Easy Learning Grammar SpanishGrammar | Dicionário | Vídeo | Tesauro | Escola | Tradutor | Scrabble | Blog
Cadastrar-se | Entrar
 
Easy Learning Spanish
Menu
Dicionário Vídeo Tesauro Escola Tradutor Gramática Scrabble Blog Cadastrar-se Entrar

Word order with adjectives - Easy Learning Grammar Spanish

  • When adjectives are used right beside the noun they are describing, they go BEFORE it in English. Spanish adjectives usually go AFTER the noun.
una corbata azula blue tie
una palabra españolaa Spanish word
la página siguientethe following page
la hora exactathe precise time
  • When you have two or more adjectives after the noun, you use y (meaning and) between the last two.
un hombre alto y delgadoa tall, slim man
  • A number of types of Spanish adjectives go BEFORE the noun:
  • demonstrative adjectives
este sombrerothis hat
  • possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su and so on)
mi padremy father
  • numbers
tres díasthree days
  • interrogative adjectives
¿qué hombre?which man?
  • adjectives used in exclamations
¡Qué lástima!What a pity!
  • indefinite adjectives
cada díaevery day
  • shortened adjectives
mal tiempobad weather
  • Some adjectives can go both BEFORE and AFTER the noun, but their meaning changes depending on where they go.
AdjectiveBefore NounExamplesAfter NounExamples
antiguoformerun antiguo colega a former colleagueold, ancientla historia antigua ancient history
diferentevariousdiferentes idiomas various languagesdifferentpersonas diferentes different people
grandegreatun gran pintor a great painterbiguna casa grande a big house
mediohalfmedio melón half a melonaveragela nota media the average mark
mismosamela misma respuesta the same answerself, very, preciselyyo mismo myself eso mismo precisely that
nuevonewmi nuevo coche my new car (= new to me)brand newunos zapatos nuevos some (brand) new shoes
pobrepoor (=wretched)esa pobre mujer that poor womanpoor (= not rich)un país pobre a poor country
viejoold (= long-standing)un viejo amigo an old friendold (= aged)esas toallas viejas those old towels
Grammar Extra!In Spanish, you can use el/la/uno/una with an adjective where in English you’d use the tall one, a red one and so on.
La camiseta verde está bien pero prefiero la roja.The green T-shirt is OK but I prefer the red one.
¿Quieres una taza grande o una pequeña?Would you like a big cup or a small one?
A él le gustan los edificios modernos pero yo prefiero los antiguos.He likes modern buildings but I prefer old ones.
  • The adjective must agree with the noun it refers to.
Key points
  • Most Spanish adjectives go after the noun.
  • Certain types of adjectives in Spanish go before the noun.
  • Some adjectives can go before or after the noun – the meaning changes according to the position in the sentence.
PreviousNext
Tabela de conteúdo
  • Nouns
    • Using nouns
    • Gender
    • Forming plurals
  • Articles
    • Different types of article
    • The definite article: el, la, los and las
    • The indefinite article: un, una, unos and unas
    • The article lo
  • Adjectives
    • Using adjectives
    • Making adjectives agree
    • Word order with adjectives
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives
    • Demonstrative adjectives
    • Interrogative adjectives
    • Adjectives used in exclamations
    • Possessive adjectives (1)
    • Possessive adjectives (2)
    • Indefinite adjectives
  • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns: subject
    • Personal pronouns: direct object
    • Personal pronouns: indirect object
    • Order of object pronouns
    • Further information on object pronouns
    • Pronouns after prepositions
    • Possessive pronouns
    • Indefinite pronouns
    • Relative pronouns
    • Interrogative pronouns
    • Demonstrative pronouns
  • Verbs
    • Overview of verbs
    • The present tenses
    • The present simple tense
    • ser and estar
    • The present continuous tense
    • The imperative
    • Reflexive verbs
    • The future tense
    • The conditional
    • The preterite
    • The imperfect tense
    • The perfect tense
    • The pluperfect or past perfect tense
    • The passive
    • The gerund
    • Impersonal verbs
    • The subjunctive
    • The infinitive
    • Prepositions after verbs
    • Verbal Idioms
  • Negatives
  • Questions
    • Asking questions in Spanish
  • Adverbs
    • How adverbs are used
    • How adverbs are formed
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs
    • Common adverbs
    • Position of adverbs
  • Prepositions
    • Using prepositions
    • a, de, en, para and por
    • Some other common prepositions
  • Conjunctions
    • y, o, pero, porque and si
    • Some other common conjunctions
    • Split conjunctions
  • Spelling
  • Stress
    • Which syllable to stress
    • The acute accent used to show meaning
  • Numbers
  • Time and date
Palavras Recentemente Sugeridas
hidden disability fev 15, 2019
shotgun (beer) fev 15, 2019
BTW fev 15, 2019
lewk fev 13, 2019
put oneself down fev 12, 2019
Sugerir Exibir mais
Create an account and sign in to access this FREE content
Register now or login in to access
Explorar o Easy Learning Grammar Spanish
  • A
  • C
  • D
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • Y
Exibir todos os dicionários...
  • Exibir mais
  • API
  • Parcerias B2B
  • Publicidade
  • Bancos de Palavras
  • Collins COBUILD
  • Collins ELT
  • Termos & Condições
  • Fale Conosco
  • Línguas
  • Inglês
  • Video
  • Tesauro
  • Gramática
  • Francês
  • Alemão
  • Espanhol
  • Italiano
  • Chinês
  • Português
  • Hindi
  • WotY
  • Scrabble
  • Promotion
  • Resources
  • School
  • Esta página em
  • Português
  • English
  • American
  • Italiano
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • हिंदी
  • 简体中文
© Collins 2019