Calentamiento: Adjetivos

Feminine forms

Adjectives ending in o in the masculine end in a in the feminine.
Most other adjectives have identical masculine and feminine forms. Ejemplo: un amigo simpático, popular, inteligente y cortés. Una amiga simpática, popular, inteligente y cortés.
Adjectives ending in or, án, ón, end in ora, ana, ona. Ejemplo: El estudiante es trabajador. No es holgazán (lazy). La estudiante es trabajadora. No es holgazana.
BUT: “Mayor”, “menor”, “mejor”, “superior” remain the same in the feminine. Ejemplo: Mi hermana mayor. Mi hermano menor.
Most adjectives of nationality end in a in the feminine. Ejemplo: Un doctor español una doctora española. Un artista francés una artista francesa.
BUT: un periodista israelí. Una periodista israelí.

Plural adjectives are formed according to the same patterns as plural nouns. Ejemplo: un estudiante serio e inteligente unos estudiantes serios e inteligentes.

Position

Adjectives of description usually come after the noun they modify. Ejemplo: Luisa es una estudiante mexicana.
The masculine singular adjectives bueno, malo, primero and tercero, become buen, mal, primer, and tercer when used before a noun. Ejemplo: un artista bueno, un buen artista. Un estudiante malo, un mal estudiante.
The adjective grande becomes gran before a singular noun (masculine or feminine). Ejemplo: un gran problema
Una gran reunión
A few adjectives have two different meanings depending on whether they are used before or after the noun they modify. Ejemplo: una ciudad grande (a large city)
Una gran ciudad (a great city)
El hombre pobre (the poor man)
El pobre hombre (unfortunate man)
Una amiga vieja (an old friend)
Una vieja amiga (of long lasting friend)

Let’s practice!

Each student receives a secret identity card taped to their back by the Professor. The identity may be an illustration or a picture of a famous person.
Students must wander around the room asking yes/no questions (in Spanish and using adjectives) to their classmates in order to determine their secret identity.
You may only ask up to five questions in Spanish per student. For example, ¿soy guapo? ¿soy chino? = Am I handsome? Am I Chinese? (Professor will give you a handout with popular questions to help you guess)
If you guess the correct celebrity, go up to your Professor and say the name of your celebrity and use two adjectives that describe him or her. Por ejemplo: Yo soy Dora la exploradora!

Let’s do it again!

Please describe the following images of famous Hispanics using 3 adjectives for their description.
Por ejemplo: María es alta, bonita y es cantante.

Elmo

Please identify the adjectives in each sentence.

License