UNIT SEVEN

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives

An Adjective is a word which describes attributes or characteristics of a person, place or thing

(i.e. a noun) for example:

a black dog
(‘dog’ is the noun, ‘black’ is the adjective describing the noun)

an aggressive person
(‘person’ is the noun, ‘aggressive’ is the adjective describing the noun)

an exciting city
(‘city’ is the noun, ‘exciting’ is the adjective describing the noun)

Adjectives in Spanish usually change their endings to match the number and gender of the
noun they are describing.

Adjectives ending in -o in the masculine singular normally have three other forms:

masculine singular rojo un coche rojo

masculine plural rojos unos coches rojos
feminine singular roja una rosa roja
feminine plural rojas unas rosas rojas

Adjectives ending in -e have no separate feminine form in the singular of plural:

masculine singular inteligente un niño inteligente

feminine singular inteligente un niña inteligente
masculine plural inteligentes unos niños inteligentes
feminine plural inteligentes unas niñas inteligentes

Similarly, adjectives that end in a consonant usually have no separate feminine form in the
singular or plural:

masculine singular gris un gato gris

feminine singular gris una silla gris
masculine plural grises unos zapatos grises
feminine plural grises unas cortinas grises
Note: There is a small group of adjectives that end in a consonant but which have a feminine
form. This form is produced by adding -a to the masculine singular form. This small group of
adjectives are those that end in -án, -ón or -or:

Masculine Feminine

hablador habladora talkative

prometedor prometedora promising
dormilón dormilóna sleepy
holgazán holgazána lazy

The plurals of these adjectives are formed in the normal way – i.e. by adding -s or -es as
appropriate. Notice the disappearance of stress marks in some of the feminine forms when the
extra syllable brings them into line with the normal rules of stress.

This rule, however, does not apply to comparatives (‘better’, ‘bigger’, ‘higher’, etc.) even though
they end in -or:

e.g. major better

peor worse
superior higher
inferior lower
interior inner
exterior outer
una casa major a better house
una profesion superior a higher profession

Any adjective that indicates geographical origin or location will have a feminine singular form in
-a even if it ends in a consonant, and a feminine plural form in -as:

e.g. un chico español a Spanish boy

una chica española a Spanish girl
unos señores españoles some Spanish men
unas señoras españolas some Spanish ladies

Similarly:

francés/francesa/ franceses/ francesas French

catalán/catalana/catalanes/catalanas Catalan
andaluz/andaluza/andaluces*/andaluzas etc. Abdalousian

*Notice the spelling change from z to c to conform to the normal rules of pronunciation
 The Position of Adjectives

The most common position of adjectives is after the noun but they are sometimes found in
front. Unfortunately, there are no rigid rules governing the position of adjectives but some
general guidelines can be given.

The most common function of adjectives is to distinguish one or more things from others that
belong to the same class but are different in respect of the adjective being used. For example,
‘the blue car’ distinguishes this car from other cars that are not blue; ‘excellent ideas’
distinguishes one set of ideas from others that are not excellent. These are called ‘restrictive’
adjectives.

In Spanish, these ‘restrictive’ adjectives are generally placed after the noun:

e.g. el coche azul

ideas excelentes

Sometimes, the adjective is used to describe the class of noun as a whole rather than
distinguish between nouns in the same class – i.e. it is seen as an inherent characteristic of the
noun rather than something that distinguishes it from other nouns in its class – e.g. ‘white
snow’ (snow is always white, therefore, the adjective ‘white’ is not distinguishing it from other
types of snow).

These ‘non-restrictive’ adjectives are often placed in front of the noun, although this is not
obligatory:

e.g. la blanca nieve the white snow

los fríos días de invierno the cold winter days

As a general rule, it can be said that the more important the adjective the more likely it is to
come after the noun, and the more redundant, the more likely it is to come in front.

Some adjectives, when used before the noun, may express the speaker’s judgement rather than
an established fact. This is often the case with bueno (good), malo (bad), nuevo (new), viejo
(old) and pequeño (small).

e.g. nuevas ideas new ideas

(ones you judge to be new)
un coche nuevo a new car
(brand new – a fact, not a judgement)
una pequeña diferencia a slight difference
(in your judgement)
una casa pequeña a small house
 (a fact – the house is small)

The rules about the position of adjectives are not clear cut, but observation of their use by
native speakers will help.

A few adjectives have different meanings depending on their positions. The most common is
grande. This adjective can mean ‘big’ in either position but when it means ‘great’ it is normally
found in front of the noun:

e.g. un gran* hombre a great man

un hombre grande a big man

*Note that grande is shortened to gran when it comes immediately before a singular noun.
Other adjectives whose meaning varies according to their position are:

vejo un viejo amigo a former friend

un amigo Viejo an old friend (advanced in years)
pobre un pobre hombre a poor man (to be pitied)
un hombre pobre a poor man (he has no money)
cierto en cierta ocasion on certain occasion (particular)
un hecho cierto a certain fact (beyond doubt)

A few common adjectives behave like grande and lose their final vowel when used before a
masculine singular noun:

bueno un buen chico but una buena idea

malo un mal asunto but una mala idea
primero el primer libro but la primera vez
tercero el tercer capitulo but la tercera semana
alguno algún día but alguna vez
ninguno ningún dinero but de ninguna manera
 Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe the action of the verb, i.e. they give further information about
how, when or why the action is being done. The most common type of adverbs are
circumstance of adverbs, which answer the question ‘how’?:

e.g. John ran quickly down the road.

‘Quickly’ tells us how John ran and so it is an adverb (in this case a ‘circumstance’ adverb).
Other examples of circumstance adverbs are: ‘slowly’, ‘well’, ‘badly’, ‘easily’, etc. Some adverbs
refer to the whole sentence rather than just to the verb:

e.g. Fortunately, John could swim.

‘Fortunately’ does not tell us anything about how John could swim, rather it refers to the whole
sentence ‘John could swim’. This type of adverb is called a sentence adverb.

Adverb can generally be formed in Spanish from their corresponding adjective by simply adding
-mente to the feminine singular form of the adjective:

e.g. adjective rápido quick

adverb rápidamente quickly
adjective afortunado fortunate
adverb afortunamente fortunately

If the adjective does not have a distinctive feminine form, the -mente is added to the common
singular form:

e.g. adjective fuerté strong

adverb fuertemente strongly

Some adverbs do not follow this rule and you will just have to learn them as you come across
them. The most common irregular adverbs are:

bien well
mal badly
 Vocabularies

arquitecto architect guante (m) glove

bañador (m) swimsuit inacabado unfinished
barato cheap inútil useless
bufanda (f) scarf limpio clean
calcetín (m) sock maravilla (f) marvel
capítulo (m) chapter ordenador (m) computer
caro expensive pantalón (m) trousers
catedral (f) cathedral paso (m) step
chaqueta (f) jacket paciente patient
cuero (m) leather película (f) film
delgado thin piso (m) floor (in a building)
episodio (m) episode sucio dirty
estropeado broken templo (m) temple
fila (f) row vago lazy
gordo fat