Spanish Adjectives

Spanish Adjectives

An adjective (adjetivo) in Spanish or in English is a word used to describe a noun (like size, color, shape...). If you already have an idea about adjectives you can scroll down to the Summary to refresh your memory, otherwise you can start with us from here:

An adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Similar to nouns, an adjective usually end in (~o) for masculine (plural ~os), and (~a) for feminine (plural ~as):

Spanish Adjectives

 

singular

plural

 

singular

plural

masculine

blanco

blancos

 

alto

altos

feminine

blanca

blancas

 

alta

altas

-Un hombre alto (a tall man) -Unos hombres altos ( tall men) -Muchos libros (many books)

-Una casa pequeña (a small house) - Unas chicas peligrosas (some dangerous girls) - Muchas cosas (many things)

 

There are also some adjectives whose masculine singular ends in a consonant and form the feminine by adding -a:

Un amigo frances (a French friend - male-)

Una amiga francesa (a French friend -female-)

 

Some other adjectives ending in a consonant take the same form for both masculine and feminine:
un chico joven (a young boy)
una chica joven (a young girl)
unos cantantes populares (some popular singers)
unas canciones populares (some popular songs)

Usually descriptive adjectives follow the nouns they modify:
una ciudad limpia (a clean city).

But the tricky part is that Spanish adjectives are different from English adjectives, in English adjectives are found before the noun they modify, while in Spanish usually they're found after the noun they modify. And also because in Spanish the adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

 

When they precede the noun, such adjectives change meaning, acquiring a less literal sense:
El mendigo es un hombre pobre. (A beggar is a poor man.)
But: El pobre hombre tiene muchos problemas (The poor guy has many problems)

See how the position can define the meaning intended in the sentence. The first “pobre” means someone who doesn’t have money, but the second “pobre” means someone who deserve pity, and has nothing to do with money.

In most cases adjectives precede the nouns they modify whenever they:
- Express an essential quality:
la dulce miel (the sweet honey)
las verdes hojas (the green leaves)
- Point out, limit or quantify:
este perro (this dog)
su hija (his/ her daughter)
menos caliente (less hot)
tres manzanas (three apples)


Adjectives can be used as nouns, in that case they take a definite article:
Los pobres tienen muchos problemas. (Poor people have many problems.)

Adjectives are occasionally used adverbially:
Jose vive feliz en su granja. (Jose lives happily in his farm.)

So in short these are some rules to follow about the Spanish Adjectives:

Most Spanish adjectives end in (-o), and in order to make them feminine, change the o to an (-a), to make them plural, add -os (plural masculine); or -as (plural feminine).

When the adjective ends in (-a) or (-e), no difference will be made between the masculine and feminine form, and the plural is created by adding (–s).

- pobre ( for both masc & fem singular) - pobres ( for both masc & fem plural)

- egoísta ( for both masc & fem singular) - egoístas ( both genders in plural)

When an adjective ends in any consonant except r, or z, there will be no difference between the masculine and feminine forms, and the plural can be created by adding -es.     

- débil (for both genders in singular)  - débiles (for both genders in plural).

When an adjective ends with z, no difference will be made to both genders in singular, but in the plural we have to switch z to c and then add the usual -es.

- feliz ( for both genders) - felices ( for both genders in plural)

When an adjective ends in r, the feminine is formed by adding an (-a), the masculine plural by adding -es and the feminine plural by adding -as.

- encantador ( masc singular) - encantadora (fem singular) - encantadores (masc plural)  - encantadoras (fem plural)

At the end of this page you will find a list of the most used 101 adjectives.


Summary of Spanish Adjectives

This is basically what you need to remember about adjectives, and the four forms they take:

Most Spanish adjectives end in o. To make them feminine, change the o to an a. To make them plural, add -os (plural masculine) or -as (plural feminine).

