As you may know, adjectives are describing words that usually accompany nouns, in other words, they are usually placed after nouns to modify them. It is not the same to say “mujer” – “woman” to “mujer hermosa” – “beautiful woman”. Adjectives make words livelier, as salt and pepper do to food. They give flavor to words, so that speakers can express drama, intensity and passion.Thus, language becomes more engaging to listeners.
There are two important points to consider when using adjectives in Spanish which are related to agreement and placement.
Position of adjectives
Regarding placement, English adjectives usually come before nouns. In Spanish, however, they usually come after the thing they are depicting. Take for example, “niños altos” – “tall boys” or else “libro interesante”- “interesting book.”
Agreement with gender and number
Concerning agreement, Spanish adjectives, nearly all of them, denote the gender and number of the subject. For example, “unos zapatos grandes” – “a few big shoes”, “una casa pequeña” – “a small house”. We can observe in the previous phrases how the adjectives change their gender and number depending on the noun.
Strengthening adjectives
One of the best ways to learn adjectives is by putting them into context. To give you an example, we can build up family words like “alto” – “tall”, “bajo” – “short”, and “atractivo” – “attractive” and then use the words in a communicative way such as describing a family member. Additionally, it would be very helpful to use photos or images to recall adjectives by association. When we personalize the language and connect words to emotions, they can be easily remembered and effectively communicated.
To sum up, Spanish adjectives work the same way as the English ones, with just a couple of differences. Bear in mind that the best way to remember adjectives is by reading, listening and speaking Spanish in real world settings and this is what Bright Lingua offers. If you really want to learn Spanish communicatively, join us.