Adjectives in Spanish are generally formed by adding a suffix to the root of a noun.
Response to the query in detail
Adjectives in Spanish are words that describe or modify nouns. To form an adjective in Spanish, you usually add a suffix to the root of a noun. The most commonly used suffixes are -o, -a, -ista, -oso, -ible, and -able. For example, “casa” (house) becomes “cas-ita” (little house), and “amigo” (friend) becomes “amigo-so” (friendly). However, there are exceptions to this rule, and some adjectives in Spanish do not follow a predictable pattern.
According to SpanishDict, “adjectives must also agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify, meaning that if the noun is feminine, the adjective must be feminine as well; and if the noun is plural, the adjective must also be plural.” For example, “la chica bonita” (the pretty girl) uses the feminine form of the adjective “bonito.”
Interestingly, there are some adjectives in Spanish that have no corresponding noun form, such as “feliz” (happy) and “triste” (sad). These adjectives are known as predicate adjectives and are used to describe the subject of a sentence.
Here is a table of common adjective suffixes in Spanish, along with their meanings and examples:
Suffix | Meaning | Example |
---|---|---|
-o | masculine singular | alto (tall) |
-a | feminine singular | alta (tall) |
-es | masculine plural | altos (tall) |
-as | feminine plural | altas (tall) |
-ista | person who practices or believes in something | feminista (feminist) |
-oso | full of or tending to | lluvioso (rainy) |
-ible | capable of being | posible (possible) |
-able | capable of being | amable (friendly) |
As famous Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca once said, “The poem, the song, the picture is only water drawn from the well of the people, and it should be given back to them in a cup of beauty so that they may drink – and in drinking, understand themselves.” Similarly, mastering adjectives is an essential part of understanding and speaking Spanish fluently, as it allows us to accurately describe the world around us.
Watch a video on the subject
This video explains the basic rules for using adjectives in Spanish. Adjectives describe a person, thing, or situation and are placed after the noun they are describing, except for when emphasizing a quality or sounding more formal. They change their gender according to the gender of the noun they modify, with exceptions for certain types of adjectives. Adjectives also have a plural form, with -S added to the singular form. The gender of the noun applies to the adjectives as well. The video provides an example paragraph in Spanish to illustrate these rules.