Spanish adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. Nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine (in gender) or singular or plural (in number), and the adjectives that describe these nouns must change their endings to agree with the gender and number of the noun. There are also different agreement rules depending on the type of adjective. This is different from English adjectives, which remain the same regardless of the nouns they describe. If you are curious about learning how adjectives agree with nouns in Spanish, read on!
Table of Contents
For a review of grammar terms used in the post, make sure to check out the Unpacking the grammar section at the end.
What is an adjective, and what is adjective agreement?
- Is the noun masculine or feminine?
- Is the noun singular or plural?
(1) El gato loco The crazy cat
(2) Las casas rojas The red houses
To know how to identify the gender of nouns in Spanish, take a look at our post for a refresher. For now, let’s continue with exploring adjective agreement in more detail.What are the forms of agreement?
The forms of agreement depend on the ending of the adjective, whether they end in -o, a different vowel, or a consonant, let’s go over these endings next:
Adjectives that end in ‘–o’
The majority of Spanish adjectives end in –o in the masculine singular form. For these adjectives, these are the rules we need to follow:
- In order to form the feminine singular form, we must replace the ending –o with –a.
- In order to form the masculine and the feminine plural forms, we add an –s to the singular form.
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| -o | -os | -a | -as |
| el niño simpático the nice boy | los niños simpáticos the nice boys | la niña simpática the nice girl | las niñas simpáticas the nice girls |
This little rule covers the majority of the cases, but if you are curious for more details, let’s move on!
Adjectives that end in a vowel other than ‘-o’
- –a (lila lilac, purple),
- including the ending –ista (optimista optimistic)
- –e (interesante interesting),
- –i (cursi cheesy), and
- –u (zulú Zulu)
- These adjectives have the same masculine singular and feminine singular form, for example: el perro inteligente (the intelligent dog), la experiencia interesante (the interesting experience), el pantalón lila (the purple pants), and la puerta lila (the purple door).
- The plural is formed by adding –s to the singular forms.
| Masculine | Feminine | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| - | –s | - | –s | |
| –a | el niño belga the Belgian boy | los niños belgas the Belgian boys | la niña belga the Belgian girl | las niñas belgas the Belgian girls |
| –e | el libro interesante the interesting book | los libros interesantes the interesting books | la novela interesante the interesting novel | las novelas
cursis the cheesy novels |
| –i | el poema cursi the cheesy poem | los poemas cursis the cheesy poems | la novela cursi the cheesy novel | las novelas
cursis the cheesy novels |
| –u | el estudiante hindú the Indian student | los estudiantes hindús* the Indian students | la comida hindú the Indian food | las comidas hindús the Indian foods |
Adjectives that end in a consonant (other than a stressed vowel + n /–or)
Some other adjectives end in a consonant (difícil, difficult; azul, blue). As a general rule, these adjectives work almost the same as the adjectives ending in a vowel (other than –o):
- They have the same singular masculine and feminine form.
- The plural is formed by adding –es.
| Masculine | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| - | -es |
| el mar azul the blue sea | los mares azules the blue seas |
| Feminine | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| - | -es | |
| la pregunta difícil the difficult question | las preguntas difíciles the difficult question | |
There are two important aspects for adjectives ending in a consonant that require special mention:
- Adjectives that end in –z (feliz, happy; capaz, capable) change to –c (felices, happy; capaces, capable) in the plural form.
- Nationality adjectives that end in a consonant form the feminine by adding an –a to the masculine form:
español – española (Spanish), alemán – alemana (German).
Adjectives that end in a stressed vowel + ‘n’ / ‘–or’
Adjectives that end in a stressed vowel + n /-or do not work like the adjectives mentioned in the previous section, even though they end in a consonant. For adjectives that end in –or or in a stressed vowel + n (catalán, Catalan; cabezón, large-headed), the masculine follows the rules for adjectives that end in a consonant, while the feminine follows the rules for adjectives that end in –a. That is:
- The feminine singular is formed by adding –a.
- The masculine plural form is created by adding –es to the singular form.
- The feminine plural form is created by adding –s to the singular form.
| Masculine | Feminine | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| - | -es | -a | -as | |
| –or adjectives | el equipo ganador the winning team | los equipos ganadores the winning teams | la pareja ganadora the winning couple | la pareja ganadoras the winning couples |
| –stressed vowel + n adjectives | el hombre cabezón the large-headed man | los hombres cabezones the large-headed men | la mujer cabezona the large-headed woman | las mujeres cabezonas the large-headed women |
| el niño chiquitín the little boy | los niños chiquitines the little boys | la niña chiquitina the little girl | las niñas chiquitinas the little girls | |
As you may have noticed, the adjectives cabezón or chiqutín in the examples above change spelling when they are in the plural: cabezón → cabezones, chiquitín → chiquitines. This is a general rule for “stressed vowel + n” adjectives: they drop the accent mark when they are used in the plural.
Summary
To sum everything up, adjectives in Spanish must agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe. There are different adjective agreement rules depending on the adjective (i.e., adjectives that end in –o /–a behave one way; adjectives that end in vowels other than –o or in consonants behave another way). Take a look at the table below to see all of the different adjective agreement rules at a glance!
| Masculine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| -o | -os | ||
| –o, –a adjectives | el niño simpático the nice boy | los niños simpáticos the nice boys | |
| Adjectives that end in vowel (other than –o) | - | -s | |
| el libro interesante the interesting book | los libros interesantes the interesting books | ||
| Adjectives that end in consonant | - | -es | |
| el mar azul the blue sea | los mares azules the blue seas | ||
| –or adjectives | - | -es | |
| el equipo ganador the winning team | los equipos ganadores the winning teams | ||
| –stressed vowel + adjectives | |||
| el hombre cabezón the large-headed man | los hombres cabezones the large-headed men | ||
| Feminine | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| -a | -as |
| la niña simpática the nice girl | las niñas simpáticas the nice girls |
| - | -s |
| la novela interesante the interesting novel | las novelas interesantes the interesting novels |
| - | -es |
| la pregunta difícil the difficult question | las preguntas difíciles the difficult questions |
| -a | -as |
| la pareja ganadora the winning couple | las parejas ganadoras the winning couples |
| la mujer cabezona the large-headed woman | las mujeres cabezonas the large-headed women |
Gender represents categories in which nouns are split based on endings. In Spanish, there are two:
masculine and feminine.
el chico (m.) the boy
la chica (f.) the girl
Number represents the quantity the noun refers to, meaning if it is singular or plural.
el chico (s.), los chicos (pl.) the boy, the boys
la chica (s.), las chicas (pl.) the girl, the girls
