1 What is the meaning of Agreement of Adjectives?
The form of the adjective shown is generally the masculine (Ex Brother) and singular form. This required change to Feminine (Ex. Sister) form to make it agree with person or thing the noun/pronoun is referring to. Refer to detailed lesson about Using Nouns or Gender of Nouns in Spanish here.2 Examples:- Masculine changing to Feminine for singular adjectives ending in –o by changing to –a.
Pequeño (Brother) Changes to Pequeña (Sister).
Note:- Change of O to A from Masculine i.e Brother to Feminine i.e Sister.
Please note below Exceptions to the Rule of Change from Masculine to Feminine
| Rule1 | Masculine singular adjectives ending in any vowel other than –o (including a,e, i or u) do not change for feminine singular. |
| Rule2 | Masculine singular adjectives ending in a consonant generally do not change for feminine singular |
Its important to refer to correct for of gender especially in writing letters or creating your resume in Spanish.
Meaning of Consonant: A Consonant means any letter other than a vowel.
Adjectives ending in a consonant do NOT change for the feminine except in the following cases:
| Adjectives of nationality or place ending in a consonant add -a for the feminine. If there is an accent on the final vowel in the masculine, they lose this in the feminine. |
| The French Team | el equipo frances |
| French Cooking | la cocina francesa |
| Spanish Wine | el vino espanol |
| The Spanish Language | la lengua espanola |
|
Adjectives ending in -or in the masculine usually change to -ora for the feminine.
| Note that a few adjectives ending in -or used in comparisons - such as Mejor (meaning better, best), Peor (meaning worse, worst), Mayor (meaning older, bigger), Superior (meaning upper, top), inferior (meaning lower, inferior) as well as Exterior (meaning outside, foreign) and Posterior (meaning rear) do not change in the feminine. |
Adjectives ending in -an, -on and -in in the masculine change to -ana, -ona and -ina (without an accent) in the feminine.
| A Mocking Gesture | un gesto burlon |
| A Mocking Smile | un sonrisa burlona |
| A Chatty Man | un hombre parlanchin |
| A Chatty Woman | una mujer parlanchina |
Adjectives ending in a consonant but which do not fall into the above categories do NOT change in the feminine.
Adjectives ending in a consonant in the masculine of feminine singular add -es in the plural. If there is an accent on the FINAL syllable in the singular, they lose it in the plural.
| A very chatty boy | un chico muy hablador |
| Some very chatty boys | unos chicos muy habladores |
| A French Painter | un pintor frances |
| Some French Painters | unos pintores frenceses |
| An Easy Exam | un examen facil |
| Some Easy Exams | unos examenes faciles |
| The Current Trend | la tendencia actual |
| The Current Trens | las tendencias actuales |
| A Happy Day | un dia feliz |
| Happy Days | unos dias felices |
| Tip: When an adjective describes a mixture of both masculine and feminine nouns, use the masculine plural form of the adjective. |
| Bread and Fruit are cheap | El pan y la fruta son baratos |
Adjectives ending in an accented vowel in the singular add -es in the plural.
A small number of adjectives do not change in the feminine or plural. They are called invariable because their form NEVER changes, no matter what they are describing. These adjectives are often made up of more than one word - for example azul marino (meaning navy blue) - or come from the names if things - for example naranja (meaning orange).
The Following adjectives drop the final -o before a masculine singular noun.
| bueno | buen | un buen libro | A Good Book |
| malo | mal | mal tiempo | Bad Weather |
| alguno | algun | algun libro | Some Book |
| ninguno | ningun | ningun hombre | No Man |
| uno | un | un dia | One Day |
| primero | primer | el primer hijo | The First Child |
| tercero | tercer | el tercer hijo | The Third Child |
| Note that the adjectives alguno and ninguno add accents when they are shortened to become algun and ningun. |
ciento (meaning a hundred) changes to cien before all plural nouns as well as before mil (meaning thousand) and millones (meaning millions).
| A Hundred Years | cien anos |
| A Hundred Million | cien millones |
| A Hundred Thousand Euros | cien mil euros |
Note that you use the form ciento before other numbers.
| One Hundred and Three | ciento tres |
Grande (meaning big great) is shortened to Green before a singular noun.
KEY POINTS:
un chico espanol
una chica espanola
unos chicos espanoles
unas chicas espanolas
cualquiera drops the final a before any noun.
Spanish Comparatives And Superlatives Of Adjectives
