Study Guide in Foreign Language FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev.

0 03-June-2020

Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

Module No. 3

Spicing Up Your Descriptions with Adjectives and

Adverbs

MODULE OVERVIEW

This chapter illustrates how adjectives in Spanish are different from adjectives in English and
presents all that you need to know to use them properly. You also discover how to form and place
adverbs within Spanish sentences. Additionally, an explanation on how to compare and contrast
people, places, things, ideas, and activities is included.
.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
1. Determine the different forms and rules in the Spanish
adjectives and adverbs;
2. Identify the gender, singular and plural, possessive and
demonstrative forms of the Spanish adjectives;
3. Categorize the commonly used adverbs and rules on adverb
equality and inequality; and
4. Know all the changes that these adjectives undergo.

LEARNING CONTENTS

4.1.1. Adding colors with adjectives

The function of an adjective is to describe a noun or pronoun so that your audience gains a
better understanding of what that noun or pronoun is like. Is the house big? Are the trees green?
You should use adjectives frequently so that people will have the most information about, and the
best possible understanding of, what you want to describe.

4.1.2. The gender of adjectives

Spanish adjectives that end in -o, like most nouns, are masculine. As you may expect, a

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

masculine, singular adjective ending in -o forms its feminine counterpart by changing -o to -a.
The following table lists many common adjectives that you may find especially useful in
Spanish.

Masculine Feminine Meaning

Alto Alta Tall
Bajo Baja Short
Bonito Bonita Pretty
Delgado Delgada Thin
Feo Fea Ugly
Gordo Gorda Fat
Nuevo Nueva New
Rico Rica Rich
Viejo Vieja old
Example:
Mi primo Jaime es tímido, y mi prima Francisca es tímida también. (My cousin Jaime is shy, and
my cousin Francisca is shy, too.)

4.1.3. Exceptions to the rule

Every rule has some exceptions. In Spanish, masculine, singular adjectives may end in -a, -e,
or a consonant (other than -or).

Masculine Feminine Meaning

Egoista Egoista Egoistic
Pesimista Pesimista Pessimistic
Amable Amable Nice
Inteligente Inteligente Intelligent
Pobre Pobre Poor

Example:
Ana es amable, y Pablo es amable también. (Ana is nice, and Pablo is nice, too.)

And the adjectives end in consonants and undergo no change for gender.

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

Masculine Feminine Meaning

Cortes Cortes Courteous
Facil Facil Easy
Puntual Puntual Punctual
Joven Joven Young
Popular Popular Popular

4.1.4. The plural of adjectives

Singular Plural Meaning
Alto Altos Tall
Rubia Rubias Blondes
Barata Baratas Cheap
Moreno Morenos Dark-
haired
Toda Todas All

Second, you add -es to singular adjectives ending in a consonant:

Singular Plural Meaning

Facil Faciles Easy
Trabajador Trabajadores Hard-working

Just like with some nouns and pronouns, make sure to use the masculine form of the
adjective when speaking about mixed company (males and females, with no mind to number):
Mi hermana y mis hermanos son rubios. (My sister and my brothers are blond.)

4.1.5. Positioning adjectives

In Spanish, adjectives may precede or follow the noun they modify. Most adjectives follow
the noun. The placement depends on the type of adjective being used, the connotation the speaker
wants to convey, and the emphasis being used. And sometimes, when more than one adjective
describes a noun, the rules for placement vary according to the type of adjectives being used. For
example, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, and adjectives of quantity precede the
noun they modify, whereas descriptive adjectives generally follow the noun they modify. The
following sections dig deeper into these topics.

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives that follow the noun

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify. The descriptive
adjectives blanca, feos, and interesantes follow the noun:

una casa blanca (a white house)

dos gatos feos (two ugly cats)
algunas cosas (some interesting things)

Adjectives that precede the noun

Adjectives that impose limits — numbers, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives,

and adjectives of quantity — usually precede the noun they modify. The possessive adjective su
and the number una precede the noun, for instance:

su novia Francesa (his French girlfriend)

una compañía próspera (a successful company)

4.1.6. Possessive Adjectives

They denote possession or belonging.

The possessive adjectives in English are “my”, “your”, “his”, “her”, “our”, “your”, “their”
which tells who owns or possesses something. In Spanish, they are: mi/mis, tu/tus, su/sus,
nuestro/a, nuestros/as, vuestro/a, vuestros/as, su/sus.
Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
Mi amigo(My friend) Mis amigos(My friends)
Tu padre(Your parent) Tus padres(Your parents)
Su abuelo(your, his, her grandfather) Sus abuelo(your, his, her grandparents)
Nuestro tio(Our Nuestra tia(Our Nuestros tios (Our Nuestras tias(Our
uncle) aunts) uncles and aunts) aunts)
Vuestro Vuestra Vuestros Vuestras
hermano(Your hermana((Your sister) hermanos((Your brother hermanas(Your
brother) and sisters) sisters)
Su familia(Your/their family) Sus familias((Your/their families)

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As you can see, the possessive adjectives are same for both masculine and feminine except
in nostros/as and vosotros/as form. In these two forms it agrees not only with number but also
gender of the noun.

