Spanish: An Essential Grammar

As in English, adjectives assign a property or characteristic to a noun. They

can appear next to a noun, as in un niño listo ‘a clever boy’, or after verbs

such as ser/estar ‘to be’, as in El niño es listo ‘The boy is clever’.

Gender

Adjectives ending in -o

If the masculine form ends in -o, the feminine form ends in -a:

blanco (masc.) blanca (fem.) white

Adjectives ending in -ón, -án, -ín and -or

Usually an -a is added to the masculine form to create the feminine:

llorón llorona crybaby

holgazán holgazana lazy

emprendedor emprendedora enterprising

parlanchín parlanchina chatty

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Chapter 6 Adjectives

Key differences between Spanish and English adjectives

1 Adjectives in English are invariable, whereas in Spanish they

usually agree with nouns in gender and number: un cojín rojo‘a

red cushion’ but unas camisetas rojas‘some red T-shirts’.

2 Spanish adjectives are commonly placed after the noun rather

than before: una montaña alta‘a high mountain’.