Spanish Reference Grammar - Nouns, articles, adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives are used to describe, or in grammatical terms to qualify, nouns and other expressions.  

In English, adjectives precede the noun unless for special effects. 

In Spanish, the general rule is that most adjectives when used literally to define a noun follow the noun. Adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun they are qualifying. 

A few adjectives always precede the noun:

*Note: In Spanish 'un(a)' ('one', 'a', 'an') cannot precede 'otro/a'. So, for example, 'another book' is simply 'otro libro' with no 'un' in front. 'The other book', however, is 'el otro libro'.

Dropping the 'o' in adjectives

A few common adjectives drop the final 'o' when used immediately in front of a masculine singular noun. This is called apocopation.

*Note: Spanish makes no distinction between 'a' and 'one'. So 'Tengo un hermano' can mean 'I have a brother' or 'I have one brother'.

In answer to the question '¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?' (How many brothers do you have?') the answer could be 'Tengo un hermano' or 'Tengo uno'. In the latter case, 'uno' is used as there is no noun following.

Behaviour of some other adjectives

'Grande' is shortened to 'gran' when used before both masculine and feminine singular nouns, usually with the meaning of 'great'. For example: 'un gran hombre' is 'a great man'. Compare 'el río grande' - 'the big river'. 

In addition, all of the possessive adjectives such as 'mi', 'tu', 'su' naturally precede the noun. (see below)

Adjective agreement

Adjectives agree with the noun which they qualify.

That is, if a noun is feminine singular, the adjective which qualifies it must be made feminine singular. If a noun is masculine plural, any adjective in agreement must also be masculine plural. 

The form of the adjective which appears in a dictionary is the masculine singular form. If the adjective ends in an 'o', change the 'o' to an 'a' to make it feminine. If the adjective ends in an 'e' or a consonant, there is no change. However, adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant do add an 'a'. For example: 

• 'escocés' (Scottish, masculine)
• 'escocesa' (Scottish, feminine)

To make adjectives plural, add 's' to the singular if it ends in a vowel, or 'es' if it ends in a consonant. For example:

• Un hombre rico - hombres ricos (a rich man/rich men)
• Un libro interesante - libros interesantes (an interesting book/interesting books)
• Un coche azul - coches azules (a blue car/blue cars)
• Una casa blanca - casas blancas (a white house/white houses)
• Una chica inteligente - chicas inteligentes (a clever girl/clever girls)
• Una lección difícil - lecciones difíciles (a difficult lesson/difficult lessons)

Note: only 'nuestro' and 'vuestro' have feminine forms.

Examples: 

'Mi libro'/'mis libros' - 'my book'/'my books'

'Nuestra casa'/'nuestras casas' - 'our house'/'our houses'

'Su casa', out of context, could have various meanings - for example:

• his house
• her house
• your (formal singular) house
• their house
• your (formal plural) house

It may be necessary to clarify the possessor by saying, for example:

• 'la casa de usted' - 'your [formal singular] house' or
• 'la casa de ellos' - 'their house'.

A note about pronouns

The 'usted' and 'ellos' used in the phrases above are pronouns, which are not used frequently in Spanish (see Subject pronouns in the Verbs section).

After a preposition, the 'yo' and 'tu' pronouns become 'mí' and 'tí'.

How subject pronouns change after prepositions

Examples:

• para mí - for me
• pienso an tí - I think about you
• sin nosotros - without us

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