SPA111 Fall 2012 Adjectives

ADJECTIVES: POSITION of DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES; AGREEMENT of NUMBER and GENDER An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun, while there are different kinds of adjectives; this section focuses only on DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES. In English, a descriptive adjective does not change. The red school, the red car, the red shirts, the red birds All of things, no matter how different they are, are all big. In Spanish, the descriptive adjective must agree in number and in gender with the noun it modifies. Feminine singular la escuela roja Masculine singular el auto rojo Feminine plural las camisas rojas Masculine plural los pájaros rojos Usually in Spanish adjectives that describe qualities come AFTER the noun it modifies. I like to tell my students that here in America we tend to highlight the description. Bob has a new, candy-apple red, 5spd, Mustang GT, 2008…car. Whereas in the rest of the world, in this case Spanish the most important thing is the car, all of those excessive words to describe the car are extra. A DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVE can precede a noun when it is describing 1.quantity, describing a 2.quality that is intrinsic, expresses an 3.opinion, and used for 4.emphasis. 1. Hay muchas personas en esta clase. 2. Los altos picos son bonitos. 3. Este es la mejor clase. 4. La pobre chica no tiene comida.