4.1.7. Demonstrative Adjectives

The demonstrative adjective is used to point out something or someone. In English, they
are: this, that, these, and those. In Spanish, the demonstrative adjectives change according to
number and gender of the noun. See the table below:

Masculine Feminine
Singular Este Esta This
Plural Estos Estas These
Singular Ese Esa That (a little far)
Plural Esos Esas Those (a little far)
Singular Aquel Aquella That (quite far)
Plural Aquellos Aquellas Those (quite far)

 Este/esta/estos/estas are used when the object is near the speaker. For example:

Este libro es muy famoso. This book is very famous.

Esta camisa es Buena This shirt is good.
Estos libros son muy famosos. These books are very famous.
Estas camisas son buenas. These shirts are good.

 Ese/esa/esos/esas are used when the object is a little far from the speaker. For example:

Ese chico es intelegente. That boy is intelligent.

Esa chica es guapa. That girl is pretty.
Esos chicos son inteligentes. Those boys are intelligent.
Esas chicas son guapas. Those girls are pretty.

 Aquel/aquella/aquellos/aquellas are used when the object is quite far from the speaker. For
example:
Aquel edificio es muy barato. That building is very cheap.
Aquellas casa es muy cara. That house is very expensive.
Aquellos edificios son muy baratos. Those buildings are very cheap.
Aquellas casas son muy caras. Those houses are very expensive.

Additional discussions on 100 Most Common Spanish Adjectives retrieved from

[Link]

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

2.1.1. Describing Actions with Adverbs

The function of an adverb is to describe a verb, another adverb, or an adjective. Does a
person run (very) quickly? Is her house very big? You use adverbs to express the manner in which
things are done.
2.1.2. Forming adverbs
Many English adverbs end in -ly, and the equivalent Spanish ending is -mente. To form an
adverb in Spanish, you add -mente to the feminine singular form of an adjective. Unlike adjectives,
which require agreement in gender and number with the noun they describe, adverbs require no
agreement because they modify a verb and not a noun or pronoun.

The following
example shows
an adverb in action:
Él entra
rápidamente, y ella sale rápidamente. (He enters quickly, and she leaves quickly.)

2.1.3. Adverbial phrases

Sometimes, forming an adverb in Spanish by using the feminine singular form of the
adjective is quite awkward. You can use the preposition con (with) + the noun to form an adverbial
phrase, which functions in the same way as an adverb. Here are some examples of how this works:
Con + noun Adverb Meaning
Con habilidad habilmante skillfully
Con pacencia pacientemente patiently
con rapidez rápidamente quickly
con respeto respetuosamente respectfully
Table 8

Here’s an example of this construction: Ella habla con respeto (respetuosamente). (She
speaks with respect [respectfully].)

2.1.4 Simple adverbs

Some adverbs and adverbial expressions aren’t formed from adjectives; they’re words or

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phrases in and of themselves. Below is a list of some of the most frequently used expressions that
fit this description.

Here’s an example of one of these phrases in use:

Él habla español bastante bien. (He speaks Spanish rather well.)

2.1.5. Positioning of adverbs

You generally place adverbs directly after the verb they modify. Sometimes, however, the
position of the adverb is variable and goes where you’d logically put an English adverb:
¿Hablas español elocuentemente? (Do you speak Spanish eloquently?)
Afortunadamente, yo recibí el paquete. (Fortunately, I received the package.)

2.1.6. Expressing equality

Comparisons of equality show that two things or people are the same. In Spanish, whether

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you’re using an adjective or an adverb, you make the comparison the same way. You use tan (as) +
adjective or adverb + como (as), as shown here:
Dolores es tan conscienzuda como Jorge. (Dolores is as conscientious as Jorge.)
Ella estudia tan diligentemente como él. (She studies as diligently as he does.)

You can make negative comparisons by putting no before the verb:

Tú no escuchas tan atentamente como Juan. (You don’t listen as attentively as Juan.)

2.1.7. Comparisons of inequality

Comparisons of inequality show that two things or people are not the same. As with
comparisons of equality, whether you’re using an adjective or an adverb, you make the comparison
the same way. You create the comparison of inequality with más (more) or menos (less):

más (menos) + adjective or adverb + que (than)

Here are two examples:

Diego es más (menos) hablador que yo. (Diego is more [less] talkative than I.)
Diego habla más (menos) que yo. (Diego talks more [less] than I.

2.1.8. Best of all: The superlative

The superlative shows that something (or someone) is the best or worst of its, his, or her
kind. You form the superlatives of adjectives as follows: Subject + verb + el (la, los, las) + más
(menos) (more [less]) + adjective + de (in)

Here’s an example:
Ella es la más alta de su clase. (She is the tallest in her class.)

