A1 · Adjectives
Agreement: gender and number
Four forms, and the noun's ending says which.
At a glance
- Remember
- The adjective carries the noun's gender with it — even at the far end of the sentence.
- Form
- rojo, roja, rojos, rojasin -o, four forms
- Signal words
- muy
- bastante
- demasiado
- poco
- tan
- Trap
- Wrong:Las casas son blanco.Right:Las casas son blancas.
Your turn
6 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself5 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Spanish.
| in -o, four forms | rojo, roja, rojos, rojas |
| in -e, two forms | grande, grandes |
| in a consonant, two forms | azul, azules |
| in -or/-ón, four forms | trabajador, trabajadora, trabajadores, trabajadoras |
| nationality in a consonant | español, española, españoles, españolas |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The adjective agrees with the noun wherever it stands in the sentence.
Las ventanas están abiertas.The windows are open.
Adjectives in -e or a consonant have no separate feminine.
Una calle grande y un parque grande.A big street and a big park.
Every adjective takes the plural: -s after a vowel, -es after a consonant.
Son coches azules y muy rápidos.They are blue cars and very fast.
With mixed genders the masculine plural is used.
El libro y la revista son nuevos.The book and the magazine are new.
Example sentences
Mi hermana es alta y muy tranquila.My sister is tall and very calm.
Los zapatos negros están debajo de la cama.The black shoes are under the bed.
Es una ciudad pequeña pero bastante cara.It is a small but rather expensive city.
Las dos ventanas están cerradas.Both windows are shut.
6 more example sentences
El café está frío.The coffee is cold.
Las sillas son cómodas.The chairs are comfortable.
Tenemos un piso pequeño y luminoso.We have a small, bright flat.
Mis abuelos están muy contentos.My grandparents are very pleased.
Es un examen difícil para todos.It is a difficult exam for everybody.
Compramos manzanas verdes.We buy green apples.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The commonest mistake is not in front of the noun but after the verb. English says «the houses are white» and the word never moves, so that habit travels. In Spanish the adjective has to follow there too: feminine and plural, so blancas.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
A Spanish adjective takes the gender and number of the noun it belongs to. There are two builds. Adjectives in -o have four forms: rojo, roja, rojos, rojas. Adjectives in -e or in a consonant have only two: grande and grandes, azul and azules — they follow the plural but not the gender.
The agreement holds everywhere, including when the adjective is far down the sentence: Las casas son blancas. That is where English speakers forget it, because in English the word sitting there is the same word as anywhere else.
If one adjective belongs to several nouns of different genders, the masculine plural wins. That is not a statement about the things but the language's rule for the mixed case.
How well do you know this topic?
This is filled in automatically after you practise. You can change it here at any time.
Next on the path: 11 · Subject pronouns: yo, túBack to the learning path
The verbs on this page, in every form: ser · estar