Descriptive adjectives (regular and

irregular)
Overview
As the name may suggest, descriptive adjectives describe a quality of a noun. In Spanish, all parts of
a noun phrase must match in gender and number. Agreement is the defining feature of the Spanish
gender system. Adjectives must agree with the noun (or pronoun) they describe in gender and in
number to show which noun they are describing. This means that if the noun is feminine, the adjective
must be feminine, and if that same noun is also plural, the adjective will be feminine AND plural as
well.

las faldas - feminine, plural

las faldas bonitas - all parts feminine and plural

Descriptive Adjectives
You will find all adjectives listed in their masculine singular form in dictionaries, so it is important to
know how to change each singular masculine adjective to match the noun you already have. Most
adjectives end in -o, -e, - or a consonant in their singular masculine forms. Below you will find the
rules for matching these adjectives to their respective nouns in gender and number.

Adjectives that end in -o

These adjectives describe nouns in both gender and number, and have four endings, one each for
masculine, feminine, singular, and plural. These types of adjectives make up majority of the adjectives
in Spanish.
-o Adjective Endings

Masculine
Feminine

Singular
-o
-a

Plural
-os
-as

To change the masculine form of an adjective to match a feminine noun, replace the -o ending with -a.

Es un perro negro.

Es una camisa negra.

To make an -o adjective plural in the masculine or feminine form, add -s to the singular ending.

El hombre es alto.

Los hombres son altos.

Soy delgada.

Somos delgadas.

Adjectives that end in -e or -ista

Adjectives that end in -e or -ista do not change according to gender as they agree with both masculine
and feminine in the basic form, but do change for number.
-e Adjective Endings

Singular
-e

Plural
-es

-ista Adjective Endings

Singular
-ista

Tengo un abuelo interesante. - masculine

Mi abuela es interesante. - feminine

Mi profesor es muy idealista. - masculine

Mi profesora es muy idealista. - feminine

Plural
-istas

To make an -e adjective plural, add an -s to the singular ending.

Los rboles son verdes.

All estn las nias grandes.

Adjectives that end in a consonant

Most adjectives that end in a consonant do not change according to gender, but do change for
number, just like adjectives that end in -e.

El coche es azul.

La gata feliz est en la sala.

To make an adjective that ends in a consonant plural, add - es to the singular ending.

El enigma es fcil.

Los enigmas son fciles.

A la mujer joven le gusta este caf.

A las mujeres jvenes les gusta este caf.

Exception: Adjectives that end in -z in the singular, change the -z to a -c before adding the plural
ending.

El gato es feliz.

Los gatos son felices.

Exception: Adjectives that end in -or, -n, or -n do have feminine forms. Simply add -a or -as to the
masculine singular form and delete the orthographic accent if necessary.

Mi hermano es trabajador.

Mi hermana es trabajadora.

Mis hermanos son trabajadores.

Mis hermanas son trabajadoras.

Pablo es cabezn.

Paula es cabezona.

Exception: Adjectives ending in -erior do not have a feminine form.

Est en el patio exterior

del edificio

Est en la parte posterior del edificio.

Summary
Masculine
Singular
-o
-e
-ista
consonant
-z
-or
-n
-n

Plural
-os
-es
-istas
consonant + es
-ces
-ores
-ones
-ines

Feminine
Singular
-a
-e
-ista
consonant
-z
-ora
-ona
-ina

Plural
-as
-es
-istas
consonant + es
-ces
-oras
-onas
inas