Spanish Adjectives

 

singular

plural

 

singular

plural

masculine

blanco

blancos

 

alto

altos

feminine

blanca

blancas

 

alta

altas

This is a list of some adjectives that you might find useful:

List of Adjectives in Spanish

ambitious

ambicioso

American

americano/ americana

annoying

pesado

argumentative

discutidor

bad

malo/ mala

bad-tempered

malhumorado

beautiful

hermoso/ hermosa

big, large

grande

blonde

rubio/ rubia

boring

aburrido

brave

valiente

brunette, tanned skin

moreno/ morena

carefree

despreocupado

careless

descuidado, poco cuidadoso

cautious

prudente, cauteloso, cauto;

certain

cierto

charming

encantador

cheerful

alegre, jovial

Chinese

chino/ china

comical, funny

cómico

conceited

presumido

conservative

conservador

conventional

convencional

coward

cobarde

crazy, nuts

loco, chiflado

cruel

cruel

difficult, hard

difícil

disagreeable

antipático

dull, boring

soso, aburrido

easy

fácil

English

inglés/ inglésa

fat

gordo/ gorda

few, a little

poco

French

francés/ francésa

frequent

frecuente

friendly

amigable, agradable

fun, amusing

divertido

general

general

generous

generoso

German

alemán/ alemána

good

bueno/ buena

handsome

guapo/ guapa

hard-working

trabajador

high, tall

alto/ alta

honest

honesto

intelligent

inteligente

interesting

interesante

kind

amable

laid-back

tranquilo, relajado

lazy

perezoso, vago

little, small

pequeño/ pequeña

low, short

bajo/ baja

loyal

fiel

mean

tacaño

modest

modesto

moody

de humor cambiante

naive

ingenuo, inocentón

narrow-minded

de mentalidad cerrada, intolerante

new

nuevo/ nueva

nice (person)

simpático/ simpática

old

viejo / vieja

open-minded

de actitud abierta, sin prejuicios

perfect

perfecto

personal

personal

pious

piadoso

polite

cortés, educado

poor

pobre

possible

posible

pretty

bonito/ bonita

professional

profesional

proud

orgulloso

rapid, fast

rápido

realistic

realista

recent

reciente

reliable

fiable, confiable

rich

rico/ rica

sad

triste

self-confident

seguro de sí mismo

selfish

egoísta

sensitive

sensible

shy - introverted

tímido, vergonzoso - introvertido

silly, dumb

tonto/ tonta

skinny

flaco/ flaca

slender, slim

delgado/ delgada

slow

lento

small

chiquita

Spanish

español/ española

strict

estricto, severo, riguroso

strong

fuerte

stubborn

terco, testarudo, tozudo

sympathetic (understanding)

comprensivo

talkative

conversador, hablador

trustworthy

digno de confianza

two-faced, fake

falso

ugly

feo/ fea

various

diverso

weak

débil

weird

raro, extraño

white

blanco

young

joven

More Spanish adjectives can be found in the Vocabulary 4000 section.


Audio - Listen to Spanish Adjectives Pronunciation

Spanish Adjectives

Grande
Big
PequeñoSmall
AltoTall
BajoShort
LargoLong
JovenYoung
ViejoOld
FelizHappy
TristeSad
DifícilDifficult
FacilEasy
AburridoBoring
EmocionadoExciting
EmbarazadaPregnant
LimpioClean
SucioDirty
LlenoFull
VacíoEmpty
NuevoNew
UsadoUsed
CalienteHot
FríoCold
CaroExpensive
BaratoCheap
DuroHard
SuaveSoft
PeligrosoDangerous
SeguroSafe
BuenoGood
MaloBad

This is just a short list of adjectives in Spanish. Any of the adjectives that end in “o” can be changed to end in “a” if you are describing a feminine thing or female person.

Note: adjectives in Spanish come after the noun. However, some adjectives like “bueno”, “malo”, and “nuevo” can be moved around and are more flexible to potentially go before the noun. For example, “good grades” is “buenas notas”.

Examples:
  • Me gusta el carro grande. (I like the big car.)
  • El niño joven tiene dientes limpios. (The young boy has clean teeth.)
  • La clase aburrida me aburra. (The boring class bores me.)


To exaggerate an adjective, for example “the really expensive car”, add –ísimo to the end of the adjective.

Examples:
  • El carro carísimo (the really expensive car)
  • Ella es segurísima. (She is really safe.)
  • El exámen facilísimo (the really easy test)


I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Spanish Adjectives, consonants and vowels. Try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. Make sure to check our Learn Spanish page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.

Phrases

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Nouns

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Adverbs

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Adjectives

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Definite & Indefinite Articles

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Regular Verbs

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Irregular Verbs

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Pronouns

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Prepositions

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Tenses

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Moods

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Subjunctive

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Comparatives

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Writing Letters

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Direct & Indirect Object

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Ser vs. Estar, Tener vs. Hay

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Miscellaneous

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Questions, Negation & Exclamation

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Conjunction & Contractions

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Numbers

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Spanish Test (PDF)

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Alphabet

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Verbs

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Vocabulary

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