In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun -- for

example, "He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When
you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order,
according to type. This page will explain the different types of adjectives and
the correct order for them.

The basic types of adjectives

An opinion adjective explains what you think about
something (other people may not agree with you).
Opinion Examples:
silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult

A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or

Size small something is. Examples:
large, tiny, enormous, little

An age adjective tells you how young or old

Age something or someone is. Examples:
ancient, new, young, old

A shape adjective describes the shape of something.

Shape Examples:
square, round, flat, rectangular

A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour

Colour of something. Examples:
blue, pink, reddish, grey

An origin adjective describes where something

Origin comes from. Examples:
French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek

A material adjective describes what something is

Material made from. Examples:
wooden, metal, cotton, paper

A purpose adjective describes what something is

used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing".
Purpose Examples:
sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in
"roasting tin")

Some examples of adjective order

Opinion Size Age Sha Col Ori Mat Pu
 eria rpo
pe our gin
l se
youn Eng
a silly man
g lish
roun met
a huge bowl
d al
sle
smal
a red epi bag
l
ng
When you are sure that you understand the topic, you can click on "First
exercise" below to continue.

Principio del formulario

1 Which is the correct order?

a small Canadian thin lady

a Canadian small thin lady

a small thin Canadian lady

a thin small Canadian lady

2 Which is the correct order?

a carving steel new knife

a new steel carving knife

a steel new carving knife

a new carving steel knife

3 Which is the correct order?

a beautiful blue sailing boat

a blue beautiful sailing boat

a sailing beautiful blue boat

 a blue sailing beautiful boat

4 Which is the correct order?

an old wooden square table

a square wooden old table

an old square wooden table

a wooden old square table

5 Which is the correct order?

an new French exciting band

a French new exciting band

an exciting French new band

an exciting new French band

6 Which is the correct order?

a red big plastic hat

a big red plastic hat

a plastic big red hat

a bit plastic red hat

7 Which is the correct order?

a small Japanese serving bowl

a Japanese small serving bowl

a small serving Japanese bowl

a serving small Japanese bowl

8 Which is the correct order?
a cotton dirty old tie

a dirty cotton old tie

an old cotton dirty tie

a dirty old cotton tie

1 Which is the correct order?

X a small Canadian thin lady

a Canadian small thin lady

:-) a small thin Canadian lady

X a thin small Canadian lady

2 Which is the correct order?

a carving steel new knife

:-) a new steel carving knife

a steel new carving knife

a new carving steel knife

3 Which is the correct order?

:-) a beautiful blue sailing boat

X a blue beautiful sailing boat

X a sailing beautiful blue boat

X a blue sailing beautiful boat

4 Which is the correct order?

 X an old wooden square table

X a square wooden old table

:-) an old square wooden table

X a wooden old square table

5 Which is the correct order?

X an new French exciting band

X a French new exciting band

X an exciting French new band

:-) an exciting new French band

6 Which is the correct order?

X a red big plastic hat

:-) a big red plastic hat

X a plastic big red hat

X a bit plastic red hat

7 Which is the correct order?

:-) a small Japanese serving bowl

X a Japanese small serving bowl

a small serving Japanese bowl

a serving small Japanese bowl

8 Which is the correct order?

X a cotton dirty old tie
X a dirty cotton old tie

X an old cotton dirty tie

:-) a dirty old cotton tie

1. round / small / reading / lamp

2. German / old / yellow / car

3. wooden / huge / sailing / ship

 4. physics / boring / old / teacher

5. slim / Canadian / handsome / snowboarder

6. sugar / blue / round / bowl

ADJECTIVES ORDER: OSiAShCOMP RULE
(Orden de los adjetivos: la regla OSiAShCOMP)

• En inglés hablado no se suele utilizar más de 2 adjetivos seguidos.

• En inglés escrito no se utilizan más de 3 adjetivos seguidos.
• Este orden es el más generalizado aunque puede tener pequeñas variaciones según en
qué queramos poner énfasis.

ADJETIVO

(del grado más subjetivo ....................................................................... al

grado más objetivo)
Determinant
NOUN
e
Purpose
(noun
Materia
Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin used as
l
adjective
)

a nice young Spanish boy

the huge round glass vase

that lovely big blue travel bag

three ancient English poetry books

• USO DE LA COMA CON LOS ADJETIVOS

— Cuando dos o más adjetivos se encuentran en función de subordinación (es decir que
son de diferente categoría), NO se pone COMA:
 A new steel steak knife
(Un cuchillo de carne nuevo de acero.)
(Un cuchillo nuevo de carne de acero.)
(Un nuevo cuchillo de acero de carne.)
That big red plastic bag.
(Esa bolsa grande de plástico rojo.)
(Esa bolsa de plástico grande roja .)
(Esa bolsa grande roja de plástico.)

