a sentence like “She is a pretty model”, we would say “Ella es una modelo hermosa”, but for several models we have to say “Ellas son modelos hermosas”.
Note that all words, including the subject pronoun and the verb SER, change so that there is a Spanish noun-adjective correspondence and the sentence makes sense. Noun/Adjective Correspondence – A useful document on the agreement noun and adjective in Spanish feminine singular feminine noun singular adjective. Nationality adjectives ending in -o, e.g. chino, argentino follow the same patterns as in the table above. Some nationality adjectives end with a consonant, for example galés, español and alemán, and follow a slightly different pattern: in general, adjectives in Spanish follow this pattern. Note: There are adjectives (inteligente, trabajador, etc.) that do not follow this pattern: in the previous lesson we explained the rules for placing adjectives and talked about some situations where they are used before or after nouns. In this lesson, we will learn about another important feature called “concordancia del adjetivo y el sustantivo”, namely the Spanish noun-adjective agreement. Don`t worry, it will be easier than it seems, although you will understand everything much faster if you already know the basics of the nominal gender and plural form of nouns. The rule that has no English equivalent is that singular nouns are accompanied by singular adjectives, and plural nouns are accompanied by plural adjectives. Masculine nouns are described or limited by masculine adjectives, and feminine nouns are described or limited by feminine adjectives. First, find the name in the sentence.
Point it out. Exception: For adjectives that end in z in the singular, replace the z with a c before adding the plural extension. Adjectives can precede or after nouns, or they can be used with verbs such as ser (“to be”) to describe nouns. But (with the exception of immutable adjectives), they will always correspond to the nouns they describe both in number and gender. On the other hand, when describing feminine nouns like CASA (house), we should use a feminine adjective like BONITA (pretty) or ESPACIOSA (spacious) and not a masculine adjective like BONITO or ESPACIOSO. That being said, Spanish feminine adjectives are the same words with a slight change at the end from -O to -A, e.B. “Bueno” to “Buena”. Making a masculine adjective feminine is even easier. Just follow these steps: Nouns ending in [-o] or [-a]: These adjectives change endings depending on the number and gender! Some Spanish adjectives used to describe male and female nouns are: Amable (type), Difícil (difficult), Fácil (simple), Flexible, Paciente (patient), Verde (green). In addition, most numbers, with the exception of number one, which change to UN when used before a masculine noun, and to UNA before a feminine noun, e.B.
the adjectives “Un amigo” and “Una amiga” ending in o in the masculine singular form, have four possible endings, one for the masculine, the feminine, the singular and the plural. These types of adjectives make up the majority of adjectives in Spanish. Take a look at this unusual preview board with Spanish adjective endings now! If you search for an adjective in the dictionary, it is always in the singular masculine form, for example blanco. Adjectives in Spanish usually follow the patterns in this table to match the noun they describe. Adjectives ending in e or -ista do not change by gender. They coincide with the masculine and feminine nouns in the singular, although they change for the number. Spanish adjectives are usually listed in their singular masculine form in dictionaries, so it`s important to know how to match these masculine singular adjectives with the noun they describe. Most adjectives end with o, e or a consonant in their singular masculine forms. Below are the rules for matching these adjectives with their respective nouns in gender and number.
An explanation of how to use adjectives and match in Spanish Fourth, CHANGEez the end of each adjective so that it matches the noun both in gender (male or female) and in number (singular or plural). It is possible to make some masculine adjectives feminine by adding -A at the end when the words end with a consonant, but not in all cases, e.B. “Trabajador/Trabajadora” (right) and “Popular/Populara” (false). Most nationalities also change gender, including some that end with consonants such as “español->española”. Some adjectives are used for both sexes despite their ending, especially those ending in -E or consonants, for example: “an interesting libro”, “a fácil examination”, “a chico optimista/una chica optimista”. There are a few adjectives known as immutable adjectives that do not change shape. Most of them are either unusual colors or words of foreign origin. An example is web as in the página web (the website) and las páginas web (the websites). Sometimes a noun can be used as an immutable adjective, but this practice is much rarer in Spanish than in English. Spanish students will rarely need to use immutable adjectives, but you should be aware that they exist so that they don`t confuse you when you see them. But.
Some adjectives (ending in [-ista], [-e] or [-l]) do not replace [-a] and [-o] for masculine/feminine. Be careful! We will start this lesson with a video that explains the basic rules for using Spanish adjectives. The person in the video only speaks Spanish, but you can also enable the subtitles (cc) below to translate into English or check the script. This video contains some examples and notes that will be very useful to learn more about how Spanish adjectives work in the language. As their name suggests, descriptive adjectives have a certain quality of noun. Remember – the NOUN is the boss – adjectives always correspond to the noun in gender and number. Most adjectives must match the gender with the noun they change. When we describe a masculine noun as “Amigo”, we must also use a masculine adjective as “Honesto”. Just like nouns, Spanish masculine adjectives usually end with the -O vowel like “Bonito” and “Creativo”, e.B. “El niño es bonito y gordo”. In addition, some words ending in -R are also considered masculine adjectives. Congratulations – You have completed the grammar quiz: Spanish adjectives Gender agreement.
In Spanish, adjectives must correspond to the noun (or pronoun) they describe in gender and number. This means that if the noun describing an adjective is feminine, the adjective must be feminine, and if the same noun is also plural, the adjective will also be feminine AND plural. Nouns that end with all other consonants: These adjectives do NOT change gender! Las familias felices se divierten en la playa rocosa. (Happy families have fun on the rocky beach.) Felices is plural because familias is plural. The feminine form Rocosa is used because Playa is feminine. The and las are articles specific to the feminine. . Exception: Adjectives ending in -erior have no feminine form.
Ha sido un día largo entre muchas semanas largas. (It was a long day over long weeks.) The singular masculine largo is used with día because día is masculine and there is one, but the feminine plural largas is used with semanas because semana is female and there is more than one. One and muchas are indeterminate male or female items. .