La gramatica- grammar Adjective agreement in Spanish Adjectives are words that describe nouns (people, places and things). We have adjectives in English as well as in Spanish. In English, adjectives usually only have one form. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a male or a female (or several males and/or females), the adjective remains the same. For example: The smart boy The smart girl ‘smart’ is the only form of the adjective The smart children In Spanish, the adjective must match (agree with) the noun in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). *Note that in Spanish, the adjective generally follows the noun. For example: El chico guapo (the good- looking boy) La chica guapa (the good-looking girl) Los chicos guapos (the good-looking boys) Las chicas guapas (the good looking girls) Note that the gender and number of the article, the noun and the adjective all match (agree). For example: los chicos guapos (all masculine plural forms) El chicos guapa ( this doesn’t work, because it doesn’t agree) Adjectives that end in -o Many adjectives end in –o in the masculine form. The feminine equivalent ends in –a. To form the plural of these adjectives, add an –s to either the masculine or the feminine form. For example: El chico bajo (MS) los chicos bajos (Mpl) La chica baja (FS) las chicas bajas (Fpl) Adjectives that end in –e and/or some consonants Adjectives that end in –e and some adjectives that end in consonants only have two forms- singular and plural. There is no difference between the masculine and feminine forms of the adjectives. For example : El hombre interestante (MS) La mujer interesante (FS) To form the plural of adjectives that end in –e, simply add –s. For example: Los hombres interesantes (MPl) las mujeres interesantes (FPl) For adjectives that end in consonants, add –es to form the plural. For example: El muchacho popular (MS) los muchachos populares (Mpl) La muchacha popular (FS) las muchachas populares (FPl) Other adjectives that end in consonants (including some adjectives of nationality) For some of these adjectives, you will have four different forms (MS, FS, MPl, FPl) For example: El estudiante español (MS) los estudiantes españoles (Mpl) La estudiante española (FS) las estudiantes españolas (Fpl) El hombre trabajador (MS) los hombres trabajadores (Mpl) La mujer trabajadora (FS) las mujeres trabajadoras (Fpl) Adjectives that end in –ista Adjectives that end in –ista only have two forms, singular and plural. The adjective does not change for masculine and feminine. For example: El muchacho optimista (MS) los muchachos optimistas (MPl) La muchacha optimista (FS) las muchachas optimistas (Fpl)