3.8: Los adjetivos descriptivos y de nacionalidad

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M. Barrio De Mendoza, K Gutiérrez, H.Ho, C. Lin, & A Stere Lugo
ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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Descriptive Adjectives and Adjectives of Nationality

Descriptive Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns (people, places, and things).
Since nouns have gender and number, adjectives also have a gender and number that must agree with the noun they describe.
The verb "ser" is used with descriptive adjectives.

Rules

(In the rules below, all different ending options are noted in bold.)

For adjectives ending in -o there are four forms (masculine, feminine, singular, plural). To form the plural, simply add "-s" to the vowel: -o, -os, -a, -as. Examples: alto, altos, alta, altas.
For adjectives ending in -e or -ista, there are only two forms (singular and plural, as they do not change in gender). To form the plural, simply add "-s" to the vowel: -e, -es, -ista, -istas. Examples: inteligente, inteligentes, idealista, idealistas.
For adjectives ending in a consonant, there are only two forms (singular and plural, as they do not change in gender). To form the plural, simply add "-es" to the consonant: -l, -les, -n, -nes. Examples: fácil, fáciles, joven, jóvenes.
For adjectives ending in -or, there are four forms (masculine, feminine, singular, plural). To form the plural, add "-s" if the singular form ends in a vowel; but add "-es" if the singular form ends in a consonant: -or, -ores, -ora, -oras. Examples: trabajador, trabajadores, trabajadora, trabajadoras.

List of common descriptive adjectives

aburrido/a = boring	difícil = difficult	importante = important	pequeño/a = small
activo/a = active	extrovertido/a = extrovert; outgoing	inteligente = intelligent	perezoso/a = lazy
alto/a = tall	fácil = easy	interesante = interesting	pesimista = pesimistic
amable = kind	feo/a = ugly	introvertido/a = introvert	pobre = poor
antipático/a = unpleasant	flaco/a = thin; skinny	joven = young	realista = realistic
atractivo/a = attractive	flojo/a = lazy	liberal = liberal	rico/a = rich
bajo/a = short	gordo/a = fat	malo/a = bad	rubio/a = blond; blonde
bonito/a = pretty	grande = big; large	mismo/a = same	simpático/a = nice
bueno/a = good	gran = great	moreno/a = brunette; dark-skinned; tanned	tímido/a = shy; timid
calvo/a = bald	guapo/a = good-looking	negro/a* = black	tonto/a = foolish
conservador/a = conservative	hermoso/a = beautiful	optimista = optimistic	trabajador/a = hard-working
delgado/a = thin; skinny	idealista = idealistic	pelirrojo/a = red-headed	viejo/a = old

*For native English speakers, the word "negro" is often confusing. While it is the word for the color black in Spanish, it is a racial slur in English. For this reason, in the United States, many Spanish speakers use " afroamericano" and "afroamericana" or "moreno" and "morena" instead. Please note that "afroamericano" and "afroamericana" do not work for other nationalities, as each country has its own nationality. Other cultures do use the prefix "afro" with nationalities and regional identities, but it is currently used more often to describe elements of culture rather than to describe individuals (example: la cultura afroperuana, la música afrocubana, la gastronomía afrocaribeña). When talking about race, it is important that people and communities of color get to determine what is acceptable language; and it is also important to note that what is accepted may differ by individual, culture, and/or moment in time.

Decorative — "Bienvenidos a la clase de español" by Angel Ho, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Adjectives of Nationality

These are also descriptive adjectives but they are formed slightly different.
Adjectives of nationality are not capitalized in Spanish.
The verb "ser" is used with adjectives of nationality.

Rules

(In the rules below, all different ending options are noted in bold.)

For adjectives ending in -o there are four forms (masculine, feminine, singular, plural). To form the plural, simply add "-s" to the vowel: -o, -os, -a, -as. Examples: peruano, peruanos, peruana, peruanas.
For adjectives ending in -e, there are only two forms (singular and plural, as they do not change in gender). To form the plural, simply add "-s" to the vowel: -e, -es. Examples: estadounidense, estadounidenses.
For adjectives ending in -ú, there are only two forms (singular and plural, as they do not change in gender). To form the plural, keep the written accent, and "-es" to it: -u, -úes. Examples: hindú, hindúes.
For adjectives ending in a consonant, there are four forms (masculine, feminine, singular and plural). The masculine singular has a written accent on the vowel of the last syllable. The feminine singular is formed by adding an "-a" to it without the written accent. To form the plural, add "-es" to the masculine singular noun and remove the written accent; add "-s" to the feminine singular noun: -és, -eses, -esa, -esas. OR -án, -anes, -ana, -anas. Examples: inglés, ingleses, inglesa, inglesas. OR alemán, alemanes, alemana, alemanas.

List of common adjectives of nationality

alemán, alemana = German	chino/a = Chinese	español/a = Spaniard	inglés, inglesa = English	peruano/a = Peruvian
árabe = Arab	colombiano/a = Colombian	estadounidense = from the U.S.	italiano/a = Italian	portugués, portuguesa = Portuguese
argentino/a = Argentine	coreano/a = Korean	filipino/a = Filipino	japonés, japonesa = Japanese	puertorriqueño/a = Puerto Rican
boliviano/a = Bolivian	costarricense = Costa Rican	francés, francesa = French	mexicano/a = Mexican	ruso/a = Russian
brasileño/a = Brazilian	cubano/a = Cuban	guatelmalteco/a = Guatemalan	nicaragüense = Nicaraguan	salvadoreño/a = Salvadorean
canadiense = Canadian	dominicano/a = Dominican	hondureño/a = Honduran	panameño/a = Panamanian	uruguayo/a = Uruguayan
chileno/a = Chilean	ecuatoriano/a = Ecuadorian	hindú = Hindu	paraguayo/a = Paraguayan	venezolano/a = Venezuelan

Placement of the adjectives

In the examples below, all adjectives are noted in bold. Pay attention to the placement in the sentence and their endings.

Unlike English, both descriptive adjectives and adjectives of nationality are normally placed after the noun in Spanish.

Es mi amiga venezolana. Es una chica bonita y simpática.

Exception: Bueno and malo can be placed either before or after the noun. If placed before a masculine noun, they will both need to change to buen and mal.

Un amigo bueno = Un buen amigo Un libro malo = Un mal libro

¡Ojo! The adjective grande always means large or big and is always placed after the noun. When grande is changed to gran, it means "great" (both masculine and feminine), and is always placed before the noun to express "great".

Es un amigo grande con un gran corazón.