Los adjetivos avanzados Español IV

Adjective agreement Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. If the masculine singular form ends in –o, the adjective has four forms: masculine feminine singular -o -a plural -os -as maravilloso maravillosa maravillosos maravillosas

Adjective agreement If the masculine singular form ends in a consonant or in –e, the adjective has two forms: a singular and a plural. They do not change for gender. triste tristes

Adjective agreement If the adjective ends in –dor, -ón, or -án, the adjective has four forms. Simply add an –a to form the feminine singular. The masculine plural is formed by adding –es. Any accents disappear in the plural. hablador habladora habladores habladoras

Adjective agreement Adjectives that show nationality typically have four forms, following the standard pattern above. If the nationality ends in –ense, there is two forms: a singular and a plural. americano americana americanos americanas canadiense canadienses

Placement of adjectives In most cases, you will place the adjective AFTER the noun it modifies. la chica bonita el hombre guapo

Placement of adjectives Bueno, malo, mejor, peor typically come before the noun. una buena comida el peor libro

Placement of adjectives Adjectives that express quantity precede the noun Hay varias soluciones. No hay suficiente dinero. mucho poco bastante suficiente cuánto alguno ninguno ambos varios

Placement of adjectives Adverbs (think of them as adjectives for verbs and other adjectives) usually follow the noun. una comida muy buena la chica más bonita más muy tan

Placement of adjectives The following adjectives lose their final –o before a masculine singular noun. ¿No conoces a ningún estudiante? Tuve un mal día. bueno malo primero tercero uno ninguno (shortens to ningún) alguno (shortens to algún)

Placement of adjectives The following adjectives shorten themselves before any singular noun: grande → gran cualquiera cualquier

Adjectives with different meanings BEFORE antiguo former cierto certain, some nuevo another mismo same pobre poor as in unfortunate gran great diferente various medio half pura nothing but… simple just a… cualquier any único only AFTER antiguo old, ancient cierto sure thing, true thing nuevo new mismo himself pobre poor as in penniless gran big diferente different medio average pura pure simple cualquier any old único unique

Using more than one adjective If you want to use more than one adjective to describe something: Typically, you join the two adjectives with y la chica inteligente y bonita If the adjective starts with the letter i, change the y to e la chica bonita e inteligente

Using more than one adjective If you leave out the y, you place the most important adjective at the end. la chica inteligente bonita (emphasizing her beauty) la chica bonita inteligente (emphasizing her intelligence) However, if one of the two adjectives should precede the noun, the noun is placed there. el pobre hombre enfermo

Comparatives Recall, if you want to compare two things you may use the following formulas: más (adjective) que menos (adjective) que tan (adjective) como

Comparatives The irregulars that don’t use this pattern. These adjectives only have two forms. bueno  mejor malo peor grande mayor pequeño menor

Comparatives You may also use the suffix –ísimo to state the idea of very. These adjectives still have four forms. Some spelling changes -co  -quísimo -go -guísimo -z -císimo