THE POSITIONING OF SPANISH ADJECTIVES
Adjectives of nationality – if they end in a consonant, “-a” is added to show the feminine form:
alemán: alemana español: español inglés: inglesa
Other adjectives ending in “-án”, “-ón”, “-or” – these also add “-a” in the feminine form:
hablador: habladora charlatán: charlatana mandón: mandona
-ísimo – this ending is used to give an extra meaning of “very” to an adjective. A spelling change is sometimes required :
mucho: muchísimo fácil: ;facilísimo
blanco: blanquísimo
Position of adjectives – the position of adjectives is on the whole a matter of style and feeling which may be acquired by much reading of and listening to Spanish. Generally, adjectives of colour, shape and nationality come after the noun but there are exceptions:
However,for poetic reasons, adjectives can be placed before the noun:-
una ligera brisa
la profunda tristeza
Adjectives can change meaning according to position:-
una ciudad grande v una gran ciudad
un hombre pobre v un pobre hombre
una iglesia antigua v una antigua iglesia
Apocopation of adjectives – the following adjectives drop the final “-o” when preceding a masculine singular noun:
uno/ninguno [ningún]/alguno [algún]/bueno/malo/primero/tercero
*“Grande” becomes “gran” before any noun;
*“Santo” beomes “San” before any name except those beginning with “To…” or “Do…”
*Numbers 21, 31, 41, etc have “-ún” before masculine plural nouns “tiene veintiún años”
Some difficult adjectives –
(i) “demasiado” (too much), precedes the noun and agrees with it in the usual way
“Tenemos demasiadas clases” “Hay demasiada agua”
*[When used as an adverb, “demasiado” is invariable]
(ii) “demás” (remaining/other), is invariable and requires the definite article “los/las” before the noun
“Los demás libros” “Las demás casas”
[“Los/Las demás” is more common as a noun meaning “the others” or “the rest (of them)”]
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