3.2: Adjectives
- Page ID
- 415626
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Adjectives add information about nouns or pronouns. They can either limit the quantity or describe. There are many more adjectives that describe than those that limit.
In Spanish, adjectives that limit the quantity of a noun or pronoun precede the noun. Adjectives that describe go after the noun or pronoun.
Some common examples of adjectives that limit are: definite articles, indefinite articles, demonstratives, numbers, possessive pronouns, and words that quantify. Adjectives that quantify are words like alguien, bastante, cada, cierto, demasiado, mucho, ningún, otro, poco, todo, varios.
The definite articles: are el, la, los, las.
The indefinite articles: are un, una, unos, unas.
The demonstrative adjectives: are este, esta, estos, estas, ese, esa, esos, esas, aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas.
The possessive pronouns: are mi, mis, tu, tus, su, sus, nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras, vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras.
Some common descriptive adjectives are:
abierto open
aburrido boring
alegre happy
alto tall
bajo short
barato inexpensive
bonito pretty
bueno good
caliente hot
caro expensive
cerrado closed
claro light
débil weak
despacio slow
divertido fun
feliz happy
feo ugly
frío cold
fuerte strong
grande big
guapo handsome
interesante interesting
joven young
limpio clean
malo bad
nervioso nervous
nuevo new
ocupado busy
oscuro dark
peligroso dangerous
pequeño small
perezoso lazy
pobre poor
rápido fast, quick
rico rich
seguro safe
sucio dirty
tarde late
temprano early
tranquilo calm
triste sad
viejo old
Colors are descriptive adjectives and are placed after nouns, like the other descripitive adjectives.
amarillo yellow
anaranjado orange
azul blue
blanco white
gris grey
morado purple
marrón brown
negro black
rojo red
rosado pink
verde green
The adjectives claro mean light and oscuro mean dark and can be combined with other adejctives. Since they describe descriptive adjectives, they are placed after the color.
azul claro light blue
verde oscuro dark green
Prácticas.
A. Read through the list of descriptive adjectives. Then, write the antonym for each one.
1. triste
2. aburrido
3. pequeño
4. temprano
5. feo
6. bajo
7. viejo
8. pobre
9. sucio
10. peligroso
11. oscuro
12. tranquilo
13. alegre
14. frío
B. Translate the following descriptive adjectives into Spanish.
1. interesting
2. fast, quick
3. fun
4. early
5. handsome
6. new
7. clean
8. inexpensive
9. rich
10. good
C. Translate the following phrases into Spanish.
1. my happy friend
2. a good dog
3. the fun book
4. her blue shoe
5. that new phone
6. the hot taco
7. a closed door
8. our good university
9. those green shoes
10. each new morning
11. all the new information
12. too many busy people
13. all the old words
14. many interesting pages
15. your calm mom
D. Use a descriptive adjective to describe the following nouns.
1. La profesora es
2. Mi mejor amigo(a) es
3. Mis padres son
4. Bad Bunny es
5. Penelope Cruz es
6. Shakespeare es
7. Simone Biles es
8. Chicago, IL es
9. La universidad es
10. El aeropuerto es
11. La biblioteca es
12. Taco Bell es
E. La música. The song María by Ricky Martin uses limiting and descriptive adjectives. Listen the song and then write examples of the limiting and descriptive adjectives in the song.
F. What is an adjective? Why do we use them? How many types of them are there? Which type is more common? Write three phrases that include adjectives.

