Adjectives in English

What an adjective does

An adjective gives information about a noun: what it looks like, how big it is, where it comes from, how you feel about it.

In English an adjective usually sits directly in front of the noun, or after the verb 'be' and similar verbs such as seem, look, feel and become. Unlike many languages, an English adjective never changes for number or gender: one red door, five red doors.

The order of adjectives

When you use more than one adjective before a noun, English puts them in a fixed order. Native speakers never learn this rule, but they all follow it — which is why 'a green big car' sounds wrong even though every word is correct.

The order is: opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, colour, origin, material, type, purpose.

In practice you rarely use more than three at once. If you need more, break the sentence up rather than building a long chain.

• Opinion first: a lovely old house, not an old lovely house.
• Size before colour: a big blue bag, not a blue big bag.
• Age before colour, colour before origin: a charming little old brown Italian leather bag.
• Material and purpose sit closest to the noun: a wooden dining table.

-ed or -ing: bored or boring?

This is the single most common adjective mistake we hear in class, at every level.

An -ing adjective describes the thing that causes the feeling. An -ed adjective describes the person who has the feeling. So a lesson can be boring, and you can be bored by it — but if you say 'I am boring', you have told the room you are a dull person.

Comparatives and superlatives

To compare two things, use the comparative; to say one is top of the group, use the superlative.

Short adjectives take -er and -est: cold, colder, the coldest. One-syllable adjectives ending in a single vowel plus a consonant double it: big, bigger, the biggest. Adjectives ending in -y change to -ier and -iest: happy, happier, the happiest.

Longer adjectives use more and the most: expensive, more expensive, the most expensive. A few are irregular and simply have to be learnt: good/better/best, bad/worse/worst, far/further/furthest.

As ... as, and adjectives with prepositions

To say two things are equal, use 'as + adjective + as': 'The test was as hard as I expected.' The negative means one is less: 'It isn't as cold as yesterday.'

Many adjectives are followed by a fixed preposition, and there is no logic to learn — only the habit. Keep a list as you meet them.

• good at, bad at: She is good at maths.
• interested in, keen on: I am interested in art.
• afraid of, proud of, tired of: He is afraid of flying.
• worried about, excited about: We are excited about the trip.
• similar to, different from: My accent is different from hers.

Making adjectives stronger or softer

Adverbs of degree change the strength of an adjective: quite cold, very cold, extremely cold.

Some adjectives are already extreme — freezing, exhausted, enormous, delicious. These do not take 'very'. Use 'absolutely' or 'really' instead: 'absolutely freezing', not 'very freezing'.