Descriptive adjectives

1. Descriptive adjectives Pluralization, gender, agreement, and meaning

2. Pluralization • We add a “s” to adjectives that end with a non-accented vowel: • We add an “es” to adjectives that end in a consonant or an accented vowel: • If an adjective ends with the letter “z”, then we erase the “z” and add “ces”:

3. Gender • The majority of the adjectives that end with “a” are feminine. • Una gente diversa • Una persona honesta • The majority of the adjectives that end with “o” are masculine. • Un país muy diverso • Un hombre honesto • Adjectives ending in “ista” o “ta” can be masculine or feminine. • Un hombre idealista, la mujer idealista • Los países capitalistas, las compañías capitalistas • El político demócrata, la organización demócrata • Adjectives ending in “e” or a consonant do not express gender—they only have two forms “singular” and “plural”. • Una profesora inteligente, un profesor inteligente, las niñas inteligentes, los estudiantes inteligentes • Una persona útil, un carro útil, unas herramientas útiles, unos trucos útiles • A group of adjectives that ends with a consonant (those that express nationality or end with “dor”), have a special feminine ending. • Una estudiante alemana • Dos novelas españolas • Una persona muy trabajadora

4. Agreement • Adjectives and nouns agree in grammatical number and gender. • Rosas rojas • Clavel perfumado • An adjective that refers to two or more nouns needs to be pluralized. • Cielo, paisaje y mar sureños.   • Canción y copla nostálgicas. • An adjective that refers to two nouns with different genders has to take the masculine gender. • Viento y lluvia huracanados.   • Romance y balada antiguos.

5. Agreement: Special Cases • The adjective with two forms (the short preceding form and long suceding form). • There is a group of adjectives that have two forms. We use the short form before a noun and the long form after the noun. • Un buen hombre / un hombre bueno • Un gran evento / un evento grande • Un mal agüero / un agüero malo • The adjective “santo” • We use “Santo” only when the word procedes a name that begins with “To” o “Do” • San Juan • Santo Tomás • Santo Domingo • An adjective that modifies various nouns: • A suceding adjective agrees in singular with the collective noun or in plural with the complement of a noun. • Tropel de palabras injusto, impropio.   (con el sustantivo colectivo) • Tropel de palabras injustas, impropias. (con el complemento del sustantivo) • A preceding adjective that modifies various nouns. • The adjective agrees only with the noun that is closest to it in proximity. • la preceptiva autorización y control médicos • The adjective agrees in number with both nouns only when it refers to two people. • los simpáticos Paco y Toni • saluda a sus futuras esposa y suegra • A adjective that refers to particular types of the same class or entity. • When an adjective refers to different types of the same class or entity (expressed by a plural noun), then the must agree in gender and number with the affected entity. • las razas blanca y negra

6. Location and descriptive meaning • Adjectives almost always follow the noun that they describe in Spanish, because they are restricted to describing its “real” or objectively observable” characteristics. • Un amigo bueno • Una voz rara • Unos carros verdes • When we express “quantity”, however, we have to make sure the adjective precedes the noun it describes. • Primer viaje • Varios amigos • Poco tiempo • Otra lección • Algún día • Esta camisa / aquél sombrero • Also, if we want to call attention to a noun for “explicative” or “emotional” reasons, we need to place the adjective before the noun. • El extravagante negociante • El mejor amigo • La conocida escritora • La blanca nieve (sentido poético)