Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

2.6 Agreement classes of adjectives

There are several diferent patterns of agreement for adjectives in Spanish:

Class 3. A large number of adjectives ending in a consonant in the masculine singular,

especially those ending in -or when this denotes an agent, -án, the suffixes -ón and -ín,

and adjectives denoting nationality or membership of another grouping. The common

link is that such adjectives are typically used of people, and are very often used as nouns

in their own right:

Class 4. An increasing number of words used adjectivally in modern Spanish have no

distinct agreement forms. Among these are:

Class 1. Masculine singular ending in -o:

Singular Plural

Masculine bueno buenos

Feminine buena buenas

Class 2. Masculine singular ending in -e, a consonant or a stressed vowel (but there are

many exceptions, constituted by Group 3 below):

Singular Plural

Masculine triste tristes

Feminine triste tristes

Singular Plural

Masculine feliz felices

Feminine feliz felices

Singular Plural

Masculine israelí israelíes

Feminine israelí israelíes

Singular Plural

Masculine español españoles

Feminine española españolas

Singular Plural

Masculine inglés ingleses

Feminine inglesa inglesas

Singular Plural

Masculine hablador habladores

Feminine habladora habladoras

Agreement classes of adjectives 2.6