Words that describe people and things are called adjectives (adjetivos). Adjectives

Words that describe people and things arecalled adjectives (adjetivos).

Adjectives

• In Spanish, most adjectives have bothmasculine and feminine forms. Themasculine form usually ends in theletter -o and the feminine form usuallyends in the letter -a.

Adjectives

• Masculine adjectives are used to describemasculine nouns.

Marcos es ordenado Marcos is organized y simpático. and nice.

Adjectives

• Feminine adjectives are used to describefeminine nouns.

Marta es ordenada Marta is organized y simpática. and nice.

Adjectives

• Adjectives that end in -e describe bothmasculine and feminine nouns.

Anita es inteligente. Anita is smart.Pedro es inteligente Pedro is also smart. también.

Adjectives

• Adjectives whose masculine form ends in-dor have a feminine form that ends in -dora.

Juan es trabajador. Juan is hardworking.Luz es trabajadora. Luz is hardworking.

Adjectives

• Some adjectives that end in -a, such asdeportista, describe both masculine andfeminine nouns. You will need to learnwhich adjectives follow this pattern.

Tomás es deportista. Tomás is sports-minded.

Marta es deportista también. Marta is also sports-minded.

Adjectives

Adjectives

Masculine Feminine

ordenado ordenada

trabajador trabajadora

paciente paciente

deportista deportista

Definite and indefinite articles

El and la are called definite articles and are theequivalent of “the” in English. El is used withmasculine nouns; la is used with feminine nouns.You’ve already seen words with definite articles:

el libro the book la carpeta the folder

Definite and indefinite articles

Un and una are called indefinite articles and are theequivalent of “a” and “an” in English. Un is used withmasculine nouns; una is used with feminine nouns:

un libro a book una carpeta a folder

Definite and indefinite articles

Definite and indefinite articles

el the

la the

un a, an

una a, an

The vowels o and u

In Spanish, the pronunciation of the letter ois similar to the vowel sound in the Englishword “boat” but is always cut very short.Say these words, concentrating on making ashort o sound.

bolígrafo gracioso cómoteléfono tampoco otoño

The vowels o and u

In Spanish, the pronunciation of the letter uis similar to the vowel sound in the Englishword “zoo.” Say these words.

mucho lunes ustedoctubre estudioso según

The vowels o and u

¡Ojo! Careful! Sometimes the words wemispronounce most are the ones thatremind us of English words.

Try it out! Pronounce these words,concentrating on the Spanish vowel sounds:

agosto regular tropical músicagusto universidad Uruguay Cuba

The vowels o and u

El mundo

Word order: Placement of adjectives

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the nounthey describe. Notice how artística follows chica inthe Spanish sentence.

Margarita es una chica artística. Margarita is an artistic girl.

Word order: Placement of adjectives

Did you notice that in the English sentence the adjectivecomes before the noun?

Here’s a simple pattern you can follow when writing asentence in Spanish.

Word order: Placement of adjectives

Word order: Placement of adjectives

SubjectMargarita

PabloLa Sra. Ortiz

Verbeseses

Indefinite article + noun

una chicaun estudianteuna profesora

Adjectivemuy artistica.inteligente.muy buena.