— Cuando dos o más adjetivos se encuentran en función de coordinación (es decir que
son de la misma categoría), SÍ se pone COMA:
A distinguished, friendly, beautiful woman.
(Una mujer distinguida, guapa, simpática.)
(Una mujer guapa , distinguida, simpática.)
(Una mujer simpática, distinguida, guapa.)
Two beautiful, soft, confortable cushions.
(Dos bonitos cojines, blandos, cómodos .)
(Dos cojines blandos, bonitos, cómodos.)
(Dos cojines bonitos, cómodos, blandos.)
English Syntax: Use our Teaching English Syntax Lists - Printable & Free, ideal for
ESL.

An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying

words. An adjective often precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies. In the
following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
The car-shaped balloon floated over the treetops.
Mrs. Smith papered her living room walls with hideous wall paper.
The large boat foundered on the wine dark sea.
The coal mines are dark and dank.
Many stores have already begun to play irritating Christmas music.
A battered music box sat on the mahogany sideboard.
The back room was filled with large, green rain boots.
 Appearance Appearance Condition Condition Feelings Feelings
Contd. Contd. (Bad) (Bad)
Contd.
adorable glamorous alive impossible
adventurous gleaming annoying inexpensive angry grumpy
aggressive gorgeous bad innocent annoyed helpless
alert graceful better inquisitive anxious homeless
attractive grotesque beautiful modern arrogant hungry
average handsome brainy mushy ashamed hurt
beautiful homely breakable odd awful ill
blue-eyed light busy open bad itchy
bloody long careful outstanding bewildered jealous
blushing magnificent cautious poor black jittery
bright misty clever powerful blue lazy
clean motionless clumsy prickly bored lonely
clear muddy concerned puzzled clumsy mysterious
cloudy old-fashioned crazy real combative nasty
colorful plain curious rich condemned naughty
crowded poised dead shy confused nervous
cute precious different sleepy crazy, nutty
dark quaint difficult stupid flipped-out obnoxious
drab shiny doubtful super creepy outrageous
distinct smoggy easy talented cruel panicky
dull sparkling expensive tame dangerous repulsive
elegant spotless famous tender defeated scary
excited stormy fragile tough defiant selfish
fancy strange frail uninterested depressed sore
filthy ugly gifted vast disgusted tense
ugliest helpful wandering disturbed terrible
unsightly helpless wild dizzy testy
unusual horrible wrong dull thoughtless
wide-eyed important embarrassed tired
envious troubled
evil upset
fierce uptight
foolish weary
frantic wicked
frightened worried
grieving
Feelings Feelings Shape Size Sound Time
(Good) (Good)
Contd.
broad big cooing ancient
agreeable happy chubby colossal deafening brief
amused healthy crooked fat faint Early
brave helpful curved gigantic harsh fast
calm hilarious deep great high-pitched late
charming jolly flat huge hissing long
cheerful joyous high immense hushed modern
comfortable kind hollow large husky old
cooperative lively low little loud old-fashioned
courageous lovely narrow mammoth melodic quick
delightful lucky round massive moaning rapid
determined nice shallow miniature mute short
eager obedient skinny petite noisy slow
elated perfect square puny purring swift
enchanting pleasant steep scrawny quiet young
encouraging proud straight short raspy
energetic relieved wide small resonant
enthusiastic silly tall screeching
excited smiling teeny shrill
exuberant splendid teeny-tiny silent
fair successful tiny soft
faithful thankful squealing
fantastic thoughtful thundering
fine victorious voiceless
friendly vivacious whispering
funny witty
gentle wonderful
glorious zealous
good zany
Taste/Touch Taste/Touch Touch Quantity
Contd.

bitter melted boiling abundant

delicious nutritious breezy empty
fresh plastic broken few
juicy prickly bumpy heavy
ripe rainy chilly light
rotten rough cold many
salty scattered cool numerous
sour shaggy creepy substantial
spicy shaky crooked
stale sharp cuddly
sticky shivering curly
strong silky damaged
sweet slimy damp
tart slippery dirty
tasteless smooth dry
tasty soft dusty
thirsty solid filthy
fluttering steady flaky
fuzzy sticky fluffy
greasy tender freezing
grubby tight hot
hard uneven warm
hot weak wet
icy wet
loose wooden
yummy
Final del formulario