Lección 3 - Estructura 3.1 - Tutorial Notes on Descriptive Adjectives in Spanish PDF

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Lección 3 - Estructura 3.1 - Tutorial Notes on Descriptive Adjectives in Spanish...

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Lección 3 – Estructura 3.1 Interactive Tutorial: Descriptive Adjectives

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Descriptive adjectives are used with -ser to describe nationality, size, color, shape, personality, and appearance. o Unlike adjectives in English which have one form Spanish adjectives changes form to agree in gender and number with the nouns and pronouns they describe.  Examples:  Juan es simpatico. (Juan is nice)  Elena es simpática. (Elena is nice)  Ellos son simpáticos. (They are nice) o Adjectives that end in -o have four different forms:  Masculine  Alto (singular)  Altos (plural)  Feminine  Alta (singular)  Altas (plural) o Examples:  El muchacho alto/ La muchacha alta  Los muchachos altos/ Las muchachas altas o Adjectives that end in -e or a consonant have the same masculine and feminine forms  Examples:  El chico inteligente/ La chica inteligente  Los chicos inteligentes/ Las chicas inteligentes  El examen difícil/ La examen difícil  Los exámenes difíciles/ Las clases difíciles o Note that for adjectives that end in a consonant the plural is formed by adding -es o Adjectives that end in -or vary in both gender and number  Examples:  El hombre trabajador/ La mujer trabajadora  Los hombres trabajadores/ Las mujeres trabajadoras o Use the masculine plural form to refer to groups that include both males and females  Examples:  Manuel es alto  Lola es alta

 Manuel y Lola son altos o Here are some common adjective to use to describe size:  Alto/a (tall)  Bajo/a (short in height)  Delgado/a (thin)  Gordo/a (fat)  Grande (big)  Pequeño/a (small) o Use these adjectives to describe appearance:  Bonito/a (pretty)  Guapo/a (good-looking)  Feo/a (ugly)  Moreno/a (brunet(te))  Pelirrojo/a (red-haired)  Rubio/a (blond(e)) o Use these adjectives to describe what someone is like:  Simpatico/a (nice)  Antipático/a (unpleasant)  Joven (young)  Viejo/a (old)  Inteligente (intelligent)  Tonto/a (foolish)  Trabajador(a) (hard-working) o Note that Joven has an accent when in plural form  Example:  Los primos son jóvenes. (The cousins are young) o Some more common adjectives to know:  Bueno/a (good)  Malo/a (bad)  Fácil (easy)  Difícil (difficult)  Importante (important)  Interesante (interesting)  Mucho/a (much, many, a lot of) o Spanish adjectives of nationality aren’t capitalized:  argentino/a (Argentine)  chino/a (Chinese)  Cubano/a (Cuban)  ecuatoriano/a (Ecuadorian)  italiano/a (Italian)  mexicano/a (Mexican)  norteamericano/a (North American)

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 puertorriqueño/a (Puerto Rican)  ruso/a (Russian) Adjectives of nationality can plural by adding an -os or -as at the end. However, some adjectives of nationality end in an -e  canadiense (Canadian)  costarricense (Costa Rican)  estadounidense (from the U.S.) When these adjects are pluralized just and an -s at the end Some adjectives of nationality end in a consonant  alemán, alemana (German)  español(a) (Spanish)  francés, francesa (French)  inglés, inglesa (English)  japonés, japonesa (Japanese) If the adjective has an accent, then that accent is dropped in the feminine and plural forms Descriptive adjectives and adjectives of nationality usually follow the nouns they modify  Examples:  El niño rubio es de España. (The blond boy is from Spain)  La mujer española habla inglés. (The Spanish woman speaks English) However, adjectives of quantity come before the noun  Examples: 

Hay muchos libros en la biblioteca. (There are many books in the library)

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Hablo con dos turistas puertorriqueños. (I am talking with two Puerto Rican tourists)

o Bueno and malo are special because they can go before or after a noun. When they come before a masculine singular noun they are shortened to buen and mal 

Examples: 

Joaquín es un buen amigo.

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Joaquín es un amigo Bueno. o Joaquín is a good friend

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Hoy es un mal día

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Hoy es un día malo o Today is a bad day

o Grande can also come before or after a noun. When is becomes before any singular noun it’s shortened to gran and the meaning changes to “great” 

Examples: 

Don Francisco es un gran hombre. (Don Francisco is a great man)

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La familia de Inés es grande. (Inés’s family is large)...