español · A1 · grammar · 4 minutes
Adjective agreement
Make descriptions visibly match the nouns they belong to.
Understand the choice
Spanish adjectives visibly connect to their nouns. Check gender and number for every adjective, including adjectives after ser or estar, and learn common position patterns before experimenting with emphasis.
Core rule: A descriptive adjective agrees with the noun it describes in gender and number and usually follows that noun.
Notice it in context
La camisa blanca y los pantalones negros son nuevos.
The white shirt and the black trousers are new.
Blanca follows feminine camisa; negros follows masculine plural pantalones; nuevos describes the mixed plural subject.
Compramos unas manzanas verdes.
We are buying some green apples.
Verde has one gender form but becomes verdes in the plural.
Mi hermano es alto y mi hermana es alta.
My brother is tall and my sister is tall.
A predicate adjective after ser still agrees with its subject.
What to remember
- Adjectives ending in -o usually have four agreement forms.
- Adjectives ending in -e often share one singular form for both genders.
Common trap: Do not match an adjective with the nearest word blindly; identify the noun it actually describes.