If the sentence contains a direct object, you form the superlative by inserting the noun after el (la,
los, las):

Ella prepara la paella más deliciosa del mundo. (She prepares the best paella in the world.)

Now for the adverbs. Superlatives of adverbs aren’t distinguished from their comparative forms
(see the preceding comparison sections):

Él acepta críticas más (menos) pacientemente que los otros. (He accepts criticism more [less]

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

patiently than others.)

2.1.9. Irregular comparatives

As adjectives, bueno (good), malo (bad), grande (big), and pequeño (small) have irregular forms in
the comparative and superlative. Note that grande and pequeño each have two different meanings
in their comparative and superlative forms. The table below displays all the changes that these
adjectives undergo.

The adverbs bien (well) and mal (poorly) become mejor (better) and peor (worse),
respectively, in their comparative forms and follow the verb or verb phrase they modify:
Tomás juega al fútbol mejor que Javier. (Tómas plays soccer better than Javier.) Ella cocina
peor que yo. (She cooks worse than I do.)

LEARNING POINTS

At the end of this module, students were able to:

1. Know the adjectives to describe people, things, etc.;
2. Determine the correct placement of Adjectives
3. Identify the different forms and rules of adjectives
4. Practice the different forms, comparison and rules of adverbs

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activity No. 1
Write the correct possessive adjectives.

1. casas estan ubicadas en el norte de la cuidad.

2. Yo vivo con abuelos antes.
3. esposa esta felices de verte.
4. pelicula es muy bien.
5. chicos son intelegentes.
6. escuelas son muy viejas y baratas.
7. tienda pertenece a mi madre.
8. padres son muy amables.
9. Disfrute viendo el juego con amigos.
10. espectaculo es muy gracioso.

Activity No. 2

Write the masculine/feminine form of the following common adjectives.

Masculine Feminine

Rico

Pobre

Tonta

Caro

Loca

Fuerte

Dulce

Delgado

Feliz

Estupido

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Gruesa

Joven

Rapido

Vivo

Activity No. 3

Supply the correct comparison of equality in the following sentences:

1. Las nińas son _____ juguetonas _____los nińos.

2. No tengo tan energia ______ antes.
3. Tienes _______ libros _______ una liberiria.
4. Tu coche corre _____ rapido _____ su coche.
5. Mis hermanos son _______ altos _______ tu hermano.
6. Mi perro tiene _______ pelo _______ mi gato.
7. Marta tiene _______ dinero _______ Linda.
8. Scarlet hace _______ amigas _______ Emily.
9. El libro es _______ bueno _______ la pelicula.
10. Ellos duermen _______ poco _______.

Activity No. 4

Write the correct comparatives or superlatives of the following sentences:

1. La puerta es _______ roja que una cereza. mas

2. Mi coche es _______ caro de todos. El mas
3. Yo soy _______ que mi Hermana. mayor
4. Conduzco _______ que mi padre. Mejor I drive
5. Ustedes son _______ los estudientes en mi clase.

Activity No. 5

Write the correct comparatives or superlatives of the following sentences:

6. La puerta es _______ roja que una cereza.

7. Mi coche es _______ caro de todos.

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

8. Yo soy _______ que mi Hermana.

9. Conduzco _______ que mi padre. Mejor
10. Ustedes son _______ los estudientes en mi clase.

Activity No. 6

Encircle the correct adverb of frequency in the following sentences:

1. Visitamos a nuestra familia en Batanes muy _______.

a. A menudo b. never
2. _______ debes mirar en amabas diecciones antes de cruzar la calle.
a. Cada b. siempre
3. La interpretacion del solista fue de otro mundo. Grite ¡bravo! _______
a. A veces b. muchas veces
4. Quiero tener una charla con _______ uno de vosotros.
a. Cada b. siempre
5. Nuestra madre nos enseńo a _______ robar.
a. Cada b. nunca
6. Mi padre es muy organizado y _______ sigue una rutina.
a. Siempre b. a veces
7. Voy caminando a la escuela _______ los dias
a. Todos b. todas
8. He estado _______ in Baguio City.
a. Muchas veces b. a veces

REFERENCES

100 Most Common Spanish Adjectives Retrieved from [Link]

spanish-adjectives/

Gupta,S. & Ansari, N. (2015). Teach Yourself Spanish. New Delhi: Bharat Offset Works, New
Delhi.

Richmond, Dorothy (2009). Practice Makes Perfect Basic Spanish. New York: The McGraw Hill.
Retrieved: [Link]
[Link]

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Foreign Language 3-Spanish/FL 3 Module 3 Spicing Up your Descriptions with Adjectives and Adverbs

Stein, G. & Kraynak, C. (2010). Spanish Essentials for Dummies. Indiana: Wiley Publishing Inc.
Retrieved: [Link]

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