Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun: its shape, color size, etc. Spanish adjectives are very different from English adjectives, for two reasons.
agreement
Grammatical Agreement
Concordancia gramatical
Spanish agreement has nothing to do with opinions; it’s a grammatical function of the language. Just as verbs change to agree with their subjects in most languages (“I am” vs “you are”), so too do adjectives and pronouns in Spanish: they change to agree in gender and number with whatever word they modify or replace (un hombre alto vs una mujer alta).
A1 - Beginning Spanish • agreement • lesson plans • plurals
Definite Article – el, la, los, las
The Spanish definite article has to agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies, and it doesn’t always correspond to an article in other languages.
A1 - Beginning Spanish • agreement • gender • lesson plans • plurals
Demonstrative Adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives (this, that) are used to indicate a specific noun or nouns. In Spanish, they must agree with the noun(s) in gender and number, and there are 3 different sets: este, ese, aquel.
A2 - Low-Intermediate Spanish • agreement • demonstratives • lesson plans
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns (this one, that one, the one[s], these, those) refer to a previously-mentioned noun in a sentence. Spanish demonstrative pronouns are more complicated than their English counterparts, because there are three different sets and because they must agree in gender and number with the noun they replace.
agreement • B2 - Upper-Intermediate Spanish • demonstratives • lesson plans • plurals
El cual – Relative Pronoun
The Spanish relative pronoun el cual usually means “who” or “whom” and has four different forms.
agreement • B1 - Intermediate Spanish • plurals
Feelings
How are you feeling? Find out how to ask and answer this question in Spanish.
A1 - Beginning Spanish • agreement
Indefinite Article – un, una, unos, unas
The singular indefinite articles in Spanish correspond to “a, an, one” in English. The plurals correspond to “some.” There are four Spanish indefinite articles.
A1 - Beginning Spanish • agreement • gender • indefinition • lesson plans • plurals
Intensifiers
In Spanish, there are a number of adverbs as well as a single suffix that can be used to intensify the meaning of other words.
agreement • B1 - Intermediate Spanish • suffixes
Nationalities
Every country and continent has an adjective that can be used to describe people and things from that place. Those same adjectives can also be used as nouns to refer to people from that place.
A1 - Beginning Spanish • agreement • travel Spanish
Negative Adjective
The Spanish negative adjective negates, refuses, or casts doubt on the existence of the noun that it modifies. There is only one negative adjective in Spanish: no … ninguno, meaning "no" or "not any."