Lesson 6: Adjectives — agreement, position, apocopation

Part 1: The main rule — the adjective agrees with the noun

In English we say "red car", "red house", "red flowers" — the adjective never moves. In Spanish, four forms, and you have to pick the right one every single time.

Form	Ending (Type 1: -o/-a)	Example
m. sg.	-o	el coche rojo — the red car
f. sg.	-a	la casa roja — the red house
m. pl.	-os	los coches rojos — the red cars
f. pl.	-as	las casas rojas — the red houses

Remember Lesson 2: el coche is masculine (despite ending in -e!), la casa is feminine. The adjective takes its gender from the noun, not from its own ending.

There's a second twist: Spanish adjectives normally come after the noun. English fixes them before: the red car. Spanish flips them: el coche rojo (literally "the car red"). That order is the default; we'll get to the exceptions in Part 3.

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Part 2: Three types of adjectives by ending

Type A: ending -o (4 forms)

The most common type. Both gender and number change.

	m. sg.	f. sg.	m. pl.	f. pl.
tall	alto	alta	altos	altas
red	rojo	roja	rojos	rojas
pretty	bonito	bonita	bonitos	bonitas

Type B: ending -e or a consonant (2 forms)

Gender doesn't change. Only number does.

	sg. (m. = f.)	pl. (m. = f.)
big	grande	grandes
green	verde	verdes
easy	fácil	fáciles
young	joven	jóvenes (tilde added because the syllable count grew!)
intelligent	inteligente	inteligentes

un libro grande / una mesa grande — same form for both genders. Plural rule: consonant + -es, vowel + -s.

Type C: nationalities and adjectives in certain consonants (4 forms — exception to Type B)

If a consonant-ending adjective denotes a nationality or ends in -or / -ón / -án / -ín, it takes an -a in the feminine.

	m. sg.	f. sg.	m. pl.	f. pl.
Spanish	español	española	españoles	españolas
French	francés	francesa	franceses	francesas
talkative	hablador	habladora	habladores	habladoras
hardworking	trabajador	trabajadora	trabajadores	trabajadoras

Trap: francés → francesa loses its tilde in the feminine. (The stress is now on the second-to-last syllable, and a llana ending in a vowel needs no tilde — see Lesson 1.)

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Part 3: Position — usually AFTER the noun

Default: the adjective comes after the noun. This is the opposite of English.

English	Spanish
a red car	un coche rojo
a tall man	un hombre alto
a Spanish wine	un vino español
an interesting book	un libro interesante

Train your ear: in Spanish, the noun arrives first and tells you what you're talking about, the adjective tags on second and tells you which kind. English does the reverse.

When the adjective goes BEFORE the noun

1. Numerals and quantifiers: dos libros, muchas casas, pocos amigos.
2. Demonstratives and possessives: este libro, mi coche. (Lessons 13–14.)
3. A few short, common adjectives — bueno, malo, grande, pequeño — sliding before the noun feels natural and slightly more literary or emotional.
4. When you want a subjective / evaluative shade instead of a neutral description (see Part 5).

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Part 4: Apocopation — short forms before a noun

A handful of adjectives lose their final vowel in front of a masculine singular noun. This shortening is called apocopation.

Full form	Apocopated	When	Example
bueno	buen	before m.sg.	un buen amigo (a good friend), but una buena amiga, unos buenos amigos
malo	mal	before m.sg.	un mal día (a bad day), but una mala idea
primero	primer	before m.sg.	el primer día, but la primera vez
tercero	tercer	before m.sg.	el tercer piso, but la tercera vez
uno	un	before m.sg.	un libro, but una casa
alguno	algún	before m.sg.	algún día, but alguna idea
ninguno	ningún	before m.sg.	ningún problema, but ninguna razón
grande	gran	before any singular	un gran amigo, una gran idea, but unos grandes amigos

Trap: grande apocopates before both genders in the singular, but not in the plural. Trap: algún, ningún gain a tilde when they lose the -o (see Lesson 1: aguda ending in -n needs a tilde).

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Part 5: Adjectives whose meaning shifts with position

A small but high-impact class. Before the noun → figurative / subjective meaning. After the noun → literal / objective.

Adjective	BEFORE (figurative)	AFTER (literal)
gran(de)	great	big in size
	un gran hombre — a great man	un hombre grande — a big man (physically)
viejo	old = longtime	old = aged
	un viejo amigo — a longtime friend	un amigo viejo — an elderly friend
pobre	poor = unfortunate	poor = without money
	un pobre hombre — a poor (pitiful) man	un hombre pobre — a poor (penniless) man
nuevo	new = different one	new = just made
	un nuevo coche — a new (different) car for me	un coche nuevo — a brand-new car (off the lot)
mismo	the same	itself
	el mismo día — the same day	el día mismo — the day itself

The hack: before = emotion, after = fact. A gran amigo is your treasured friend. An amigo grande is the friend who plays rugby and could pick up a fridge.

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Part 6: An adjective with two nouns

When one adjective covers two nouns:

Situation	Rule	Example
Both masculine	m. pl.	un libro y un coche rojos
Both feminine	f. pl.	una casa y una mesa rojas
Mixed genders	m. pl. wins	un libro y una mesa rojos

Mixed-gender group → masculine wins. The same rule applies to nosotros / ellos.

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